New restrictions couldn’t have come at worse time: Restaurant Association of Nova Scotia

The province's new restrictions couldn't have come at a worse time for the restaurant industry.

That's according to Gordan Stewart, president of the Restaurant Association of Nova Scotia.

On Friday, new restrictions will take effect which will require restaurants and bars to have physical distancing and a limit of 20 people per table.

Stewart told CityNews Halifax this will have a severe impact on many establishments.

“It's the kind of thing where if there's no pre-planning for it, then there's obviously going to be a lot more damage around it,” said Stewart. “People don't think of things like consumer confidence, which is totally damaged. All the meetings, receptions, events now cancelled and it's worth millions of dollars.”

Stewart said he's upset the province didn't consult the industry before making this decision.

“What would have been better is if the government had some pre-consultations with us that we could have advised them on some of the outcomes and we might have been able to mitigate some of those outcomes,” he said.

“Some of them are easy to modify but some are not and I'm sure they don't understand the full implications of all the things that are going to happen because of this position.”

Stewart said many restaurants still haven't broken even during the pandemic, adding with these new restrictions, many will not be able to cover their debts in 2022.