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Chamber urges removing all shopping restrictions on Sundays
The province will be consulting business owners and consumers on what hours – and other restrictions – will be changing.
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WINNIPEG — The Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce is urging the Manitoba government to remove all Sunday-shopping restrictions and let retailers set their own hours.
"The Chamber has had a long-standing policy that Manitoba retailers should have the same ability to decide when they open based on consumer demand, as retailers in other provinces do," C of C president and CEO Dave Angus said in a written statement. "This is simply about giving Manitobans more choice and added convenience."
The chamber said that freedom of choice should apply to all retailers, including those in shopping malls which currently dictate the hours their tenants must be open.
Under existing provincial legislation, stores with more than four employees can only be open from noon to 6 p.m. on Sunday.
However, the Selinger government announced in its budget last month that it plans "to loosen the restrictions on Sunday shopping." However, it wants to consult with business, labour and the public before deciding what changes it will make.
In a six-page presentation to the government, the Chamber said Sunday shopping has been extremely popular with Manitoba consumers since it was introduced in 1993. And across the country, more jurisdictions are moving toward either expanding Sunday shopping or eliminating restrictions altogether.
"Taking a prescriptive approach, such as simply adding two hours to the current Sunday shopping hours and allowing retailers to be open only between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m., would not provide the flexibility retailers have been requesting to respond to their customers’ needs," the Chamber said.
"Government would still be dictating store hours without taking into account changing shopping trends, market needs and the current level playing field by exempting certain retailers on Sunday."
murray.mcneill@freepress.mb.ca
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