Le Petit Vibe's Owner Explains Why He Closed Its Dining Room Over Using Vax Passports

On Wednesday, Montreal restaurant Le Petit Vibe announced it was opting to close its dining room instead of enforcing Quebec's vaccine passport system, which came into effect September 1.

Co-owner Willson Luu told MTL Blog about the reasons for the decision, which, according to the restaurant's social media announcement, "was not an easy decision to make."

Luu started by clarifying that he is fully vaccinated, though he emphasized that he had a choice in the matter.

"Everyone has their right to choose whether they wanted to get vaccinated or not like they have their rights to their own opinion," Luu wrote in an email.

"Our job is feeding people with our delicious food and that makes people happy."

Luu said the onus should not be on business owners to check vaccine passports but rather on the government.

"I believe that the vaccine passport is segregating people. We are not enforcers. We are private citizens just trying to make a living to support ourselves and our families." he said.

"If they want to enforce a rule [...] [or] law then they should hire enforcers to do their job for them instead of making our industry do it for them. Our job as a citizen is to wear a mask, keep our distance from one another and to keep safe."

As Luu explained it, the best way for him to maintain a "safe environment for [...] staff and clients" — continuing to serve food without becoming enforcers of the vaccine passport — is to only offer pickup, takeout and delivery right now.

But he also said he doesn't expect other businesses to follow suit.

"The pandemic is hard enough for all small business owners as it is already. [...] A lot of businesses depend on their clients to walk through their door whether it is to dine in, go to the gym or go see a movie," he said.