Doug Ford to allow more stores to open on Family Day and Victoria Day

“Just throwing that out there, we’ll look into it and find out how realistic it is,” Ford said at the time. 

On Friday, shortly after the government announced its controversial plan to exempt the premier and ministers from access to information requests, it released an official proposal for more shopping.

The changes would give retailers the option to remain open on the two non-religious holidays — starting with Victoria Day on May 18. Eligible employees, the government release said, would earn time-and-a-half pay.

“By giving retailers the option to open on Family Day and Victoria Day, we are supporting employees and businesses while giving families more choice and convenience to shop at their local retail stores,” said the release, quoting Stephen Crawford, minister of public and business service delivery and procurement.

A few hours earlier, Crawford fielded questions from Queen’s Park reporters on the plan to kill public access to communications among the premier, cabinet ministers and their aides. 

Changes to shopping laws would create a more “consistent approach for businesses and workers,” while allowing Ontarians the “convenience” of shopping, the government said.

The proposal would remove the two holidays from the Retail Business Holidays Act and also remove the authority of municipal governments to require stores remained closed on those days.

When Ford first spoke of the idea in February, he mentioned a recent conversation with the Retail Council of Canada that, he said, wanted change.  

In a statement sent to the Star on Friday, the retail council said the government’s decision gives “our sector the same operational choice enjoyed by almost every other industry.”

Allowing stores to open on Family Day and Victoria Day could inject up to $1.7 billion into Ontario’s economy but, an RCC spokesperson said, “each retailer will perform their own cost-benefit analysis, weighing holiday pay against consumer demand.”

New Democrat Leader Marit Stiles said Ford’s policy is based on flights of fancy, including his Family Day attempt to shop at a closed Home Depot.

“The premier is more concerned with keeping Home Depot open than he is keeping emergency rooms open,” Stiles said on Friday.

“He comes up with government policy on his personal whims, leaving Ontarians wondering why he doesn’t give a damn about them.”

Liberal interim leader John Fraser (Ottawa South) said he has never heard constituents ask for more shopping time on holidays.

“Family Day exists for a reason,” Fraser said. “It’s meant to be time spent with the people who matter most. Retail workers have families too.”