<div class="contentbox"><h2><a href="http://http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=d51cc7fa-30d2-435e-80d0-19f746d62d50&k=97506" target="_blank"><h2>Sunday shopping ruling prompts N.S. premier to eliminate Sunday shopping ban</h2></a></h2></div><div class="wrapper02"><div class="contentbox"><h4>Canadian Press</h4><span><font size="1">
ublished: Wednesday, October 04, 2006</font></span> <div class="para12"><hr /></div></div></div><p>HALIFAX (CP) - Premier Rodney MacDonald is clearing the way for wide-open Sunday shopping in Nova Scotia now that a judge has struck down regulations aimed at preventing two grocery chains from staying open seven days a week. </p><p>A Nova Scotia Supreme Court judge issued a ruling Wednesday that said the regulations unfairly discriminated against Atlantic Superstore and Sobeys. </p><p>Soon after, MacDonald said the province will not appeal the decision, and will update the regulations by this Sunday to create a "level playing field." </p><p><font size="4"><font color="#ff0000">"This decision means that retail stores will not be restricted by the government," said MacDonald. "Retail stores of all types may choose to open on Sundays and other holidays, with the exception of Remembrance Day." </font></font></p><p>Earlier this year, the province tried to close a legal loophole used by Atlantic Superstore and Sobeys to get around size restrictions in the law. </p><p>That prompted both chains to challenge the regulations in Nova Scotia Supreme Court, where they argued the provincial cabinet had introduced a chaotic web of absurd regulations in a desperate attempt to block large food stores from opening on Sundays. </p><p>The premier's announcement Wednesday means Nova Scotia will no longer be the only province in Canada that bans large retail outlets from opening on Sundays, year-round. </p><p>
rince Edward Island allows retailers to open Sundays during the Christmas season. </p><p>"Just looking at the ruling, we are very pleased," said Sobeys spokesman Gerald Weseen, whose company has been partially opening 21 stores across the province for several months. </p><p>"In each of those stores, the full store will be open (this weekend), and we haven't made any decisions beyond that." </p><p>The Sunday shopping issue has dogged the province's Conservative government since MacDonald became premier after a February leadership convention. </p><p>Critics slammed the government for botching the issue when the province's prosecution service said the new regulations, introduced in June, could not be enforced. </p><p>In his ruling, Justice Peter Richard agreed with the argument that the provincial cabinet did not have the authority to place further restrictions on the two chains without legislative approval. </p><p>During a testy, two-day hearing in late August, the province's lawyer, Alex Cameron, portrayed the grocery stores as corporate giants with billions in revenues and a "choke hold" on the grocery industry. </p><p>He argued that the 1985 law was created to protect workers who would rather not work on Sunday. </p><p>Lawyers for the grocery chains said that during the history of the Retail Business Uniform Closing Day Act, the province did not make employee protection a priority. </p><p>They argued the government didn't even include the word "employee" in the act when it was created, and has consistently shifted the issue of employee rights into the Labour Standards Code. </p>
