Manitoba takes step to ease restrictions on Sunday, holiday shopping hours

The Manitoba government is set to loosen the rules surrounding when and where people can shop.

On Tuesday, the province reintroduced legislation to eliminate Sunday and holiday shopping restrictions. If it passes, individual municipalities could set their own hours for certain retail and grocery stores.

Under current laws that remain in effect, retailers can only operate from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday, with similar hours on some holidays.

The Progressive Conservatives made relaxing hours an election promise in 2019.

Earlier that year, the owner of an independent Winnipeg grocery chain was levelled with a $10,000 fine for opening on Good Friday. Munther Zeid, owner of Foodfare, fought the fine, which was eventually dropped.

The existing laws have been criticized for unfairly targeting certain retailers.

Restaurants, pharmacies, casinos, liquor and cannabis stores face no such restrictions on holidays, as well as any retail or grocery store that normally operates with four or fewer workers at a time.

The new bill says Remembrance Day would be an exemption from the legislation, and workers can continue to refuse to work on Sunday.

The province introduced legislation last year to lift these restrictions but the proposal died in September when the previous legislative session dissolved.

Manitoba last expanded Sunday shopping hours in 2012 when a number of retailers were allowed to open their doors as early as 9 a.m. — three hours earlier than before.