Winnipeg Free Press
RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES
The outdoor gathering logic doesn’t add up for Roula Alevizos, general manager of Saddlery on Market in the Exchange District.
Restaurant owners are frustrated by the province s decision to allow people to gather in public parks but not on patios.
Restaurant owners are frustrated by the province s decision to allow people to gather in public parks but not on patios.
As of Saturday, Manitobans will be allowed to gather in groups of up to five people in outdoor public spaces, but restaurant patios must remain closed.
Restaurants may be included in later changes, but currently the province isn’t ready to reopen to that extent, said Dr. Brent Roussin, chief provincial public health officer, on Wednesday.
Winnipeg Free Press
Winnipeg Free Press
The
Free Press spoke to four Manitoba business owners and workers before new provincial restrictions and federal emergency support extensions were announced this week. How do they feel now?
Public-health restrictions and capacity limits haven’t changed for a gym owner, a hairstylist and a restaurant manager, but things have taken a turn for the worse with the fourth, an independent retailer.
Premier Brian Pallister did not order any businesses to shut down in an announcement of health-order changes this week despite earlier indications the province was considering such measures. The one change imposed was for retailers to limit store capacities to 333 people or 33 per cent, whichever is lower.
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Not being able to open to diners feels like punishment to Roula Alevizos.
The general manager of Saddlery on Market, a comfort food destination in the Exchange District, has spent a lot of time wondering how the eatery will survive: there have been few customers, and business, which is limited to pickup and delivery, is down 95 per cent from this time last year.
When she learned restaurants were not on the latest list of businesses allowed to open to in-person service, with capacity limits, it came as another blow. I don’t understand, and it’s not just me, I think a lot of people feel that restaurants have been picked on, she said.