On Oct. 27, Sudbury voters will decide whether or not the city's store hours should be deregulated at the municipal level.
Sudbury remains one of only a few communities in Ontario where, apart from a few exceptions, retail businesses are prevented from opening on Boxing Day, Family Day and the civic holiday in August.
In addition to restrictions on holiday openings, city bylaws require most retail businesses to be closed from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m., Monday through to Saturday, and between 6 p.m. and 5 a.m. on Sunday.
The Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce has fought to deregulate store hours for more than 20 years, and in 2010 Sudbury's mayor, Marianne Matichuk, was elected with a platform to do just that.
But Matichuk was not able to bring a majority of Sudbury's councillors to her side of the issue, and the matter was eventually pushed back to a series of referendum questions for the 2014 municipal election.
On Oct. 27 voters will be asked to answer the three following questions:
'Are you in favour of retail business establishments having the choice to open to the public on Dec. 26?'; 'Are you in favour of retail business establishments having the choice to open to the public on the Civic Holiday, the first Monday in August?'; and, 'Are you in favour of allowing retail business establishments to choose the hours when they are open to the public?'
For the referendum to be binding at least 50 per cent of voters must participate.
Historically, voter turnout for municipal elections in Sudbury has been about 41 per cent, but the 2010 vote attracted 49.75 per cent of eligible voters.
John Querney, the owner of Querney’s Office Plus and co-chair of the Sudbury Chamber’s deregulation working group, said even if voter turnout was below 50 per cent, if a strong plurality of voters supported deregulation the new council would have no choice but to make the bylaw changes.
In 2011, the Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce hired Oraclepoll Research Limited to survey Sudburians about store hours.
The firm surveyed 400 voting age residents in Greater Sudbury and found that 66 per cent of respondents were in favour of store owners setting their own hours of operation.
Thirty per cent of respondents were opposed and four per cent were undecided.
“It's a philosophical thing for me,” Querney said. “I'm not changing my store hours, but I don't like somebody like that (city councillors) telling me how to run my business.”
Querney said he finds the rules arbitrary, since the city's mines, for example, operate at all hours.
He added most stores would not change their hours if the bylaw were lifted, but it would give business owners the flexibility to adapt to particular circumstances.
Sudbury's two Walmarts, he said, could operate until midnight in December, during the holiday rush, as they do in most other Canadian cities.
One or two pharmacies open 24 hours per day would also benefit Sudbury residents, he said, if they require medication at odd hours.
Many people resort to the hospital's emergency department if they need medication in the early hours of the morning, Querney said.
But Derik McArthur, former region 2 (Northern Ontario) director of the United Food and Commerce Workers Union, said deregulating shopping hours would lead some businesses to abuse workers' rights.
“Retail workers deserve a break like everybody else,” he said.
The United Food and Commerce Workers Union has been one of the most vocal supporters of Sudbury's shopping bylaws, and like the Chamber of Commerce, has actively lobbied council to see its side of the argument.
McArthur said Sudbury's poor transit system would leave a lot of low income retail workers – who depend on public transportation – stranded at odd hours.
“Sudbury is a community that respects family,” McArthur said. He added deregulating store hours would lead to an erosion of the quality of life for retail workers.
“There's no real need for 24-hour shopping in my opinion,”McArthur said. “Nobody has provided any solid evidence that there is a need for 24-hour shopping.”
He said a silent majority of Sudbury residents support keeping the store hours bylaws in place.
Voters will settle the matter on Oct. 27.
