New NDG businesses struggle with no government support

Sammi Liang and Tony Melki wave from the window of their new NDG restaurant.

Sammi Liang and her husband Toni Melki had always dreamed about opening a restaurant.

“We were set to open March 10 and everything was ready, everything was lined up. And then two days later, the premier of Quebec went on TV and shut down the whole province,” says Melki, from the terrace of Sammi’s Mongolian Delicacies in NDG.    

“I can’t sit here and cry to you about what happened to us, because it happened to a bunch of other people, not just here in Canada but in the whole world.” 

“When we rung in the new year, I mean, who would have thought this would be one of the biggest turning points in modern history?” says the 35-year-old. 

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