Manitoba’s restrictions on retail hours for holidays and Sundays have been a contentious issue, but change is in the air after Tuesday’s Throne Speech.
Brian Pallister’s Progressive Conservative government is promising businesses an end to the province-wide restrictions, although the province says it will give municipalities final say.
Munther Zeid, owner of Food Fare, told 680 CJOB he welcomes the change.
Zeid’s stores have openly flouted the law in the past, remaining open – and being slapped with fines as a result – on days where they weren’t legally allowed to operate.
He said he’s surprised it was left open for municipalities to decide, but expects Winnipeg to make the right choice.
“I actually thought they would change the law, not pass the buck down to another level of government, but that’s the way it’s done in lots of other provinces, so they’re following suit,” he said.
“I believe our City Hall will do what’s best for the city.”
The grocer, who has long argued that stores should be able to set their own hours, said Winnipeg gets a bad reputation when visitors, especially high-profile ones, find out they can’t shop on a holiday.
“Our province is getting very popular in the movie industry, and on the last holiday, we had Sean Penn in our store,” he said.
“He was shocked at how he had to drive around a lot … he couldn’t believe that you couldn’t buy groceries freely in Winnipeg on a holiday.”
The promise was among dozens laid out in Tuesday’s Throne Speech at the Manitoba Legislature.
If nothing else, Zeid said, making holiday shopping legal will prevent hypocrisy among local politicians, who have visited his illegally-opened stores.
“On those holidays, I’ve seen MLAs, city councillors and MPs shopping in the store.”