Friday, September 23, 2011

Should Toronto stores be open on holidays?

When I came across this story on CTV's web site in Toronto "Should Toronto stores be open on holidays?" I just had to respond, thinking that the station would actually put my comments on their web site. How wrong I was to

believe that they would actually do it? It's not hard to see that Sunday shopping is still an issue in Toronto even though they had Sunday shopping for years. Mark writes " Enough is enough already. At one time there was no Sunday shopping, it was actually a family day, that's right, a family day once a week instead of once a year. I am dead against retail stores opening on holidays, especially Christmas. Employee's who work at these retails stores are given very little options as they are told they have to work. I remember when Sunday shopping was brought in, the government said that employers wouldn't punish employees who wouldn't work, but we all know what happened. How much more money do these stores need and how many more things do we as the consumers need to buy. It is getting ridiculous and out of hand. Enough already!! ".

Mark could have not put it any plainer. It's beyond ridiculous to open stores on holidays and have to pay employee's time and a half to work these shifts. Then to pass the extra costs of doing this down to the consumers is preposterous. It is effecting low income people and seniors with higher prices, because these business' are greedy. It's obvious that prices have to increase with extra costs and extra wages on holidays if stores are allowed to open.

Even though some provinces have laws protecting retail workers from working on Sundays, the pressures are still there and in most cases companies find a way around this to make employees work. Manner writes " Here is the problem. When the NDP first brought this to Ontario in the form of Sunday shopping they said employees could refuse and opt out of working. THAT WAS A LIE. I was in university and working in retail. Many of us practicing Christians refused and this caused huge problems at work. The pressure to work on Sunday was at first implicit, then explicit, then not even up for discussion. The same thing will happen here. Why do we keep eroding the majority Judeo-Christian culture and tradition in favour of a souless shopping culture? Take a stand for the family, tradition, and common sense. "

I'm happy that Manner brought it up about common sense. I remember when we had the debate here in Nova Scotia, Tourism and big business hammered away with this common sense argument. You can not legislate common sense! A lot of people bought into that argument and to be honest, big business and Tourism sucked a lot of people in with this nonsense. As many of you may be aware, the same line of the common sense argument is being used in Alberta. I'm speaking about the law which will stop you from using a cell phone and combing you're hair will be out lawed etc . Anything that can take away you're attention from driving a motor vehicle will be outlawed. So lets get this straight. I'm all for laws legislating common sense. If we have to legislate laws for serious cases like safety, why would any company not use common sense and give there employees Sundays off? Why would they not use common sense and close on Holidays? If it's not legislated, business's don't use common sense and we all need to wake up before we lose it all.



Beaucha writes " It is about time. Stores should have the option to open 24/7 365 days. Please do not use the old argument about family time etc. I worked in the manufacturing sector and we ran all all plant sites 24/7 365 days. If I recall right we all survived and enjoyed the holidays as do the police, firefighters, hospitals etc.



Beaucha's argument is like so many people's arguments that were planted into their heads when the Sunday shopping debate happened all across our country. It's not right that one occupation is played off against another occupation. Just because the manufacturing sector ran all it's plants 24/7 , doesn't mean that other occupations should have to do the same. We do not demand letter carriers to work on Sundays or holidays because police, Firefighters, and Hospitals work them do we?

We do not expect Motor Vehicle employee's to work on Sundays & holidays because church ministers do, do we?

Being human we all need to accept that we are all different. What works for the police may not work for a retail worker. What works for a doctor may not work for a restaurant worker. For occupations that do not mind working on Sundays or holidays to decide what another occupations that do not, is unfair and preposterous.

Comments were also made to the effect that if restaurants, call centers etc all have to work on Sundays and holidays, what makes retail workers so special? Again, playing one occupation against another is wrong. If other non essential services like restaurants etc want Sundays or holidays off, can't they lobby the government to have laws closing them down? I'm all for a common day off for all non essential services. Holidays are Holidays.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Response to Valerie's article Sunday Shopping 5 Years Later

In case you haven't read,"Valerie Payn's" article in the Chronicle Herald, the story can be found here titled "Sunday Shopping 5 Years Later" . She speaks about change and how we are scared of change and how good it was for Nova Scotia. She's got to be kidding! This is a quote by Valerie Payn " Given that per capita expenditure (adjusted for inflation) has not increased it appears also that the opportunity to shop an extra day has not driven people to purchase what they don’t need any more than they did before, they can just do it at a time that is more convenient to them."


We have told the good people of Nova Scotia, that there would not be any extra money by opening another day of the week. Valerie has admitted that this is the case. I really do not get it that change so she calls it, is good for her members. It's an extra cost of opening their stores on another day. This so called "change" has cost employers an extra day of costs. I'm speaking about wages & lights.

