The city of Windsor wants to hear from the public about a possible change to make it easier for Windsor stores to stay open on statutory holidays.
It is asking residents to take a short survey on the city's website to gauge public opinion.
Windsor's Corporate Policy Coordinator, Katherine Donaldson says the current by-law requires retailers to apply to the city to stay open on a holiday.
"It states that businesses can apply for an exemption to be open for different holidays and if the exemption is granted, then they are able to be open," she says. "The different holidays are the nine statutory holidays that we list."
Nine statutory holidays are listed under the Retail Business Holidays Act. They are New Year’s Day, Good Friday, Victoria Day, Canada Day, Labour Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, Easter Sunday and any other public holiday declared by proclamation of the Lieutenant Governor to be a holiday for the purposes of this act, with Family Day included in this provision.
The possible change being proposed would eliminate the need for stores to apply for a exemption.
Donaldson says it's the businesses choice whether to apply for the exemption or not.
"Some people really appreciate stores being open on holidays, some people don't follow the same holidays that others do and some really think that it is a good idea for stores to be open while some don't, so we just want to see what the level of public opinion is on this so we can go back to council with a report that mirrors what the public wants," she says.
Donaldson says being a border city makes a difference on this issue.
"Windsor is in a unique position I think where we have the states right beside us and they don't share a lot of the same holidays as we do, so it gives an option from a tourist perspective for people to come over here and expect the same services that they would, I mean a lot of people in the states may not know what our holidays are," she says.
The survey will remain open until 4:30pm on February 1, 2019.
CLICK HERE to access that survey.