Mayor John Tory believes Toronto's strict regulations on which stores can and cannot be open during statutory holidays puts the city at a "competitive disadvantage," but says he's not interested in re-opening a debate in council to relax those rules.
Tory made the comment Tuesday morning as many workers across the city returned to their offices after the Victoria Day long weekend. Tory told reporters that while he personally believes businesses should be given more leeway on whether they can open their doors during non-religious holidays, he isn't interested in putting forward such a motion to council any time soon.
"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 place where they can be competitive and have the same opportunities as businesses elsewhere,' but three times 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 want to expend the energy at this point if that's going to be the result."
Tory said, however, that if someone else on council puts forward the idea of relaxing holiday shopping rules, he would consider having another go at the debate.
"If there are people on council who want to show some sort of leadership themselves in terms of saying, 'Yes, we will address the issue,' I would entertain the discussion," he said. "Absent that, why keep having debates over and over again that end up at the same dead end?"
During the most recent debate in 2012, council voted 36 to seven against a proposal that would allow businesses to open on Victoria Day but not on other non-religious holidays such as Canada Day and Labour Day.
Currently, the City of Toronto prohibits large retailers from opening on statutory holidays. The only exception is for businesses in designated tourism zones, such as the Eaton Centre and Yorkville.
