The city of Toronto is asking the owner of an Etobicoke barbecue restaurant to pay $187,000 in costs it incurred when police tried to enforce COVID-19 lockdown orders at his business last year.
“The government is completely overreaching in an effort to close down small businesses and destroy our economy, and there seems to be a larger globalist agenda at play,” said Skelly.
On Nov. 26, 2020, a day after the restaurant was shut down, Skelly and his supporters sought to break into his establishment from an adjoining area separated by a wall and reopen for business. He was then arrested and charged with a number of criminal and non-criminal offences, including trespassing and obstructing the police.
Ross said that if Skelly refuses to comply, the city will pursue legal actions with the “next step,” which would be filing a formal statement of claim.
Skelly has raised roughly $335,000 through Go Fund Me, and has so far spent $10,000 on criminal proceedings, which he said should be “thrown out right away.”
“This is a civil issue, not a criminal issue,” Skelly said.