York Region holiday-hours bylaw creates ‘political hot potato’

Theglobeandmail.com
Andrew Savory
Dec. 17, 2017

Jim Koppens was fed up with all the open signs he saw hanging in store windows on statutory holidays near his work in Markham, Ont.

The issue for Mr. Koppens, an assistant meat manager at a Loblaws near the Markville Mall, was that the stores were not in tourist areas at least not according to Ontario's Retail Business Holidays Act (RBHA), which grants exemptions to retailers and grocers in such areas, allowing them to open when the majority of similar businesses are closed.

Mr. Koppens said he began calling the police with the aim of having the stores fined, but to no avail. Markville Mall was one of 31 businesses that received exemptions between 1995 and Dec. 31, 2016, on the grounds that they were located in or near tourist hubs such as the Pacific Mall and Vaughan Mills, according to a report prepared for York Region, which encompasses nine municipalities north of Toronto, including Markham.

For instance, Oak Ridges Food Market in Richmond Hill, Ont., asked for an exemption after being ticketed "three or four times" for opening its doors on statutory holidays, property manager Terry Cruickshank said.

This past Thursday, York Regional Council upheld a bylaw allowing all grocers and retailers in any of the region's municipalities to remain open 364 days a year with the exception of Christmas.

"My fear is that over time, statutory holidays will be forced into our workweek. Businesses have the most to gain – and workers the most to lose. We have families, and I worry that this will impact our time with them," said Mr. Koppens, who has been a United Food and Commercial Workers union member for 31 years.

The bylaw is consistent with similar legislation in British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan, where stores can be open year-round. Before Thursday, most Ontario retailers weren't eligible to open during the nine provincial statutory holidays.

Markham Mayor Frank Scarpitti, one of the York Regional Council members outvoted 17-3 when the bylaw was originally passed on Nov. 16, spearheaded an attempt to block it with an impromptu addition to the agenda at a council meeting on Thursday in Newmarket.

Mr. Scarpitti said the bylaw was drawn up in response to the council's frustration with an overload of requests in the region for RBHA exemptions.

"They were tired of having to sift through hearings asking for these exemptions, so they came up with blanket legislation," said Mr. Scarpitti, whose motion was defeated. The bylaw will take effect on Jan. 1.

York Regional Council staff reached out to each of the nine municipalities, receiving support from eight, and spoke with local chambers of commerce. "The business community feedback mirrored the feedback of the local municipalities," the report said.

But John Cartwright, president of the Toronto and York Region Labour Council, said it wasn't enough and that the bylaw will remain a hot topic as Ontario enters an election year. "I think it will become a bit of a political hot potato. There are two galling sides to this: One is people will be forced to be available year-round, and the other is it's such an aberration of any democratic norms, of not speaking to the people who will be hugely impacted," Mr. Cartwright said.

Carmen Trimarchi remembers the last time there was this much commotion about when retail employees should be asked to work. It was June, 1992, and Ontario had just put an end to an 85-year ban on retailers being open on Sundays. But Mr. Trimarchi, who takes pride in accommodating the needs of both his customers and his employees, said he's not upset.

"We found our customers wanted to shop on those days and some of our employees even requested to work on those days for time-and-a-half wage," said Mr. Trimarchi, a co-owner of Vince's Market since 1986. The family-run grocery store serves about 3,000 residents in the village of Sharon, part of the town of East Gwillimbury, Ont.