Nova Scotia Tourist Industry pressures province on Sunday Shopping 

  Well the nerve of the Tourist Industry they do not want to give up on having Sunday shopping all year around in Nova Scotia. First we had Sunday shopping six weeks prior to Christmas , then a plebiscite is to follow this October in Nova Scotia. But that's not good enough for the Tourist industry . They are now pressuring the provincial government to allow Sunday Shopping for another trial run this summer. YET once again we do not see them mentioning about opening anything else but "RETAIL". Now people what's wrong with that picture? Government offices, Municipal offices, dentist offices, schools. banks, are all closed on Sunday not to mention they are all closed on Saturday. Just a thought on schools and time lost due to the storms. You never see it being suggested time to be made up on a Sunday do you? Ever notice that retail are the only ones expected to give up there Sundays? Ever notice we already offer the consumer six days and six nights to shop?

 Another trial run is as stupid as the first one we had. IT did not work. Families suffered and lost valuable time over the Christmas Holidays, while others enjoyed shopping at other people's expense.  It strikes me funny how retail is treated different from other occupations. If you never worked in retail you would not understand how most of us feel. For instance have you ever heard of people saying that other people have to work Sundays! Have you ever went to a restaurant , bought gas ? Ok I can see what people are saying to make those comments, but here again the argument only pertains to retail. A government worker or someone that works Monday to Friday ventures into a restaurant on a Sunday, what do you think is being said to them? Absolutely Nothing is being said to them, but let a retail worker do it and they are dragged through the mud. My beef is that retail workers are the same as someone that works at a bank or government office . We were NOT hired to work on Sundays. If the  tourism industry was so concerned about tourists they would be campaigning to open everything on Sunday instead of singling out retail. Why doesn't that surprise me? This Fall the Nova Scotia Tourism industry plans on running advertisements to convince the public that we need Sunday shopping. Our question is WHO is paying for all those advertisements? The taxpayer????

 While I'm on a rant , why not email and contact you're MLA's , all the parties of this province and tell them how unfair and unjust this request is.

                       Using Storms as a excuse to open stores on Sunday

While some people in our province thought it was a desire need to open stores on Sunday because of a recent storm , we were not fooled by the excuses by our government. Being bothered by the decision to open stores on Sunday , we wrote some letters to the editor expressing our opposition to such a move. Heck , I even took time to email the Premier John Hamm about it. After a short time , I received a reply from Ernst Fage.  Here is his reply.

Dear Mr. Lohnes:

 The Honourable John Hamm, Premier of Nova Scotia, has asked me to
 respond to your e-mail of February 20, 2004, in my capacity as Minister
 responsible for the Emergency Measures Act.

 It is gratifying to note that you take personal emergency preparedness
 seriously; however, your perception of the existing conditions following
 the storm has some voids.

 It is a fact of life that many people in this province are paid at
 weeks' end and expect to purchase their food at that time. However,
 the snow ploughs were unable to reach some subdivisions and roads until
 overnight Saturday and well into Sunday. Many convenience store shelves
 were unable to meet the demand, as they could not be replenished.

 I would point out that the province was under a State of Emergency, to
 permit the government to do exceptional things such as addressing this
extreme condition created by the storm. People were becoming concerned
 and making food available on Sunday was the only reasonable option
available at the time.

 Sincerely,


Ernest L. Fage
 Minister responsible for
the Emergency Measures Act

cc John Hamm, Premier
Province of Nova Scotia

Well after that reply, I just had to email him back with my response.

Dear Mr. Fage,

Thank you for your'e email of March 11,2004. I feel that I have to respond
to this ridiculous excuse that you are using to justify stores being open on
Sunday! Yes it was a emergency , but be aware we had at least four days
warning of this storm. This gave people plenty of time to get there shopping
done to prepare . I would like to know if you are equally concerned about
those people who had surgeries cancelled due to the storm? And how many of
those were re scheduled to be done on a Sunday? What about those people who
wanted blood tests done? , Were they able to go to the hospital and get that
done on a Sunday? Not to mention mechanics, dentist offices other essential
services that people had to do with out. Were these places open on Sunday?

Mr. Fage you also best look at Prince Edward Island , to which I am willing
to point out to you that they also were in a state of emergency during the
storm of white Juan. No stores opened in PEI on Sunday, and they survived.
But our government sees fit once again to break a promise to Nova Scotians.
The first promise that you're government broke was NO Sunday shopping till
2005. Well we had Sunday shopping six weeks prior to Christmas. We were also
told that after that there would be a plebiscite in the fall. No where did
storm days come into the picture? All I can see is broken promises and loads
of excuses to open stores on Sunday. If government offices were made to open
on Sunday just maybe you're tune may change.

The best option for Nova Scotians is to keep stores closed on Sunday. Stop
using excuses to open them up.

Regards,
Tony Lohnes
Save Our Sundays

cc: John Hamm, Premier of Nova Scotia.

 _{So now I await a reply from Mr.Fage. Whether we will get one or not is another story.}