Holiday Shopping

I discovered today that a grocery store in Ottawa is being investigated, and probably fined, for violating Ontario’s holiday shopping law.

What? This is a thing? How does this still exist?

I had to do a little investigation. It turns out that most businesses in Ontario are required to close for holidays… nine specific holidays, in fact. I’ll get back to that later.

This is a little different from the situation in BC, where employers must either give a paid day off (for regularly scheduled employees) or an unpaid day off (for irregularly scheduled employees) or pay double (for anyone who still has to show up).

In BC, there are a lot of places that shut down. I went shopping today, for example, and though two of the stores I visited were open the third was closed. But the flexibility of BC’s law makes things easy for those of us who don’t have time to stock up on the days preceding the holiday. In other words, for those who don’t have a pre-holiday holiday in which to get work done.

Or who just forget, I suppose.

The news article cites a union leader, Hassan Yussuff, who wants Ontario’s law enforced (I was unable to find an exact quote). He stated that retail employees deserve to spend time with their families. I agree with the sentiment… but I don’t think it needs to be today.

A little personal background here: I am irregularly scheduled, and wasn’t working today. So I won’t see a dime. I am on call for Monday, and might get double pay… or I might not, if I don’t end up getting called. Holidays are pretty slim pickings in my business.

There are a lot of people in my position. Many industries don’t shut down for holidays… some don’t shut down for anything. And even when there is a relatively slow day people are still needed to be at work. To say that retail employees should be allowed a break is to deny the importance of what they do. In effect, saying the the world can go on without them.

Sometimes it’s just a way to prop up an otherwise limited sector, in the same way that Sunday Shopping laws are. They benefit the businesses that can stay open (pharmacies, gas stations) at the expense of those that must close. And of course, by pushing consumers into gas stations rather than real stores, they will encourage people to buy things that are both less useful or healthful and more expensive.

So what’s the solution? I suggest letting people vary their holidays. The list is, after all, biased. Ontario’s list of 9 mandatory holidays includes three which are explicitly Christian and one (Thanksgiving) which I doubt many First Nations people are eager to celebrate. Why not mix it up? Let those who want time off for Easter get that time. Let those who want time off for Yom Kippur or Eid or Diwali get those days off. Let those like me who want time off on Pi Day, Darwin Day, and the Solstices get that time.

Seems like it just might work.