RETAIL BUSINESS HOLIDAYS BY-LAW POLICY REVIEW The Region of Peel Prepared for The Region of Peel April 11, 2018 Prepared by (Consultant): Prepared For (Client): This document is available in alternative formats upon request by contacting: [email protected] 416-351-8585 (1-800-505-8755) April 11, 2018 Deepiga Vigneswaran Region of Peel 10 Peel Centre Drive, Suite A Brampton, Ontario L6T 4B9 RE: Retail Business Holidays By-law Policy Review – The Region of Peel urbanMetrics inc. is pleased to submit the results of our consultation process in relation to the above referenced item. Responding directly to Peel Region’s interest in developing a “Made-in-Peel” policy approach to regulating store openings and closings on statutory (public) holidays, urbanMetrics, working in collaboration with Peel Staff, has consulted broadly on the issue with members of the public, retail workers, and retail business owners. The purpose of this study is to provide Staff and Council at the Region of Peel with opinions, insights and analysis about how recent policy changes to the Retail Business Holidays Act (“RBHA”, “the Act”) could impact residents, workers and retailers if Regional Council were to enact a new By-law pursuant to Section 1.2 of the Act, which enables upper-tier municipalities like Peel Region to opt-out of the Provincial regulations, replacing them with a new municipal by-law that is more closely tailored to local market conditions and circumstance. We trust that the insights contained in this document are informative to your policy review process. We look forward to discussing this matter with you in the days and weeks ahead. Yours truly, Peter Thoma, MCIP, RPP, PLE Partner [email protected] www.urbanMetrics.ca | 67 Yonge Street, Suite 804, Toronto, ON, M5E 1J8 | 416-351-8585 (1-800-505-8755) | [email protected] EXECUTIVE SUMMARY urbanMetrics inc. (“urbanMetrics”) was retained by the Region of Peel (“the Region”, “Peel”) to undertake a consultation process with the public as well as key labour and business stakeholders on matters related to potential changes to the Retail Business Holidays Act (“RBHA”, the Act) in Peel Region. These changes have the potential to alter business, labour and consumer patterns on statutory (public) holidays. Background: The Region of Peel is responsible for administering the RBHA on behalf of the Province of Ontario. Peel Region By-law 18-1999 provides the legal framework for Peel Region to administer the regulatory requirements of the RBHA and the accompanying Ontario Regulation 711/91, which include provisions granting tourism-based exemptions to eligible retail applicants. In Peel Region, most stores are legally required to close on statutory holidays. Nonetheless, a handful of individual stores and two major commercial nodes, notably Square One and Bramalea City Centre, have legal permissions in place to open on certain statutory (public) holidays by virtue of their legal exemptions as tourist areas. Key Policy Change: On December 31, 2016 the Province proclaimed Section 1.2 which significantly modified the RBHA. The new section enables municipalities across Ontario (including Peel) to exert greater authority over retail shopping patterns on statutory holidays. The addition of Section 1.2 now provides an opportunity for Peel, and its regional neighbours, to make policy modifications, including the authority to re-write, replace or rescind the Act within the Region. This study has been prepared at the direction of Peel Council as a means to better understand the need for, and implications of, changing the policies which regulate store hours in the Region of Peel on statutory (public) holidays. Scope: This study provides the Region of Peel with market insights and opinions that take into consideration the unique perspectives of a diverse and rapidly growing region. Between January 15th, 2018 and February 28th, 2018, urbanMetrics executed a comprehensive engagement process that collected opinions from over 4,000 individuals, including consumers (the public), labour (retail workers) and industry (store owners and commercial landlords). www.urbanMetrics.ca | 67 Yonge Street, Suite 804, Toronto, ON, M5E 1J8 | 416-351-8585 (1-800-505-8755) | [email protected] [i] Key Insights: This study summarizes the key insights of Peel residents and retail stakeholders in relation to matters pertaining to holiday shopping. Key insights and take-aways from this study are highlighted as follows: What the 1. 36% of Peel residents indicated that they shopped on at least one statutory holiday in the public said: past 12 months. 2. Supermarket and Grocery items were the most sought-after items on statutory holidays. In fact, store-based food purchases outpaced both gasoline (fuel) and restaurant-based purchases - categories which are legally permitted to open on statutory holidays pursuant to the Act. 3. 53% of the public believe that retailers in Peel Region should have the flexibility to choose whether to open or close on statutory holidays. The level of support among younger residents (i.e. those under the age of 35) increase to 58%. The level of support among older residents (i.e. those over 45) decreases to 44% support. 