Costs are also passed down to us the consumers. Business' won't absorb the costs, it's passed down to all of us. Should we like change, when it has cost us so much?

She sure has stirred up a hornets nest. I came across this article titled " Valerie Payn’s piss pot". The issue then went on radio, Mark Parent a Former cabinet minister for the Rodney MacDonald government speaks with Rick Howe , be sure to listen to his interview with him here.

One caller called in to Rick Howe's show and made the comment that Tim Horton employee's , Restaurants , Call centers etc all had to work on Sundays, how is it any different? I have always hated that comparison. This argument was used by the Chamber of Commerce several times to gain sympathy for their cause. It's comparing people who chose to work on Sundays verses those who did not chose to work on Sundays. It's like expecting letter carriers to work on Sundays, because church ministers do. Really think about it! How many comparisons were used to all those millions of you that are already off on Sundays?

Having said that, I think the proper thing to do is let these employees that work in Tim Hortons etc decide whether they want to have Sundays as a day of rest or not? If they do not want to work on Sundays, I would like to suggest to them, why not lobby you're legislative members. I personally would stand with you and speak out with you. If our letter carriers and MLA's have Sundays off, surely these people who pay taxes and vote should have that right if they want it.

As the debate heated up , I also had the opportunity to speak with Rick Howe on News 95.7 FM, click here for my interview with Rick. I sure appreciate Rick allowing us to get our point across, though I still wish I had more time to speak with Nova Scotians about what we have lost.

Can we go back? Why can't we? I have a hard time understanding why people seem to buy into this crap and at the same time over 8,000 people in a facebook group are pushing for a one family day in February. One family day, when we can have 52 of them. Remember our government lied to us and broke the law. As citizens of the province of Nova Scotia, it's up to us to hold the government accountable. Let's make a stand! Let's do what's right! The Chamber of Commerce hasn't come clean on what the government has done to us. Why?

Monday, March 14, 2011

The simple solution to the price increase in gas

As the debate rages on about gas prices and how it effects us, one has to wonder why we continue to remain silent about it. Why don't we ban buying gas and shopping at the same time one day a week? Since gas is pushing food prices up, it only makes sense to consider pushing for a shopping ban as well. I had a few people tell me that gas prices aren't connected to Sunday shopping. You have to be kidding! Don't we use gas to fill our cars up to go to these stores an extra day? Don't companies use large trucks to transport their goods ? They all use gas and with the price increases, we are getting screwed big time. Not only will gas and our groceries continue to cost us more,but our power bills as well. With stores being forced to close on a Sunday, saving on gas and lights would be an asset, but we cannot do it with out your support. We need to pressure our governments to do something about it. Bring the ban back on Sunday shopping for our families, environment, and finally to save some of that money in our wallets.
Big business is controlling our government. It's hard to believe the power these people have over our government. As they continue to take from us , I have to wonder where will it stop? How much will we continue to allow them to take? Isn't it time that we do something about it?
If anyone decided to steal from a store they would be charged. These legalized crooks (oil companies) are stealing from us big time and we all need to be responsible citizens. To be responsible we can all take the right approach and do something about this instead of remaining silent. Think about it. How much more will they take from us , if we continue remaining silent? Something to think about.

Friday, February 11, 2011

TD Banks open on Sundays

As I watched the commercials on ATV this past two weeks, I'm shaking my head! 300 TD Banks across the country are now open on Sundays. After hearing that, some memories came back to me of an incident that took place before the 2004 Sunday shopping plebiscite, when I went to my local bank and Sunday shopping came up.One teller thought it was the greatest thing to be able to shop on Sunday. However, another teller asked her if she wanted to work on Sunday. The funny part about that conversation was that she never answered that question. She dodged it every time she was asked.."do you want to work on Sundays also"?
I have always believed two wrongs never make a right and I would not wish this on any families that work in banks who would rather be home on Sundays. I have to wonder about the old saying " What comes around goes around". Has this come to bite those who work in banks that wanted Sunday shopping? It's sad to see that it obviously has come back to bite them and with greed in the picture, more banks will follow suit.
I was just reading an article titled " Sunday banking decision reflection of our busy times" by Joe Belanger of the London Free Press. People today have it pounded in their heads that we are rushed so bad that we don't have enough time to get everything done.This is a crock of BS is being feed to the general public. I know several cases of people complaining about stores being closed on holidays also. One gentleman wanted to shop on a Thursday and he couldn't. It was his day to shop! This same gentleman was shopping on a Wednesday before a major snow storm. He certainly made time the day before when he knew a storm was coming the next day. The majority of people shop the day before a storm and stay home the day after. Why can't they do it on Sundays? Folks it's a line being used by the media to get you to accept shopping hours and now banking hours on Sundays. I can see all the red faces in these banks that support and shop on Sundays. Sadly it has come back to bite you.