As we look ahead to, perhaps, the beginning of the end of the pandemic, society and the world is slowly but surely shifting back to what it once was... kind of.

Jan Verwey, the owner of Tornados, says that her restaurant is looking forward to getting back to how things used to be.

"We understand everyone’s comfort levels are at different stages, and we respect them. But having our work lives changed so much and so often in two years, the government removing the last restriction is showing us all that there’s an end in sight, and hopefully, we can all have a sense of normalcy back in our lives."

Verwey took a neutral stance on the masking mandate being lifted while noting that she wants customers to do whatever they feel comfortable with.

"I think most people in the restaurant industry have been ready to get back to normal since the beginning," says Verwey. "We’ve kind of been made out to be the bad guy with the government shutting us down three separate times for indoor dining, so now it’s going to take people a while to feel comfortable going out again. People need some time with no restrictions in place to realize and see for themselves that dining in at a restaurant is just as safe as doing anything else."

The province dropped the masking mandate as of 12:01 a.m. this morning.