Let Sudburians choose a progressive, open community
Councillor Dupuis’s recommendation that city council should put the deregulation of store hours to a referendum during the 2014 municipal election came as an unexpected and welcomed surprise. Councillor Dupuis was one of the eight councillors who voted against the elimination of the store hour’s bylaw when it was raised a year ago, so we are pleased that he was willing to introduce this option.
Our chamber has advocated for years that the city has no business dictating how retailers should run their businesses. They are the only sector in our economy where city council controls their hours and days of operation and Greater Sudbury is the only community in Ontario where this happens.
Past experiences with this issue at city council have been unpleasant at best and caused great divisiveness and conflict for council, proponents and opponents. While we honour a democratic society and decision-making we take exception when facts are manipulated to plead a case.
While it is unfortunate that city council may choose not to deal with the subject on their own prior to the next municipal election, perhaps taking the decision away from council and placing it in the hands of the electorate will resolve the issue once and for all.
