Below: Fp President and Leader Robert Metz versus Mayor of London Tom Gosnell on the subject of the new municipal option for Sunday shopping (CFPL TV London, FYI First Edition, Summer 1988) |
Robert Metz: "This is a disaster in terms of making a law even more confusing than it already was. The Peterson government has taught us a lesson of how to bring in Sunday shopping without changing a bad law in the first place. "We have to be aware that the true issues behind Sunday shopping are much more critical and important than the issue of whether or not any given number of people do or do not want to shop, open their stores, or work on Sunday. At the root of this whole problem we have the fundamental issue of private property rights. "Do store owners or do they not own their own stores? These are the people who put their investment into it; these are the people who are responsible for the return on their stores. Do they own their stores on Sunday or don't they? "There are issues like freedom of religion which the Supreme Court of Canada already said Sunday shopping laws violate our basic fundamental freedom of religion. "Are we going to continue to perpetuate these violations?" |
Tom Gosnell: "If the surrounding municipalities in southern Ontario open for Sunday shopping, London would have to open to protect its commercial and retail base. We simply could not afford the jobs and tax loss and opportunities that would be driven out of our area if we refused to compete with surrounding townships." |
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last updated on April 28, 2002