Save Our Sundays launches petition to stop Sunday shopping

Petition to Stop Sunday Shopping in Nova Scotia


 Media, business, and tourism had a very good campaign to convince Nova Scotians that Sunday shopping would be good for Nova Scotians. The retail sector, that was normally closed on Sundays, were often compared to other occupations who work on Sundays such as restaurants, call centers, police, hospitals etc. It was unfair then to expect retail workers to work on Sundays because others chose to do so.

We do not expect our government to work on Sundays because church ministers do. We certainly don't expect Tom to buy a new car because Susan bought one. Morally, it was wrong to expect retail workers to give up their Sundays. In 2004, Nova Scotians went to the polls in a binding plebiscite to decide on the issue. http://novascotia.ca/news/release/?id=20041017001

Nova Scotians have said no to more Sunday shopping. In a binding, provincewide plebiscite held on Saturday, Oct. 16, with 49 of 55 municipalities reporting, the unofficial total provincial vote opposed to Sunday shopping was 55 per cent.

Unofficial results on the ballot's first question -- should there be Sunday shopping (in retail businesses not now permitted to be open on Sunday) -- are:
98,726 No (55 per cent)
81,110 Yes (45 per cent)

"I want to thank Nova Scotians for voting on this important public policy issue," said Justice Minister Michael Baker. "Our government made the commitment to let Nova Scotians decide the Sunday shopping issue, and today the majority made its collective choice clear. Sunday shopping will remain as it is now -- governed by the Retail Business Uniform Closing Day Act."

Two local grocery chains decide to take the government to court over the issue, as they did not have a level playing field. Pete's Frootique a local grocer subdivided his stores so he could open up on Sundays, while the two chains also subdivided their stores to open on Sundays. Rodney MacDonald premier at that time, said it was ok for Pete Frootique to subdivide , while the grocery chains were not. The issue went to the courts. The general public was under the impression , that the courts struck down the Sunday shopping ban. This isn't what the courts ruled on. The courts ruled on discrimination, not the Retail Business Uniform Closing Day Act.

http://decisions.courts.ns.ca/nsc/nssc/en/item/10101/index.do?r=AAAAAQAPU3VuZGF5IHNob3BwaW5nAQ - on the courts web site it clearly states,
"Well, what this application is about is not about social or political considerations. It’s not about the appropriateness of Sunday shopping, nor is it about the power of the legislature to pass an Act dealing with Sunday shopping. This case, this application is about one fact and it is about the scope of the Cabinet’s power to pass Regulations pursuant to the Act."

http://www.gov.ns.ca/legislature/hansard/han60-1/house_06nov01.htm#I[Page%20918]

MS. MAUREEN MACDONALD spoke at the Legislature on WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2006
"Mr. Speaker, but certainly their position added to the confusion and perpetuated the idea that somehow the courts had struck down Sunday shopping in our province. That simply did not occur."

 We, the undersigned, call on the Nova Scotia government to stop Sunday shopping in Nova Scotia for the following reasons.

1) It is not right for a government to support playing one occupation off against another. Other occupations have the right to lobby and protest that government to be included in any law;

2) The Plebiscite was binding, Nova Scotians voted No;

3) Clearly the courts never ruled on the Retail Business Uniform Closing Day Act. Stores by law should have never been allowed to open. The courts did not rule on this.

4) Sunday shopping has not improved family life but has hurt it;

5) Prices have increased since Sunday shopping and its costs have been passed down to the consumers. Low income and seniors struggle to pay bills.

6) Valerie Payn spokeperson for the Chamber of Commerce admits that there is no extra money being made by being open on Sundays "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."

7) High gas prices hurt us all by stores being open seven days a week. More people are driving , yet spending more in stores is not happening. We can help reduce gas prices with less store hours.

8) Our environment comes into play, with so many cars on our roads and pollution. We can help cut emissions by closing stores one day a week.

9) Lights are on seven days a week, adding costs to us the consumers .There is no extra money by being open another day. So who pays for this? We do!

10) Most important, one day of no traffic and a day that is quiet. A day that is different from all the rest.

11) If we can push for a family day in February, Why not push for 52 family days.!

