| Below: Marc Emery debates Ontario Solicitor - General Joan Smith, St. Thomas Mayor Janet Golding, and Anglican Diocese of Huron Arch Deacon Morley Pinkney (Inquiry, CFPL TV London, May 1, 1988). |
Emery: "The pressure [to open Sundays) only comes from the consumer. It's the consumer who dictates whether we open 24 hours a day, 10 hours a day, 7 days a week, 6 days a week. Without the consumer, we wouldn't be in business and without the consumer we wouldn't have any way of determining our hours. "So the pressure comes from the marketplace and that's what we're there to serve. "Mayor Golding pointed out that her surveys show that the majority of business people are against opening on Sunday. To me, this is irrelevant. If I'm the only person in all of Ontario who wants to open, that should be my decision and my decision alone. "After all, these are my customers --- not Mayor Golding's --- and it's my store. I certainly did not start my business to be told what to do by Joan Smith or Mayor Golding or the church. I open my store to sell books to the people who want them." |
Joan Smith: "We were very concerned about the workers involved and will bring in new legislation to protect retail workers who work on Sunday. The employer will have to prove that he has made reasonable effort. The employee can say it is not reasonable. It is the right of the employee to say that he does not think the employer has made reasonable effort to allow him to stay off on Sunday. Until such time as the employer has proved that he has made reasonable effort, the employee doesn't need to work. So the power is with the employee. "This isn't just the new employees who will come in because of new openings, but all Sunday retail employees. So it's a benefit not only to the new ones but to all the ones presently working on Sunday." |
Janet Golding: "The local option is no option. We're absolutely going to be forced into opening because the retail sector will have to survive. In my opinion the border cities will go first. "The municipalities have been --- in the city of St Thomas in particular over the last three years --- have enforced and laid 19 charges against one of our auto dealers." |
Morley Pinkney: "We're afraid that commercial pressures would be brought to bear within a municipality to be open because other municipalities are open, or because certain businesses within a given municipality are open, we're afraid that that would really break down society and force people to have to work. "I think that the idea that Mr. Emery has of freedom is a precious one; we have to maximize freedom, but I think in maximizing it there have to be certain common laws in society that we're all bound by to lose a certain amount of freedom in order to maximize freedom. As soon as you open up on Sundays at all, and there's pressure for a full opening up, then people are under obligation to work." |
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last updated on April 28, 2002