4. 85% of respondents indicated that store size should not be a determining factor for regulating store operations on a statutory holiday, and 64% indicated that the type store should not be a legal determinant for regulating openings or closings. 5. 51% of the public indicated that they would support alternative policies related to regulating store hours on statutory holidays, although to be clear, there was no consensus as to how the policy change should be structured. 49% indicated a preference for the status quo. What the 6. 61% of Peel retail workers indicated that their place of work was not open on statutory retail holidays. 36% indicated that their store was open. A small number (3%) did not know. workers said: 7. 42% of retail workers indicated that they would like to see stores in Peel be given more flexibility to choose whether to open or close on statutory holidays. Support for flexibility increases dramatically based on the age of the retail employee. The level of support among younger workers (i.e. those under the age of 35) increases to 58%, whereas the level of support among older employees (i.e. those over 45) dropped significantly, to 24% support. 8. 67% of retail workers indicated that they would prefer to see the status quo policies of the Retail Business Holidays Act retained, although 87% and 60% respectively indicated that store size and store type should not be a factor in regulating store openings and closings. www.urbanMetrics.ca | 67 Yonge Street, Suite 804, Toronto, ON, M5E 1J8 | 416-351-8585 (1-800-505-8755) | [email protected] [ii] What the 9. 63% of retail business owners in Peel indicated that they would like to see retailers granted retail more flexibility in their ability to choose whether to open or close on statutory holidays. business owners 10. 80% of retailers indicated that they were “unlikely” or “definitely not” interested in opening said: their retail operations on statutory holidays, citing ‘a loss of family time’ as a main reason for electing to stay closed on statutory holidays 11. 78% of retailers indicated that they would prefer to regulate their own hours of operation on statutory holidays. 12. 52% of retail business owners in Peel indicated that they would like to see the current rules around holiday shopping changed. Policy Directions: Working in collaboration with Staff, urbanMetrics has prepared four “made-in-Peel” policy directions to help guide input on this matter. The options were presented to the public as follows: www.urbanMetrics.ca | 67 Yonge Street, Suite 804, Toronto, ON, M5E 1J8 | 416-351-8585 (1-800-505-8755) | [email protected] [iii] Policy Analysis: Each of the four policy options were subsequently evaluated by urbanMetrics within the context of eight 8 key principles and 6 policy outcomes. Both the principles and the outcomes were developed collaboratively by urbanMetrics and Staff and further refined based on feedback from the public. Key Principles for RBHA Policy Changes Policy Outcomes 1. Progressive in terms of supporting enterprise and 1. To ensure that Peel remains a competitive and job creation. prosperous investment location for both independent and well-established retailers. 2. Fairly and consistently applied across the municipality. 2. To ensure that Peel businesses are not overly burdened by policies that require onerous 3. Simple and easily understood by business, application fees and/or third-party review workers and the public. studies. 4. Representative of prevailing and future business 3. To ensure that rules and definitions contained and technology changes in retail. within the new by-law are clearly articulated and take into account contemporary performance and 5. Focused on the needs of local area residents, not operational standards. tourists. 4. To ensure that Peel businesses are aware of the 6. Non-punitive. statutory obligations related to the conduct of business pursuant to the Employment Standards 7. Respectful of the importance of common pause Act. days for workers. 5. To ensure that Peel workers fully understand their 8. Flexible to allow periodic review and refinements. statutory rights with respect to working on statutory (public) holidays. 6. To ensure that Peel residents are able, wherever possible, to purchase goods and services in Peel on days that suit their needs. SUMMARY: Section 5 of this report contains a comparative policy evaluation of the four holiday shopping options presented to the public. The evaluation carried out by urbanMetrics suggests that maintaining status quo RBHA policy framework would have limited impact in terms of either supporting or advancing many of the key principles and policy outcomes which were established for this undertaking. www.urbanMetrics.ca | 67 Yonge Street, Suite 804, Toronto, ON, M5E 1J8 | 416-351-8585 (1-800-505-8755) | [email protected] [iv] Contents 1.0 Introduction .........................................................................................................................