Click on the Link to sign the petition and pass it on to others on Facebook,  Twitter, email etc.

Petition to Stop Sunday Shopping in Nova Scotia

Sunday shopping hours in Manitoba are going to be relaxed

Another province in Canada is going to relax Sunday shopping hours?? Reading this article has me fuming. I thought Nova Scotia was the last place in Canada to have wide open Sunday shopping. http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/editorials/sunday-shopping-for-votes-148055965.html. Apparently Manitoba has limited hours that you can shop on Sundays.


http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/editorials/sunday-shopping-for-votes-148055965.html

" Eight months ago, Premier Greg Selinger said the NDP had no plans to change the province's Sunday shopping laws. The premier said he believed the existing law struck the right balance between access to shopping and providing opportunities for families to spend time together."



Why the sudden change? You obviously cannot trust any party for making decisions and keeping them. All across Canada, times are tough. Gas prices have risen along with power, food, you name it. How is extending hours going to give anybody any more money to spend? This is an obvious move to please business' who don't care about their employees. It's a move to destroy what little small business makes on a Sunday with limited hours. Manitoba has limited Sunday shopping hours 12-6. This will all change with this government who obviously is caving in to business. So many people do not realize by supporting Sunday shopping, it will effect them down the road. Banks have opened up in our area on Saturday and Sundays. At one point in time, this job was a Monday to Friday job. Workers who are off on week-ends don't think that Sunday shopping will effect them, but it will when pressure amounts to open them too. As a society, we have become a monkey see, monkey do society. If you jump over a bridge, does it mean I have to? If governments are under pressure to look after the environment, how is allowing Sunday shopping wide open a step forward? Encouraging cars on our roads seven days a week 24/7isn't going to work. Manitoba could have taken a step forward and banned Sunday shopping all together.

Using cross border shopping is an excuse to open stores with no limited Sunday shopping. With stores closed, power can be saved with the lights off. Families would also have that time to spend together. Family time should be important to all Canadians. It's obvious by the number of provinces that have legislated a Holiday just for families to be together (Family day). They gave one day, when we can have 52 Sundays. Don't get me wrong, a family day would be great, but let's get the 52 of those days back all across Canada.





http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/story/2012/04/17/mb-province-taxes-budget-user-fees-manitoba.html

What is the difference between a binding plebiscite and binding arbitration?

On  March 7th, Openfile.ca reports on a suggestion to do a story on Sunday shopping five years later: "no such thing as a binding plebiscite" .  Since then I have wondered

and thought really hard about this and honestly I have more questions.

 

“There is no such thing as a binding plebiscite,” said Dana Doiron, Director of Policy and Communications at Elections Nova Scotia.

“It’s a test of the wind.” “A plebiscite or referendum is not really binding on political bodies in legal terms,” said Wayne MacKay, who teaches constitutional and public law at Dalhousie University.

 

So now I have questions. What is the difference between a binding plebiscite and binding arbitration?  On Saturday, March 24, 2012, I submitted this story for a suggestion to openfile.ca and asked them

to report on it . Needless to say there wasn't a response from openfile.ca. I have to wonder if a binding plebiscite isn't real, then is binding arbitration real?  Obviously, we are not being told the truth as to what's really happening here?  Nova Scotians deserve to know the truth. After all, we had a binding plebiscite in 2004. What do they mean by binding? None of these questions have been answered. Our money was spent on a democratic vote and excuses are made so that our politicians are not held accountable for ignoring a democratic vote. It's time we speak up. You can contact openfile.ca here- http://halifax.openfile.ca/contact-openfile . Ask

them why our suggestion wasn't reported? Our provincial newspaper would also be a good place to ask why they are not reporting this story. Contact them here- http://thechronicleherald.ca/about/contact-us

You can also contact our local radio talk show hosts and ask them why they are not reporting this? A binding plebiscite isn't real? No such a thing? Funny as it seems, this is news

and our radio talk show hosts don't say a word about it. Doesn't this have you wondering just a bit?  Contact News957 - http://www.news957.com/shows

Openfile.ca reports ""no such thing as a binding plebiscite"

Have you ever heard about the web site openfile.ca ? You can suggest a story and they investigate it and report it. So that's what I did. I suggested a story and they reported it. Claire Michalewicz, a reporter from open file came up with this - Sunday shopping five years later: "no such thing as a binding plebiscite". 

