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Boxing Day referendum will have biggest impact, chamber says

“My personal sense is that the Civic Holiday will pass,” he said. “I don't think most people are even aware that there is a municipal bylaw regulating it. But Boxing Day is going to be awfully close.
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Polling stations in Greater Sudbury are now closed.

“My personal sense is that the Civic Holiday will pass,” he said. “I don't think most people are even aware that there is a municipal bylaw regulating it. But Boxing Day is going to be awfully close.”

The questions all relate to whether city rules restricting shopping hours should be repealed. One question asks whether store owners in the city should be allowed to set their own hours. The other two ask whether shopping should be permitted on the August Civic Holiday and on Boxing Day.

Only the latter is in question, Dumais said, although it's the most important issue to local retailers.

“I think it's going to be really close to 50-50,” he said. “For the other ones, our polling ranges 60 to 80 per cent in favour of deregulation.”

Boxing Day shopping is important for a number of reasons, he said, including the fact many local shoppers drive to North Bay to shop because they can't do it at home.

“Retailers, if you look at the way they operate, don't really start turning a profit until December,” he said. “So they only have the last 29 or 30 days in December to make a profit.

“So that's a pretty big day to be excluded from your profit-generating days.”

The store hours one would send an important message if it's approved, he said, but there's not widespread demand from stories to be open all the time.

“The main deregulation one will have very little impact on the economy -- the exception would be one or two grocery stores who may look at extending to 24 hours, depending on how the business model works,” he said.

(Although) “to my knowledge, no one has expressed any interest that, yes, they will open 24 hours. The only thing I can tell you is that there was a national grocery chain looked at Sudbury a few years ago, and they bypassed Sudbury because their business model is 24 hours. They may look at coming back, kind of thing.”

A 'yes' vote would also change the city's image, he said, which traditionally is viewed as being less accommodating to big business than other cities.

“Especially with all these candidates trying to woo businesses,” he said. “I think Sudbury does have a bit of an anti-business, blue-collar kind of approach to corporations.

“A yes vote will send a broader message about the community at large.”


The referendum questions, which are only legally binding if turnout reaches 50%, are as follows:


-- Are you in favour of retail business establishments having the choice to open to the public on Dec. 26? 


-- Are you in favour of retail business establishments having the choice to open to the public on the Civic Holiday, the first Monday in August? 

-- Are you in favour of allowing retail business establishments to choose the hours when they are open to the public?  


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Darren MacDonald

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