Path: utzoo!attcan!telly!evan From: evan@telly.on.ca (Evan Leibovitch) Newsgroups: ont.general Subject: Re: Sunday shopping Message-ID: <25900FAC.1DA4@telly.on.ca> Date: 20 Dec 89 23:03:07 GMT References: <656@crk56.bnr.ca> <1989Dec20.122639.1563@jarvis.csri.toronto.edu> Distribution: ont Organization: Public Access Usenet, Brampton, Ontario Lines: 91 In article <1989Dec20.122639.1563@jarvis.csri.toronto.edu> jdd@db.toronto.edu (John DiMarco) writes: >There's a law which says that stores cannot be open on Sundays (with certain >exceptions). The police are merely enforcing that law. Don't blame them for >doing their jobs. That's not the point. There are lots of laws that get broken each day, and the politicians (and ranking policemen) get to selectively determine how to allocate their limited enforcement mechanisms. Each day they make judgements that some laws need to be enforced more than others. Prostitution is another example of a crime that applies everywhere, yet it's enforced more stringently in certain parts of the city, at certain times of day, at certain times of the year. On the whim of those who allocate the police resources. Nobody's blaming the patrol cop who's ordered to cruise the shopping malls on Sunday. The point is that cop's time is better spent punishing or preventing crimes that really hurt people. How is a cop's time best spent helping society? Going undercover to stop a drug importer, or giving out summons to people providing a service many feel is useful? >The most appropriate way to change a law you don't like is via the political >process. Write your MPP and tell him/her how you feel about Sunday shopping. I did, during the last election. Unfortunately, the candidate who appeared to be best at financial matters, roads and education was against Sunday shopping. Sigh. >I don't think Sunday shopping is such a good thing, however. Remember: >if a store is open on Sunday its employees have to work on Sunday. The retail >sector employs a large chunk of the Canadian workforce. If Sunday becomes >just another workday for the retail sector, its character as a more-or-less >national day of rest is seriously diminished. If labour laws are strengthened to keep anyone from getting fired 'cause they won't work Sunday, then this would be resolved. I don't want anyone telling me when my "day of rest" is. What if I want to close Tuesdays and open Sundays? Why should the government prevent me from doing this? >It is a good thing to have one day of the week on which most people do >not work. Fine. Why does it have to be the same day for everyone? If we can encourage staggered work hours, why can't we offer staggered work DAYS? We have public transit which is overcrowded weekdays but has tons of unused capacity Sundays. Business traffic would be less on any given day if it was spread across more days. I would welcome the opportunity to do some of my configuration and installation work on Sunday, when I can bring a client's computer down for rebooting without bringing the company to a standstill. >It generally assures that families and friends will have at least >one day a week to do things together. That's pretty important for many people, >including myself. Fine for you. Nothing is preventing you from choosing a job that gives you Sunday off. I want Monday instead. I won't insist you take Monday off, why must you impose Sunday on me? >And then there's the religious factor. The predominant religion in Canada >is Christianity, which holds (for the most part) Sunday as a day of rest. That's why the biggest controvery over store openings takes place around the time people are shopping for that great Jewish/Muslim holiday, Christmas. Have a look. Those are Christians filling those illegally-opened stores as much as any otther group. >Keeping Sunday a day in which most people do not work seems to be the best >way of accomodating the most people. What you call 'accomodation' is nothing of the sort. You want Sunday for rest. I don't. Who's being accomodating? The best thing to happen to supermarkets this decade is the advent of the 24 hour store. People who want to work the quiet night shift can do so, and I can do my shopping in the unhurried, serene atmosphere that's usually to be found at 2am. There's nothing forcing stores to stay closed at 2am, even though people probably need a good night's sleep as much as a "day of rest". Why is late night opening OK when Sunday opening isn't? -- Evan Leibovitch, Sound Software, located in beautiful Brampton, Ontario evan@telly.on.ca / uunet!attcan!telly!evan / (416)452-0504 If women designed condoms there is no doubt they would be not ribbed, but padded