 “There is no such thing as a binding plebiscite,” said Dana Doiron, Director of Policy and Communications at Elections Nova Scotia.

“It’s a test of the wind.” “A plebiscite or referendum is not really binding on political bodies in legal terms,” said Wayne MacKay, who teaches constitutional and public law at Dalhousie University.

 How can this be so? How can this be true? 55% of Nova Scotians voted "No" to Sunday shopping in 2004 in a binding plebiscite. But wait, they tell us it's not real? Were we all on drugs? Seriously folks, this is serious at best to be mislead by those whom we trust and elect to represent us to do the right thing. Why didn't a lawyer at the time of the plebiscite speak up about this? Why did all parties remain silent about this? Another serious issue could come up and another plebiscite or  referendum  could be held. But our government isn't going to be held accountable by law?  I will point out that to my knowledge none of this has ever been ruled by a judge. This raises a lot of questions, that should be answered by our MLAs, and by our premier.  If you have read this article from openfile.ca, you will notice not one MLA in our legislature responded for an interview with openfile. If you have nothing to hide, why not answer some questions??  It's really sad that if this story is true, we were all made fools of. What a slap in the face to people who fought in wars that died for us, giving us that right to vote.  If you remember the sponsorship scandal in Nova Scotia, our politicians were held accountable. So why is this any different? A binding plebiscite implies that the government must abide by it.  But wait, now were are told there is no such a thing? We deserve answers! It's no wonder people have given up voting.  Whether you are for or against Sunday shopping isn't the point. It's about trust, it's about honoring a vote. We were made fools of !  We were mislead! Please pass on this article to all you're friends, post it on facebook, twitter and on any social media. Drop an email to our legislative members and ask for answers.  http://nslegislature.ca/index.php/people/members/sort/name/

Diana Whalen's quest for a family day Holiday in February

On January 5th on News 95.7Fm on the Rick Howe show , I was listening to Rick and his guest Diana Whalen. Every year she has been pushing for Nova Scotia to adopt a day in February as a family day . It's quite ironic that her party supported the government in taking away 52 family days and now she wants to give us one back. I'm wondering how long it will last if she is lucky enough to convince the Dexter government to legislate it? I'm sure the push to have Holiday shopping implemented in Nova Scotia will be the next push for big business and government. If Diana can get her way, she needs the support of retail workers to get this Holiday. After it's law , the government can take away this so called family day from retail workers. It sickens me to see what's going on in Ontario. The push is to take Holidays from workers who love to be home on Christmas and that so called family day in that province. http://www.thestar.com/opinion/letters/article/1111336--working-on-stat-holidays
What people have to realize is, this is like a virus. Once one city has it, others complain of an unfair advantage. Little by little government and business open up stores on Holidays just like they did with Sunday shopping. People became outraged that this has happened. It reminds me of the power increases our province gets every year. The people rage and forget all about it , until next year. Big business counts on the fact that you'll forget. It's called control. Business is very successful in controlling their employees. Did you ever hear of divide and conquer? Using fear against employees who do not want to work on Sundays? Telling other staff that these employees aren't team players because they don't want to work. They don't want employees to get along. A very small percentage will refuse the majority of them cave in.

Here's a few examples from letters to the editor in the star-



How about you work Christmas for $10.25 an hour or any other stat day like say “family” day. Or is that just for some people to spend time with their families.



