MPP Lisa MacLeod slams Whole Foods for defying holiday shopping law
Matthew Pearson, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: April 4, 2015, Last Updated: April 4, 2015 6:34 AM EDT
Ottawa police visited a bustling Whole Foods Market in the Glebe on Friday, as the store defied provincial law by opening on a holiday over the Easter weekend — and perhaps kickstarting a debate about whether such rules are outdated.
Retail outlets that open on prohibited days — such as Good Friday — can be fined as much as $50,000 or the total amount of gross sales for the holiday, whichever is greater. Businesses face minimum fines of $500 for a first offence, $2,000 for a second offence and $5,000 for a third or subsequent offence.
A worker reached at Whole Foods on Friday morning referred inquiries to the company’s corporate communications department. But store manager Lisa Slater had earlier told media the store would stay open Good Friday and Easter Sunday in order to be “here for our community.”
“The community is out and about, they’re not working and we want to be able to serve the community and give them what they want,” Slater told CBC Ottawa.
Shoppers appeared to be voting with their feet.
The store was packed at mid-day. There were long lines at the checkouts and shoppers leaving with bags of groceries.
Katherine Sibun told the Citizen that she worked late Thursday and didn’t have time to pick up things for the long weekend. She came to Whole Foods knowing it was planning to open and said she’d like to see the law amended.
“I don’t agree with it at all,” she said. “It’s a bit religiously exclusive. Nobody has access because of a Christian holiday — I find that problematic,” she said.
But support for Whole Foods, a U.S. retailer, was not universal.
“As Ontarians, we don’t get to pick and choose which laws we obey,” said Nepean-Carleton MPP Lisa MacLeod.
“Over the years I have heard from many law abiding retailers who are concerned with companies like Whole Foods who thumb their nose at the rules and by extension the Legislature, in essence creating an unlevel playing field.”
MacLeod said the company has never, in her four terms as an MPP, met with her to demand changes to the law, nor has she heard widespread suggestions that it needs to be changed.
“Until such time the Ontario Legislature considers changing retail laws, Whole Foods should stop breaking the current ones,” MacLeod said in an email.
Labour groups have also called on authorities to enforce the law and say people who work in the retail sector deserve a day off to rest and spend time with family.
The city has said it’s up to police to enforce the law.
Police said officers visited the store Friday in response to a complaint. They confirmed the store was in fact open for business and will now turn the case over to the district investigations unit, which will follow up with provincial prosecutors once they are back at work Tuesday.
“When it is reported to us, we do respond,” said Ottawa police Sgt. Steven Desjourdy, adding it’s not something police deal with on a weekly basis.
It may take several days to determine whether or not Whole Foods will be fined.
Ontario’s Retail Business Holidays Act lets some businesses stay open on Good Friday and Easter Sunday, but also seeks to provide consumers and employees with a common day of pause.
Retail outlets that can stay open include:
- stores that sell handicrafts;
- book or magazine stores that are less than 2,400 square feet with a maximum of three employees;
- pharmacies that are less than 7,500 square feet in size;
- nurseries, flower shops, gardening centres; and
- gas stations.
Stores may also remain open in locations established as tourist areas by specific municipal bylaws, such as the ByWard Market.
The province requires retail businesses to close on nine specified days each year. They are:
- New Year’s Day (Jan. 1);
- Family Day (the third Monday of February);
- Good Friday (the Friday before Easter Sunday);
- Easter Sunday;
- Victoria Day (the last Monday before or on May 24);
- Canada Day (July 1);
- Labour Day (first Monday in September);
- Thanksgiving Day (the second Monday in October);
- Christmas Day (Dec. 25)
The City of Toronto has enacted a law that essentially exempts it from the province’s rules.
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