Retail Business Holidays Act

• Staff Report CS-17-148 Re: The Retail Business Holidays Act
• Staff Report CS-17-172 Re: The Retail Business Holidays Act - Draft Guideline and Application
• Staff Report CS-18-089 Re: Retail Business Holidays Act - DIA and Chamber of Commerce Survey

The following information is intended to help provide background and facilitate input and dialogue on this opportunity. Please ensure that you read all of the staff reports and background information prior to completing the survey.

The Retail Business Holidays Act is provincial legislation that prohibits the opening of retail businesses on statutory holidays. The legislation is administered by the Ministry of Consumer Services.

Local municipalities or regions are given the authority under the legislation to pass by-laws that would exempt businesses from the requirement to be closed on statutory holidays.

There are currently nine statutory holidays:

• New Year’s Day
• Family Day (third Monday in February)
• Good Friday
• Easter Sunday
• Victoria Day
• Canada Day
• Labour Day
• Thanksgiving Day
• Christmas Day

(The Act does apply to other holidays declared by proclamation of the Lieutenant Governor to be a holiday under the Act).

Currently, the Act allows certain businesses to stay open on holidays including the following:

• Small stores employing not more than 3 persons at one time on that day and having a total area for serving the public of less than 2,400 square feet who are selling:
• Foodstuff
• Antiques
• Handicrafts (or a combination thereof)
• Gasoline;
• Pharmacy;
• Nursery stock or flowers and accessory gardening supplies;
• Fresh fruit or vegetables (April 1^st  to November 30^th);
• Books, newspapers or periodicals;
• Establishments with a liquor license;
• Tourism establishments licensed under the Tourism Act;
• Premises for education, recreational or amusement purposes; and
• Necessary services – such as laundromats, rental of vehicles, servicing of vehicles, and prepared meals.

There are a few options to move this initiative forward:

Option A – Application Based Process

A municipality normally develops a guideline for applications. For all other businesses that are not subject to an exemption, they must meet certain criteria to be eligible. The Act provides that despite the prohibition to be open on a statutory holiday, a municipality may pass a by-law to allow businesses to be open if they choose. Council’s consideration of a by-law is generated by a request of an individual business or group of businesses. The criteria set out under the Act to qualify include the following:

• An exemption may be granted to an individual business based on the following:
• It is located within 2 km of a tourist attraction; and
• It is directly associated with the tourist attraction or relies on tourists visiting the attraction for business on a holiday.
• An exemption may be granted on area basis if the following are met:
• All the retail establishments in the area are within 2 km of a tourist attraction;
• The area does not exceed that necessary to encompass all of the retail business establishments for which an exemption is sought; and
• At least 25% of the retail business establishments in the area are directly associated with the tourist attraction or rely on tourists visiting the attraction for business on a holiday.

An attraction is limited to:

• Natural attractions or outdoor recreational attractions;
• Historical attractions; and
• Cultural, multi-cultural or educational attractions.

The onus is on the applicant to provide information that:

• Describes the area or the retail business for which the exemption is sought; and
• Provides justification in relation to the criteria set out in the Regulation to the Act.

Council must give notice and hold a public meeting for each application. Council is not required to approve the by-law even where the criteria are met. After the public meeting, Council considers a by-law. The by-law can apply to an individual business or a group of businesses within an area such as the DIA. The by-law can be appealed to the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal.

Option B – Blanket Amendment

Recent amendments to the Retail Business Holidays Act would allow the opportunity to exempt an entire municipality from the Act. York Region has adopted this approach. The blanket by-law has advantages including:

• The businesses would be able to choose if they want to participate and participation would be entirely at the discretion of the business;
• No application, fee or public meeting for applications would be required;
• Council and staff time to process applications would not be required; and
• Council, with community input, would determine the days that would fall under the by-law.

Staff who work in retail may be negatively impacted by this type of by-law should their place of employment make a decision to be open.

Next Steps

Through the City’s Economic Development & Tourism Advisory Committee on Friday, April 12th, Council will seek public input on this initiative. Following the public meeting, there will be an online survey to provide further opportunity for input and comment. Findings will then be reported back to Committee and Council.

Survey is now closed.

Project Contact:
Pam Coulter
Director of Community Services
City of Owen Sound
pcoulter@owensound.ca
519-376-4440 ext. 1252

All survey responses will remain confidential and will be analyzed and submitted as aggregated data.

If you have questions, please contact Pam Coulter (contact information listed above).

The survey will be open until Tuesday, April 30, 2019 at 4:30pm

Thanks for taking time to complete the survey!

• Media Release - City Seeks Input Regarding Retail Business Holidays Act (March 29, 2019)