‘Beyond the pale’: Hamilton official slams unnamed Stoney Creek restaurant for law-breaking behaviour
A city official is slamming an unnamed Stoney Creek restaurant after it broke a slew of COVID-related laws this weekend, calling the business' actions beyond the pale."
The City of Hamilton says bylaw officers laid four charges under the Reopening Ontario Act to the Stoney Creek restaurant, which it did not name. The charges include: allowing members of public to play live music/sing with no barrier, no face coverings being worn, no physical distancing being practised and failing to keep proper contact tracing records. The city did not say what fines were issued.
The way (rules were) flaunted in this case was just beyond the pale," said Paul Johnson, director of the city's emergency operations centre, at a virtual news update Monday.
Johnson said people at the restaurant were getting up and singing and playing music and dancing and having the crowd dance, no masks, no physical distancing." The business was also not keeping track of people's contact information, required of businesses in Ontario and needed by public health if someone at the business later tests positive for COVID.
I have to scratch my head," Johnson said. Little infractions here and there may occur and I understand human error but ... to have people singing and dancing and carrying on as though nothing is going on in our community is entirely disappointing.
You can't tell me that that group of people all have no idea what's going on with coronavirus, eight months into this."
Johnson said he did not know the name of the business, nor does the city typically name businesses it fines.
He also referenced a bar that, a week or so ago, was packed to the gills serving alcohol well beyond the appointed time that the province had laid down." The city also laid charged in that case, he said.
The public only needs to look to Hamilton's SpinCo outbreak - which left 85 people infected - to see how rapidly COVID can spread, he said.
It's disappointing," he said of scofflaw businesses, though he noted most businesses are doing a great job" following the rules.
In October, the city fined three businesses - including two twice - for failing to uphold the city's mask bylaw.
Katrina Clarke is a Hamilton-based reporter at The Spectator. Reach her via email: katrinaclarke@thespec.com