Hamilton restaurants, bars not likely to opt-in to ‘polarizing’ proof of vaccination

Owners of Hamilton's restaurants and bars are beyond excited" that the province is preparing to lift COVID restrictions at the end of the month, including the proof-of-vaccination requirement.

However, Monday's announcement from Ontario's government, giving businesses much needed relief, left open the possibility to keep checking vaccine passports, a decision some found perplexing.

Restaurant owners like Dan Hawkins are used to the opening, closing and reopening roller-coaster ride" of the last two years.

His employees at Shorty's Pizza, 1101 Convenience and Osten Beerhall have become accustomed to following whatever changing regulations are in place. A mandate is a mandate," he said.

But if the obviously polarizing" vaccine passports aren't proving valuable, Hawkins added, his Cannon Street East eateries are not going to be making political statements."

I don't really think that's fair to put onus on individual businesses," he said.

If the government knows one is better than the other, I would hope they would do that rather than throw businesses into this political ring."

The scientific director of the Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table explained that the province is dropping vaccine passports because they are no longer sustainable.

Two COVID shots protect against severe illness but they don't stop Omicron's spread. The passport can't be upped to three doses yet because those infected during the fifth wave should wait three months to get their booster shot.

With customers excited to dine, and restaurants getting busier, safety is the main priority," said Cafe Limoncello owner Nancy Leo.

She says the crew at her Italian eatery on Ottawa Street North are comfortable with masking and all are fully vaccinated, giving them the protection they need moving forward.

Now that the government says vaccine verification is not mandatory, we will definitely remove it," Leo said.

We're going in the right direction. We've been doing this for two years, and I think we are stuck living with it at this point," she added, we just have to learn how to cope with it better."

Tracie's Place owner Tracie England is beyond excited" to be getting back to what we do best."

With the government putting the kibosh on karaoke, the Upper James Street restaurant and karaoke bar owner had three months of live music booked. Now, there will be karaoke before, in between and after the live music."

England says she understands why the vaccine mandate was implemented, but checking people's personal information was a really fine line."

We're thrilled that we won't have to invade people's privacy," she said.

Capacity limits lifting will be a huge relief at Farside on James Street North, but checking passports wasn't really challenging or stressful," said co-owner Rachel Conduit, it was just an extra step that we didn't really mind."

However, she said, if the government says proof of vaccination is not necessary, I'm quite fine with that."

I just want things to feel manageable and not terrifying," Conduit added.

Jeremy Kemeny is a Hamilton-based web editor at The Spectator. Reach him via email: jkemeny@thespec.com