Mayor John Tory says he won’t reopen the debate over holiday shopping hours despite his belief that Toronto is at a “competitive disadvantage” because of strict regulations on which stores can and cannot open.
The City of Toronto prohibits large retailers (in a space larger than 2400 square feet) from opening on statutory holidays; expect ones in designated tourism zones like the Eaton Centre and in Yorkeville.
Speaking with reporters on Tuesday morning, Tory said he personally believes that businesses should be given more latitude on non-religious holidays like Victoria Day and Canada Day but isn’t interested in bringing the debate to council himself. City council has debated loosening the rules around the closure of stores on select statutory holidays on three separate occasions in recent years.
“Ordinarily I would say look, if we are at a disadvantage, we should be standing up for ourselves and making sure we put our businesses in a place where they can be competitive and have the same opportunities as businesses elsewhere, but three times city council has had this opportunity presented to them and three times they sort of kicked the can down the road,” Tory said. “I don’t what to expend the energy at this point if that’s going to be the result.”
During the most recent debate in 2012, city council voted 36 to 7 against a watered down proposal to allow businesses to open on Victoria Day but not on other non-religious holidays such as Canada Day and Labour Day as originally proposed.
“If there are people on council who want to show who want to sort of show some sense for leadership themselves in terms of saying ‘Yes we will address the issue’ I would entertain having a discussion. Absent that, why keep having debates over and over again that end up at the same dead end?” Tory said.
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