Popular Oakville restaurant closes down

A popular eatery in north Oakville has been shut down, a casualty of COVID-19 and unpaid rent.

A popular eatery in north Oakville has been shut down, a casualty of COVID-19 and unpaid rent.

Tria Café and Bakery on Old Bronte Rd. near Dundas St., closed suddenly on Sept. 2, just days after a provincial government ban on small business evictions expired.

Tria received the eviction notice and has since been locked out of the premises.

During the provincial election of 2018, Premier Doug Ford made a campaign stop at the café and promised in a Twitter post to look out for small businesses.

According to a report from the CBC, café owner Susu Rahwanji said she had fallen behind by about $51,000 in rent since the pandemic began. The business owner regularly pays about $10,500 each month for rent and had been negotiating with the landlord for some relief but was unsuccessful.

Subsequently, Ontario Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Steve Clark announced plans to extend the eviction ban until the end of this month and make it retroactive to Sept. 1.

The Minister also said Queen’s Park expects the federal government to extend the Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance Program that lets tenants pay 25 per cent of their rent while the landlord is subsidized 50 per cent of the total.

While the operators of Tria welcomed this news, they admitted it may have come too late to save their six-year-old restaurant.

 Doug Ford stopped by Tria Café and Bakery in June of 2018 during his successful bid to become premier of Ontario.

Editor’s note: This version of the story corrects an earlier version that stated other businesses adjacent to Tria also faced eviction. Those businesses are not closed and continue to operate.