A parochial war and great inequalities. This is apprehended by associations of merchants who fear that Quebec will adopt a new version of Bill 44 the day after the elections, giving cities the responsibility of deciding the opening hours of stores located on their territory.
Posted at 6:00 a.m.
Tabled in June, just before the end of parliamentary proceedings, the bill – which died on the order paper – brought to the fore all the debate surrounding business hours and a possible return to closing on Sundays.
“It doesn’t hold up,” says Linda Goulet, president of the Panda Shoes stores, when asked about the bill. “It has to be a provincial law, not a municipal one,” she says. Otherwise, we will have competition between cities. It’s going to be a war at loggerheads. When you have a network with around twenty stores, how do you manage that? »
“If the government gives that to the cities, I have a small fear that it will create regional inequities,” also believes Paul-André Goulet, owner of 10 Sports Experts stores. “The only thing the government must not do is create inequities, as happened with the vaccine passport where only stores of 1,500 square meters were required to impose it. Opening hours should be the same for everyone. »
The Retail Council of Canada (RCCC) is also opposed to this idea, recalling in particular that the management of opening hours and schedules is already a headache for retailers due to the shortage of manpower. work.
“Technically, we could have some 1000 municipalities who would say on Sunday, we close, in other cases, it would be on Monday, adds for his part Michel Rochette, president for Quebec of the CCCD. Bill 44 would ensure that there would be the daily risk of a tile on such a region, such a city, such a business, such a type of sector. »
This would particularly affect the ability of young people to be able to work on weekends. If, in city X, he cannot work on Sundays, he could decide to work elsewhere in another sector.
Michel Rochette, president for Quebec of the CCCD
Bill 44 aims to “reduce the regulatory and administrative burden”. More specifically, article 4.2 indicates that “a local municipality may, by by-law, for any commercial establishment located on its territory, provide for hours and days of admission different from those determined by by-law under article 4.1. . These hours and days may vary depending on the time of year or the establishments covered therein or the part of the territory of the municipality concerned”.
“Each city has the right to do what it wants with any trade by regulatory means”, summarizes Mr. Rochette. Although this bill was not adopted, its tabling nevertheless sends a “clear message”, he believes.
“He was not dropped in June for nothing, it was to send a signal. In this context, the CCCD, on the eve of the Quebec election campaign, began a series of meetings with the various political parties to make it clear to them that it considered that this project made “no good sense”.
“This reality of transferring the power to decide opening hours to 1,000 municipalities is unacceptable, insists Michel Rochette. We told the political parties that this was an example of what not to do. »
Municipalities applaud
For its part, the Union of Municipalities of Quebec (UMQ), which applauded the tabling of the bill, does not share the opinion and fears of merchants. “We advocate municipal autonomy, recalls Patrick Lemieux, spokesperson for the UMQ. The bill was in line with the demands we had made. »
He assures that the 1110 municipalities of the province will apply the rules of opening “with discernment”. “It will not be done without taking into account local realities, assures Mr. Lemieux. Municipalities are in direct contact with their merchants. »
“The idea of allocating more flexibility to municipalities in order to extend the legal opening hours of businesses is certainly interesting,” said Charles Milliard, President and CEO of the Fédération des chambres de commerce du Québec ( FCCQ), in a press release issued in June. “The current framework, with legal hours established across Quebec, is rigid and allows only a few exceptions for tourist sectors or in the context of specific events. »
“In any debate on the opening hours and days of businesses, we intend to defend the rights of entrepreneurs: no backsliding on legal hours should be allowed, whether it comes from the Quebec government or municipalities,” he said. he also clarified.
Debate on opening hours
One thing is certain, the introduction of Bill 44 revives the debate on business hours. If the opinions are mixed on how to manage the schedules, in particular with regard to the closing of the businesses on Sunday, all agree to say that consultations must take place.
“We are open to having a discussion, but we really have to measure all the impacts and not do it on the corner of the table,” says Jean-Guy Côté, general manager of the Conseil québécois du commerce de retail (CQCD). .
“We would like to have a preliminary discussion before it comes back to the table. This is an issue that is broader than just giving that to the municipalities, he adds. You don’t do that with two or three amendments in a regulatory relief bill. There is a law on opening hours. If you want to revise it, sit your partners and discuss with them. »