To quote Animal Farm, some animals are more equal than others and deserve time off with family than say the CEO of a company who probably earns more than say $10.25 an hour.
First you state, “Store staff would still be protected under the Employment Standards Act, which gives people the right to refuse work without repercussion on statutory holidays.” This is 100 per cent false.
I used to work in retail and enjoyed my job. I was even an assistant manager at a major bookstore. I knew going in that nights and Saturdays were part of the job. But at least I had one day off to spend with family — Sunday, and if Monday was a stat holiday, woowhoo, I had two days off in a row.
Then came Sunday shopping in “tourist” areas. Amazing what became a tourist area. But not to worry. we minions were told, no one would be forced to work Sundays, a religious days for some of us, the government would protect us.
Well we were told by phone (as they would not put it in writing) by our head office that if we refused to work Sundays we might as well start looking for a new job. So I left a job I loved and started working in offices where most holiday shoppers work Monday to Fridays.
If I had taken it to the Labour board, who would they believe: my employer or me — the employer who said all of a sudden I wasn’t a “good” worker any more or me the employee who refused to work Sundays?
Now I would like to semi retire as a junior senior, (as the Star also thinks boomers are hogging jobs on the younger generation) and trying to find a nice part time job Monday to Fridays, days or evenings and the occasional Saturday, but not Sundays.
Most retail stores advertise you “must” work Sundays.. check out the ads for any retailers like WalMart or Loblaws. So no matter that the government promised that no one would be penalized if they didn’t want to work Sundays why are retailers allow to advertise that you MUST work Sundays in their ads? In other words don’t even bother to apply. And in this economy who is going to tell their boss “no I won’t work Sunday or Stat holidays”? Heck I’m willing to work any hours the other six days as I go to church Sundays and have volunteered at the same organization the last 14 years on Sunday afternoons why am I told no job if I won’t work Sundays.
Now you try to tell me no one will “have” to work Stat holiday..oh please give your heads a shake. How can you lie in black and white. There is only so much money you can spend and if you spend it Sunday or other holidays you won’t spent it Monday to Saturdays. If people are already in debt with spending how about giving them a day or two not to spend for a change.
If you want to say well not everyone does Christmas or Easter, then guarantee that Christians who do will not have to work those days if they do honour those holy days. But then that would discriminate wouldn’t’ it? Kinda of a “Catch 22”. Why should only those that to celebrate those days get it off.

Margaret Grenier, Halton Hills


Do we not have enough time to shop as it is? You argue that “this doesn’t mean every store would be welcoming customers on Christmas Day,” but it does. If your nearest competitor is open, you’re compelled to open too.
And suggesting that employees are “protected” by legislation is frightfully naive. If I refuse to work on Christmas Day and find myself laid off in January (a traditionally slow time for retailers), I can’t prove one has anything to do with the other.
This has nothing to do with Christianity and everything to do with work-life balance. Retail employees are people, too.

Ken Breadner, Waterloo







This is why Sundays or any Holiday has to be legislated to close them all down.
I have to wonder if this is just for the government? Another day off? Why doesn't this winter break in February include restaurants, call centers, coffee establishments? As I listen to Rick speak with her about this Holiday. He's all for it. A break in the winter sounded good to him. Rick has been very good to me. He has let me speak on the Sunday shopping issue on several occasions and I'm very happy he has let our side be heard, whether he agrees with it or not. I can remember Rick Howe telling me that we can never turn back the clock on Sunday shopping. But Rick, if we can push for one family day in February, why can't we push for 52 family days? Remember them?
They were called Sundays. I just don't get it?? I would love to get on Rick's show just to speak with him and the call ins. Don't get me wrong, I'm not against families having time together. 53 days of time to spend with our families would be a lot better than one day. I heard that small business opposes one family day, yet the real cost that's hurting them is the introduction of Sunday shopping. Should I say it was the introduction of illegally allowed Sunday shopping. I wrote Diana Whalen and asked her about Sunday shopping and guess what? Not an email or a comment from her or her office. Just love it, not any politician in Nova Scotia is willing to speak about the truth. I'd be real happy to interview Diana Whalen on You Tube to share her point of view. But no one wants to talk about Sunday shopping. Let's hide it under the carpet and pretend it did not happen. Rodney MacDonald our former premier will go down in history by ignoring a binding vote with all parties supporting him. At the end of the day, I'm hoping that Nova Scotians wake up and realize that 52 family days are worth fighting for. Those 52 family days did not cost businesss’ any money with stores closed. Considering that power has increased in Nova Scotia, power bills could save business's thousands of dollars if they were closed on Sundays. Food for thought.

Links to stories - http://www.halifaxnewsnet.ca/Article-de-blogue/b/10283/Ricks-Rants-Monday-February-16th09

http://www.thecoast.ca/halifax/give-us-a-break/Content?oid=2426085