The economic effects from the COVID-19 pandemic are squeezing businesses struggling to find workers as ongoing labour shortages continue to stall certain sectors.
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VICTORIA The B.C. government’s new restrictions on indoor dining have already taken a major toll on restaurants and those that work in them on Vancouver Island. John Cantin has owned and run John’s Place in downtown Victoria for close to four decades. On Wednesday, he was throwing out food from his restaurant’s freezer. A day earlier, he’d been forced to lay off 18 employees at his iconic Victoria restaurant “There’s five people that have been with us over 36 years,” he said. “So it’s tough to watch this.” The layoffs and wasted food were triggered by sudden restrictions announced Monday banning indoor dining in B.C. for three weeks. The restrictions caught restaurants by surprise and left thousands of service industry workers across B.C. in the lurch.