Personally, I think Sunday shopping should be allowed year-round. I had never read the Province’s Sunday shopping legislation and I was curious, hypothetically speaking, if the City might be able to enact its own bylaw should Council ever want to do that. But, as I discovered, the Act specifically says that it supersedes any municipal bylaws. I found section 4 (Exercise of conscience or religion) interesting because it appears to allow any business to open on Sunday as long as they close one other day of the week. Depending on the business you’re in, it might make sense to close on, say, Monday instead of Sunday. I wonder if anyone takes advantage of that?
This “conscience or religion” exception means what we really have is not a ban on Sunday shopping, but a legislated six-day retail business week for five months of the year; thou shalt not sell things seven days per week (except those of you covered by section 3). I have some sympathy for all the arguments for the Sunday ban, but the world has moved on. In an increasingly pluralistic society, Sunday has different significance to different people, and none at all to some. And conscience in this context is just another word for choice since, if it’s not for religious reasons, there’s really no justification to feel differently about Sunday than any other day of the week. So it seems sort of arbitrary to limit the business week to six days. Why not five?
This is very much outside the realm of my responsibilities as a councillor, but reading the Act for the first time was a bit of a revelation. In my opinion we’ve reached the day and age where, for better or worse, it should be a retailer’s choice if they want to operate seven days per week.
I’m curious to know (really) whether or not your embrace of the 7-day week extends to your own working life: are you willing to go as far as suggesting that we re-structure commerce so that not only retailers are 7-day operations, but other businesses as well?
I suppose the 7-day week already extends to my own working life. The Retail Business Holidays Act regulates retail businesses, and I don’t work for a retailer. Some of my colleagues work weekend shifts for support purposes, but I do not. Certainly there are many call centers and other non-retailers that operate 24/7. But I would never advocate for an involuntary 7-day work week for individual employees. We’re all protected against that kind of abuse under the Labour Standards Act which regulates the hours of work, rest periods, etc. It seems to offer adequate protection during the seven months when Sunday shopping is allowed, but if further protections are required to implement year-round Sunday shopping, I’m all for it.
It really isn’t about a six or seven day work week — it’s about businesses being able to choose their own opening hours. Here in Stratford, Sobeys tried being open 24/6 (closed Sundays by law) when they first opened. It wasn’t worth it, so they cut back to 7 to 11. It still didn’t work, so they reduced their hours further to 8 to 10, and it now works. Sunday hours at Sobeys are VERY popular, and make sense for that particular business, but maybe not for some others. The government should stay out of the business of telling businesses when they should be open. If they choose not to open on Sundays, for religious, economic, or other reasons, that should be their choice, not the government’s.
The current law makes absolutely no sense. A grocery store, with or without a pharmacy, can be open only if it can run with three or less employees, while a huge “drug” store that also sells groceries, books, and electronics, is exempt. Stores CAN be open on some holidays, such as Canada Day and Victoria Day, but not on others, such as Labour Day, Islander Day (which is not a holiday for me!) and Remembrance Day. Book and video stores, including large ones like Indigo, are exempt. Why can we buy a book or rent a video on Sundays between Christmas and Victoria Day, but not buy parts to repair a plumbing problem or fix our car?
As for employees, there should be enough flexibility in the work schedule to allow them to choose whether or not to work on Sunday. I paid my way through university with a Saturday and Sunday job. Had the particular business I worked for not been one of those on the exempt list, I would not have had that opportunity. I am sure there are many students who, like me back then, would be very happy to work on Sundays. With modern communications tools, the store management does not have to be on site, but can be easily reached if problems come up.
It is time for the government to focus on governing, and not waste its time interfering with private sector commerce.
Let me add, I deliberately added FWIW to the post title. I’m open to the possibility that I am completely ignorant of all the consequences and harsh realities of year-round Sunday shopping. The hesitancy of successive provincial governments to move to year-round Sunday shopping suggests it’s a very divisive political issue (certainly), or they know something I don’t (probably).
I used to view the Sunday shopping ban as a minor inconvenience that benefited the retail workers. However almost all retail jobs have become part-time, presumably to workaround the Labour Standards Act. Retail workers often have two jobs and employers expect that, scheduling around the other employer. With the number of exempt businesses many workers end up working 7-day weeks even with the ban. If the concern is for employees then address that through the Labour Standards Act and give businesses the option to operate on Sunday if they wish.
Additional thoughts: http://ruk.ca/content/smoothing-week
i own and operate a restaurant and sunday shopping has cut the sales of my busiest day in half. now , i am not whinning , simply explaining how this has effected my staff. 3 fulltime front of house shifts eliminated per week . kitchen hours cut by 20 hrs per week . most of my key people have watched their hours cut by up to 25 per month. last time i checked , we where not operating under communist rule. gov should keep their hands outta bidness and let business owners decide based on sound financial decisions…
Pipes… Do you mean that since Sunday Shopping ended your Sunday sales have been cut in half? So even though you, as a restaurant, can operate on Sunday your sales depend heavily on people that would otherwise be out and about shopping elsewhere on Sunday. Have I got that right?