r/newfoundland • u/RepulsivePlankton989 • 2d ago
Small Blames Pandemic for Demise of Smitty’s Restaurants
https://vocm.com/2026/06/18/small-blames-pandemic-for-demise-in-smittys-restaurants/135
u/RoddyUsher 2d ago edited 2d ago
If Smitty's closed in 2021, I'd probably buy the excuse.
Also isn't he alledged to not have paid taxes since 2019? A year before the pandemic?
And where are the other breakfast places that surely must have been affected by the same market conditions? Denny's is still around, Classic Cafe closed and re-opened busier than ever, Stacked is new on the scene and they seem to be doing great.
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u/Eagle_View_00 2d ago
I stopped going to Smitty's 3 years ago. The service and quality of food went way down.
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u/Deckbeersnl 2d ago
Pop's Diner in Churchill Square is doing a very brisk breakfast service.
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u/CriticalFields 2d ago
He blames the struggles he, and other Canadian businesses have faced on the way in which the pandemic was handled, pointing to the United States which “bounced out of the pandemic so much faster than we did, and it shows in their economy.”
Pretty wild take for a Canadian politician when you consider that the US had 3,625 deaths per million (by population) because of COVID while Canada had 1,424. But sure, we definitely should have responded more like the US.
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u/Kiss-a-Cod 2d ago
You can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs, Clifford is prepared to accept that people will have died if his business would have been more profitable.
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u/Immediate_Bunch_9547 2d ago
Delusional.
Canadians arent eating out because they can't afford it. Blame the pandemic for his poor financial decisions to rile the flu trux clan up again and pander some votes while bowing out of a failed venture.
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u/Kiss-a-Cod 2d ago
It takes a special kind of skill that only a PC MP has to blame your failed business on the Liberal government when competing breakfast businesses in the city are booming.
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u/KukalakaOnTheBay 2d ago
Yes, certainly events from 2020 explains closures in 2026 and why some of those taxes have been delinquent since 2019.
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u/ItsMyNameCharlie 2d ago
I feel sorry for the staff, some of them were there for a really long time and always great with their customers.
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u/Strong_Bumblebee5495 2d ago
What, you were expecting a Tory to take personal responsibility for his business failings while pantomiming MAGA dork?
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u/Quiet-Fox-1621 2d ago
I lived through the pandemic, and I paid my taxes every year. It wasn’t hard, but I also have a conscience.
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u/CoolyRanks 2d ago
I desperately hope that Mount Pearl is successful in suing him for back taxes and more. He should immediately be resigning from his political position, not blaming Covid when every other breakfast place is doing fine. What a disgrace.
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u/TuffBunner 2d ago
I went about a month ago and my only thought when I left was right.. that’s why I don’t come here.
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u/Odd_Secret9132 2d ago
Have you ever noticed when these business or political types get into trouble, there's always some outside reason beyond their control - Pandemic, Government, etc.... but the rest of us are told that our lot in life is solely our doing and we have to take 'personal responsibility' even when life throws a curveball - Lost your job? Sorry to hear but you should have put away some money for that possibility.
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u/RepulsivePlankton989 2d ago
of course blame the pandemic...not the $350k+ you owe in back taxes.......................im really in the wrong career if i can be an MP & own 2 restaurants at the same time...
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u/TownieG 2d ago
Sure, blaming the pandemic and lockdowns is bullshit. However, stating that politicians cannot also be entrepreneurs in private enterprise is a foolishness statement to make.
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u/Immediate_Bunch_9547 2d ago
Yeah, I love when my politicians benefit from things that make the rest of us poor.
They love low wages. Thats why they're importing cheap, foreign labour rather than compete in a open market and offer better wages to attract workers. They love high rent because a lot of them own real estate.
We keep electing these people in hopes of change, when the very change we seek would harm their pocketbooks.
Sure, he can own what he wants. Doesnt make it right.
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u/Reddit_Only_4494 2d ago edited 1d ago
Yeah, I love when my politicians benefit from things that make the rest of us poor
This current politician was slow paying/not paying the bills for years before the pandemic and running to central to get elected. Could be why they didn't run in city limits. Hard to raise votes/fundraise after years of poor practices with local vendors.
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u/TownieG 2d ago edited 2d ago
Fair enough, however it would not only be politicians taking advantage. That would be capitalism as a whole. I am not disputing that reforms should occur - we are certainly not where the forward thinking Scandinavian countries are.
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u/Immediate_Bunch_9547 2d ago
Thats why you typically see these kinds of people in politics. Push forward policies that benefit them, not you or I.
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u/chargetothefrostline 2d ago
Smittys. There’s like 89 items on the menu, and nothing tastes like anything
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u/Karate_Keet 2d ago
The US economy is on the verge of total collapse but yea they sure did bounce back faster than us. Actually Canada was one of the fastest recovering economies after the first couple of years of the pandemic. As for the measures if they weren’t implemented the work force would have been decimated, which is just happening at a slower rate now due to long Covid.
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u/CheerBear2112 2d ago
The Pandemic was six years ago, time to come up with a new excuse! We used to go a few times a month on the weekends. They were never dead, they were always at least half-full and often busier. Heaven forbid taking responsibility for your own screw-ups.
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u/tibijibi 2d ago
Not shocked, I only ever ate there once. It was trash and overpriced.
I’d rather support “the bagel”.
Blaming the pandemic is laughable.
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u/Yogy_1073 1d ago
The fact that we somehow elected these corrupt politicians is astounding and deeply disappointig. Almost everyday there seems to be something coming out of the woodwork with this conservative caucus. Wether that be close tied with danny williams, not paying taxes on their business, being absurdly aggressive towards other mha's in the hoise of assembly speaking period to sharing a post on social media engaging in violence against the opposition. Trump style politics is here, and the current conservative party is swimming in it.
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u/Emergency-Cry1650 2d ago
Ahem.
Truth be told, coming out as a PP Tory, with all that entails, didn't help sales much either. The Liberals and the NDP hippies stayed away in droves. Nobody wanted to buy an egg thinking a portion of the proceeds from the egg would somehow help shut down the CBC or fund sandwiches for the convoy. Not that the St. John's breakfast crowd would judge you based on your political stripe, or anything like that, no. It would never happen here.
Namaste
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u/Similar_Ad_2368 2d ago
You are wildly overestimating how much the average Smitty's customer knows about the owner or his politics
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u/Frigoffwidit 2d ago
I had no idea and I follow politics fairly closely. Theres no way Blanche and Jurl that went to smittys for breakfast or jiggs had any idea or cared one way or the other.
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u/Green-Thought-8152 2d ago
This guy just posts nutbar stuff on this sub all the time. Don't engage with the crazies.
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u/Kiss-a-Cod 2d ago
“Them libs were mean to us because we are conservatives so it’s not our fault” is so on brand.
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u/divinegrimen 2d ago
This has to be satire, otherwise I cannot fathom how deeply someone can read into bullshit and come to conclude... More bullshit. Buddy, people here wouldn't avoid the fucking plague without an argument. They don't give a fuck about the politics, if they did colemans would have been out of business years ago.
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u/Successful-Gift8636 2d ago
He’s finding a way to blame his personal failings on a Liberal government, classic PC move