Why won’t the city name a Stoney Creek restaurant that broke a slew of COVID laws?

Stoney Creek resident Debbie Connon says the city owes it to residents like her - law-abiding people who've supported local businesses throughout the pandemic - to name a Stoney Creek restaurant that flouted a slew of provincial laws this weekend.

They owe that to the citizens of the city," said Connon, 67. To let us know what the heck's going on so we won't support those people."

On Monday, Paul Johnson, director of Hamilton's Emergency Operations Centre, slammed an unnamed Stoney Creek restaurant for allowing patrons to go mask-free, dance and break physical distancing rules, all the while failing to collect contact tracing information. He called the restaurant's behaviour beyond the pale." The city charged the business under provincial laws and slapped the business with $3,000 in fines.

But it won't reveal its name.

We aren't sharing business names unless we need to share it publicly from a public health perspective, where we need to inform the community of a higher-risk situation," said city spokesperson Allison Jones in an email.

To Connon, that suggests the city isn't taking enforcement seriously.

It sends a message that it's not really of the utmost importance," Connon said. If they want to scare (a business), then they're going to publish their name and then they're not going to get caught again."

Arthur Schafer, an ethics expert, agrees and questions why the city would protect a rule-breaking business, instead of seizing an opportunity to deter would-be bad actors.

By granting anonymity to egregious rule breakers at a time of pandemic ... they're throwing away the deterrent potential of bad publicity," said Schafer, founding director of the Centre for Professional and Applied Ethics at the University of Manitoba. Fines, or the threat of fines, he argues, aren't always enough. A fine can simply be a licence to break the law and it seems to be regarded as such by at least some of the rule-breakers."

Schafer argues the city hasn't justified its decision to withhold the restaurant's name.

The Spectator requested an interview with city official Tuesday but no one was made available.

The city did confirm it has received 1,514 complaints about business operation from March 31 to Nov. 10, during the pandemic. Asked for the number of charges the city has laid against businesses over the same period, the city said it laid 13 charges under the province's Reopening Ontario Act - four went to the Stoney Creek restaurant. It also laid five face covering-related charges.

Hamilton officials have struggled to balance the public's right-to-know with privacy throughout the pandemic. Most recently, public health withheld the name of a Hamilton-based basketball club" after it was put into outbreak with six people falling ill, citing privacy reasons."

How other Ontario regions handle scofflaw disclosures varies from city to city.

The City of Ottawa releases business' names upon request. Burlington and London do not.

Businesses are public entities and are therefore not subject to the same expectation of privacy as an individual," said Roger Chapman, director of bylaw and regulatory services for the City of Ottawa.

Burlington said the opposite.

It is not public information and could be an invasion of privacy," said Kerry Davren, Burlington's manager of bylaw enforcement.

Even the province's response to questions about regional disclosure guidance was unclear.

The regulations under the Police Services Act do not permit police services to disclose personal information in relation to tickets issued under Part I of the Provincial Offences Act, which would include tickets issued under the Reopening Ontario Act," said Brent Ross, spokesperson for the Ministry of the Solicitor General.

Asked how these rules extend to bylaw and if information is still considered personal" if it pertains to a business, Ross said to ask the city.

Dr. Dominik Mertz, associate professor in the division of infectious diseases at McMaster University, argues it's more important for individuals to be educated about rules than it is to single out one business.

This allows every individual to make an informed decision and leave if they feel that the rules are not being followed," Mertz said. Hence, it does not matter that much whether we know the name of this specific restaurant, as everyone who was there should have been well aware that this was not in keeping with very basic rules everyone should be aware of and follow."

Debbie Connon's husband, Dan, doesn't see it that way.

By putting patrons' health at risk, the business put all Hamiltonians' health at risk, he said. And he's tired of idle threats" from the city and province that seem to let everyone from Niagara West Conservative MPP Sam Oosterhoff - who Premier Doug Ford recently let go unpunished after he apologized for going mask-free with a large group at a restaurant - to businesses like this one in Stoney Creek, off the hook.

We're in this together," Dan said. I just wish everybody would understand that."

Katrina Clarke is a Hamilton-based reporter at The Spectator. Reach her via email: katrinaclarke@thespec.com