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Retail shops in the Glebe and Lansdowne Park may soon be allowed to open on some statutory holidays.
Ottawa’s finance and economic development committee Tuesday voted 8-2 in favour of the Glebe Business Improvement Area’s bid for an exemption to Ontario’s Retail Business Holiday Act.
The law allows a city to permit this if the retail area is within two kilometres of a tourist attraction — in this case the Rideau Canal, a UNESCO heritage site, plus the Canadian Museum of Nature and Lansdowne Park.
The Glebe BIA, which included 100 letters of support from businesses in its application, asked for the city’s permission for retailers to open New Year’s Day, Family Day, Victoria Day, Canada Day, Labour Day and Thanksgiving Day, plus any future holidays declared by the province.
Restaurants, coffee shops and movie theatres, as well as stadiums and arenas, already qualify for the exemption, so it’s not like the Glebe is entirely shut down on holidays.
The Ottawa and District Labour Council, the owner of a grocery store outside of the Glebe and the executive director of the ByWard Market BIA, one of three Ottawa zones to already have the exemption, all spoke against the application.
“If granted, the floodgates will most surely open,” labour council president Sean McKenny told the committee. If employers paid workers a reasonable wage, those workers wouldn’t need to work on stat holidays and instead could spend time with their families.
But Mayor Jim Watson was quick to note the Glebe BIA’s application is the first of its kind since amalgamation and that workers, by law, must be given the right not to work on a holiday.
The mayor said he wants city staff to consult with other BIAs, business organizations and labour groups to see it there’s a desire to expand the exemption to other parts of the city, particularly in 2017, when the city is hoping to draw millions of tourists for the celebrations of the 150th anniversary of Canada’s Confederation.
“I think the fewer regulations we have to tell businesses when to open and how to operate the business the better,” Watson said.
The Glebe BIA has said some store owners may decide not to open on holidays — but at least they would have the choice.
There are no exemptions in Ottawa for businesses to be open Christmas Day, Good Friday or Easter Sunday.
Whole Foods at Lansdowne Park stayed open on Good Friday last year, causing some people to protest and resulting in charges for violating the Retail Business Holiday Act.
Whole Foods later pleaded guilty to one count of carrying on retail business and offering to sell on a retail holiday and received a $30,000 fine, plus a victim fine surcharge worth 25 per cent of that amount.
Charges against the store manager and a second count against the corporation were withdrawn.
If council approves the exemption when it meets on Feb. 10, the first applicable holiday would be Victoria Day in May.
mpearson@postmedia.com
twitter.com/mpearson78
查看原文...
Ottawa’s finance and economic development committee Tuesday voted 8-2 in favour of the Glebe Business Improvement Area’s bid for an exemption to Ontario’s Retail Business Holiday Act.
The law allows a city to permit this if the retail area is within two kilometres of a tourist attraction — in this case the Rideau Canal, a UNESCO heritage site, plus the Canadian Museum of Nature and Lansdowne Park.
The Glebe BIA, which included 100 letters of support from businesses in its application, asked for the city’s permission for retailers to open New Year’s Day, Family Day, Victoria Day, Canada Day, Labour Day and Thanksgiving Day, plus any future holidays declared by the province.
Restaurants, coffee shops and movie theatres, as well as stadiums and arenas, already qualify for the exemption, so it’s not like the Glebe is entirely shut down on holidays.
The Ottawa and District Labour Council, the owner of a grocery store outside of the Glebe and the executive director of the ByWard Market BIA, one of three Ottawa zones to already have the exemption, all spoke against the application.
“If granted, the floodgates will most surely open,” labour council president Sean McKenny told the committee. If employers paid workers a reasonable wage, those workers wouldn’t need to work on stat holidays and instead could spend time with their families.
But Mayor Jim Watson was quick to note the Glebe BIA’s application is the first of its kind since amalgamation and that workers, by law, must be given the right not to work on a holiday.
The mayor said he wants city staff to consult with other BIAs, business organizations and labour groups to see it there’s a desire to expand the exemption to other parts of the city, particularly in 2017, when the city is hoping to draw millions of tourists for the celebrations of the 150th anniversary of Canada’s Confederation.
“I think the fewer regulations we have to tell businesses when to open and how to operate the business the better,” Watson said.
The Glebe BIA has said some store owners may decide not to open on holidays — but at least they would have the choice.
There are no exemptions in Ottawa for businesses to be open Christmas Day, Good Friday or Easter Sunday.
Whole Foods at Lansdowne Park stayed open on Good Friday last year, causing some people to protest and resulting in charges for violating the Retail Business Holiday Act.
Whole Foods later pleaded guilty to one count of carrying on retail business and offering to sell on a retail holiday and received a $30,000 fine, plus a victim fine surcharge worth 25 per cent of that amount.
Charges against the store manager and a second count against the corporation were withdrawn.
If council approves the exemption when it meets on Feb. 10, the first applicable holiday would be Victoria Day in May.
mpearson@postmedia.com
twitter.com/mpearson78
查看原文...
