Province seeks input on proposed changes to Sunday shopping law

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This article was published 21/04/2012 (5240 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

After years of fending off requests for reforms to Sunday shopping hours, the province’s NDP government is treating the matter with a sense of urgency.

On Friday, it asked Manitobans to make their views known on the controversial subject, setting a three-week deadline (May 11) for responses.

At the same time, Labour Minister Jennifer Howard announced that a committee comprised of representatives of business and labour will be asked to review the issue and make recommendations to government. It, too, is expected to report back within a few weeks.

“If we can, we’d like to change the law this session so that (new) Sunday shopping hours can be in place certainly for the fall when people start to do the big holiday shopping,” Howard said Friday.

The first inkling that the Selinger government had shifted its thinking on Sunday shopping came in Tuesday’s provincial budget. Before that, the government had maintained that the current law, allowing municipalities to approve shopping between noon and 6 p.m., was a reasonable compromise between the need to shop and the need for rest on Sundays.

Spruce Woods MLA Cliff Cullen, the Conservative labour critic, believes he knows why the government has a renewed sense of urgency about Sunday shopping.

“To me, this is a bit of a distraction. They’re trying to distract Manitobans from the fact that we just had nine new and additional taxes added to all Manitobans (in Tuesday’s budget),” Cullen said. Better, he said, would be policies that made provincial businesses more competitive.

The provincial Conservatives’ policy on Sunday shopping hours had mirrored that of the NDP. Only the provincial Liberals had called for liberalized hours.

Cullen said the Tories aren’t necessarily opposed to an expansion of Sunday shopping hours. But he said they will want to see the government’s legislation before passing judgment.

Howard said the Labour Management Review Committee (LMRC) will be asked for ideas on how to loosen restrictions on store hours while being mindful of the need to give workers time with their families.

Brandon Chamber of Commerce president Cam Clark said he welcomes the opportunity businesses have to provide input online through the provincial Labour Department’s website.

“We think that’s probably a good approach,” Clark said. “From a chamber of commerce perspective, we applaud the fact that the provincial government recognizes that it has Sunday shopping rules that are more restrictive than most other parts of the country and that they are at least taking a look at this.”

Clark added businesses should be allowed to mandate the hours they need to have, and that it should be set on an industry-by-industry basis.

“You have to take a logical approach and that if it’s Christmas on a Sunday, you are not obligated to be open, but that does fall in line with putting the power in the hands of business people to determine the need and how best do we meet that need,” Clark said.

As far as cross-border shopping issues, Clark said the Sunday shopping regulations can also be used to create better competitive circumstances for Canadian businesses.

“It can combat the idea that American stores are sometimes open at a time when Manitoba stores are not allowed to be open,” Clark said. “This at least takes away some of those restrictions and the incentive to go somewhere else.”

Some provinces allow for shopping from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Sunday, while most have no restrictions at all. Under Saskatchewan law, full-time workers in stores with more than 10 employees must get two consecutive days off. That’s an option Manitoba might consider while changing Sunday hours, Howard said.

Although the province will set new parameters for Sunday shopping, municipalities will continue to have the final say on store hours, she said. Shopping restrictions on Good Friday, Easter Sunday, Labour Day, Canada Day, Remembrance Day, Christmas Day and New Year’s Day will remain the same.

Manitoba Federation of Labour president Kevin Rebeck said the LMRC could meet as early as next week. The committee consists of five business and five labour representatives. It is chaired by Winnipeg lawyer Michael Werier.

Rebeck was hopeful that the committee could come up with a compromise position. But he acknowledged that it won’t be easy. Labour has resisted changing the Retail Businesses Holiday Closing Act, while much of the business community supports wide-open Sunday shopping.

“There will be some tough discussions,” Rebeck said.

» Winnipeg Free Press and Brandon Sun