Thursday, October 05, 2006

An Affront On Our Values

I know I've been talking a lot about Liberal leadership lately, but this one story has forced me to come back to the real world and blog about the important issues of the day.

For those who may have missed it, those bloody activist judges have continued their affront on values and have overturned the traditional definition of shopping in Nova Scotia.

Clearly the solution to this is to pass legislation allowing hate speech against Sunday shoppers and allowing stores who wish to remain closed on Sundays the right to do so.

posted by calgarygrit at 11:32 a.m.

18 Comments:

  • Goodo, CG. First laugh of the day to thee ... now .... curse he who first cries, "Hold"!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12:14 p.m.  

  • Now, now... stores can now choose whether to be open Sundays, whereas before they lacked this choice. But how dare those judges force their definition of shopping onto all of us who will now be forced to shop on Sundays.

    By Blogger JG, at 12:16 p.m.  

  • I'm quite sure my own traditional shopping will suffer. How will I explain this to my future children?

    You know, I wouldn't mind people shopping on Sundays so much if they didn't insist on calling it shopping. Why not civil procurement of goods and services?

    Maybe it's time for government to get out of the shopping business all together and leave it up to the stores?

    By Blogger Jeff, at 1:47 p.m.  

  • It was bound to happen anyways, The Supreme Court already spoke on the issue in R. v. Big M. Drug Mart, [1985] 1 S.C.R. 295, an Alberta case, where it struck drown the Lords Day Act for violating Section of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In that case, the Act forbade stores from opening on sunday for shoppers, and Big M. Drug Mart successfully challenged the law in Court. It was a decision that was taken very favourably by most Albertans.

    Way for Sunday shoppers!!!!

    By Blogger The New Liberal Movement, at 1:55 p.m.  

  • Sorry,....."Section 2 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms"

    By Blogger The New Liberal Movement, at 1:56 p.m.  

  • Reckless social engineering. We may just witness the downfall of our society as everyone starts shopping on sunday's. Traditional shopping is the very foundation of our society, and it needs to be protected.

    By Blogger KC, at 2:56 p.m.  

  • Actually, the issue of whether stores can be required to open on Sundays might be contentious. Most retail leases (other than for stand-alone premises) provide that the tenant must remain open during the hours that the mall or shopping centre is open. Tenants who currently don't open on Sunday may be required to do so under the terms of their lease. In most cases they will probably want to, since one-seventh (and likely more) of the retail dollar will be spent on Sunday, and they will want to serve that market. Ohers may not want to if they see the increase in staffing costs (or upset of current scheduling arrangements) as a greater problem than the potential loss of sales.

    I agree that it is quite past time that the government got out of the 'shopping business' - it would be ludicrous if the government of Nova Scotia were to legislate that all retailers must refer to their customers as "patrons" instead of "shoppers" or "clients" for instance - that sort of micro control of what people do in their private lives, and how individuals relate to one another is real social engineering...
    ;)

    By Blogger deaner, at 3:57 p.m.  

  • Weak.

    You normally do so much better. :)

    By Blogger Michael Fox, at 4:41 p.m.  

  • This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    By Blogger Michael Fox, at 4:41 p.m.  

  • "I'm quite sure my own traditional shopping will suffer. How will I explain this to my future children?

    You know, I wouldn't mind people shopping on Sundays so much if they didn't insist on calling it shopping. Why not civil procurement of goods and services?

    Maybe it's time for government to get out of the shopping business all together and leave it up to the stores? "

    Ok, I give up. We should all shut down our own blogs. Between CG and BCer, who needs any other blog for political commentary and humour.

    You both owe me a new keyboard, CG for the one with my morning coffee all over it and BCer for the replacement one with my afternoon tea all over it.

    By Blogger Ted Betts, at 6:22 p.m.  

  • It is kind of sad in a way that Sunday shopping has been legalized in Nova Scotia.

    Gone forever is the fun of explaining to American tourists that same-sex marriage is legal, but Sunday shopping is not. It was the only place in the world that was true (PEI allows it during the Christmas season).

    Who knows if those Nova Scotia Mounties who married last summer would have even bothered if they could have gone shopping instead?

    By Blogger Reality Bites, at 6:51 p.m.  

  • It's a sad, slippery slope towards Sunday card playing and Sunday football. We shall rue this day.

    By Blogger Jacques Beau Vert, at 7:26 p.m.  

  • I'm gay. Best I can do is Rue Mclanahan the day.

    By Blogger Reality Bites, at 8:24 p.m.  

  • i love these conservative hacks who don't want sunday shopping. I lived on Barrington Street in Halifax and in the summer, Superstore on that street opened on Sundays.

    One such Sunday I went to the Superstore to buy a load of bread (I know I'm a heathen) and I said outloud, "boy I'm glad this store is open" ... this old lady next to me said "you are? I think it's a sin"... I said surely she was kidding... why would she be here shopping if it was a sin?

    Her reply: "I need a birthday cake".

    It's a TERRIBLE SIN to have sunday shopping, but this old lady is A-OK as long as she gets her cake.

    By Blogger Forward Looking Canadian, at 9:40 p.m.  

  • And now there is no reason to go to Moncton.

    None at all.

    By Blogger C4SR, at 9:55 p.m.  

  • Great post. Thanks for the laugh.

    But when I was living in Halifax, I noticed that many anti-Sunday shopping folks were part of the downtown business community, not the religious groups. Many downtown businesses were concerned that there wasn't enough money in the economy to sustain a seventh sales day. In other words, sales numbers simply spread over seven days instead of six. Plus the overhead costs for Sunday gave a negative economic pay off.

    The folks who were pushing hardest for Sunday shopping were Ontarians who "demanded their right" to shop on Sunday, and towns that bordered with New Brunswick.

    So, its not that NS is a backwater burg that still allows religious leaders to define morality on an unsuspecting public. There were good reasons why NOT have introduce Sunday shopping.

    kgp

    By Blogger Unknown, at 11:48 a.m.  

  • CG,

    It's easy for you to laugh because you won't get fired or threatened with firing for refusing to work Sunday. It happened to a lot of people in Ontario who worked retail. It still does. Certainly more retail workers have lost their jobs than marriage commissioners ever will.

    I suppose they should have known when they were hired that they would be asked to provide a service. If they can't provide that service then they should never have taken the job in first place.

    There are lots of diverse places that don't have Sunday shopping in this world.

    By Blogger PlaidShirt, at 4:19 p.m.  

  • The anti-Sunday shopping crowd is an interesting mix of social conservatives who want to respect the Sabbath, and economic liberals who see it as a pro-worker and anti-Walmart measure.

    By Blogger The Invisible Hand, at 8:32 p.m.  

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