Posted on 04/20/2015 11:59:41 AM PDT by Citizen Zed
OTTAWA - Whole Foods may be in a heap of trouble after police laid charges Monday alleging an location was open on Good Friday.
Ottawa police spokesman Const. Chuck Benoit said Whole Foods management will appear in court next month to answer to four charges under the Retail Business Holidays Act.
The charges are for carrying on business during a holiday.
The manager of the location was served the paperwork Monday.
"It's an order to attend court," Benoit said.
By law most stores must remain closed on statuatory holidays such as Good Friday and Christmas, though there are exceptions for small businesses and businesses operating in designated tourism zones, the act says.
Fines upon conviction range as high as $50,000 or the gross holiday sales, whichever is greater, the act says.
Whole Foods told Postmedia Network earlier this month the store believed Lansdowne Park, which is off the Rideau Canal in central Ottawa, was a designated tourist area. The company will appear in court May 21.
Kind of bizarre since Canada is more anti-Christian than the U.S.
[ Kind of bizarre since Canada is more anti-Christian than the U.S. ]
Not when you factor in “Progressivism” which is the gov telling people how to run their lives and stores when to stay open...
Probably 10 feet away from the border of the designated tourist area - outlined on a secret map, only seen by City Hall. Sounds like Whole Foods is going to be shook down by the local government crooks.
They closed at 5:30PM, 6:00PM on Saturday, Closed on Sunday.
Each Thursday, there were open until 9:00PM.
No drug store was open 24 hrs.
The real question, of course, is if society is the better for it, or worse.
Very true. When I was a child (1950s) in Ohio, there were very few things open on Sunday other than churches.
Yes, it is bizarre. I am really surprised to learn that Canada has “blue laws”, at all.
Remember when the US, also, had Blue Laws? Closed on Sunday.
I went to college in Massachusetts before they starting getting rid of all of the blue laws.
My favorite, which may still be on the books, is that it was illegal to advertise that you were serving alcohol at a party.
So the code language for having alcohol at an event or party was always “traditional refreshments will be served.”
When I was a kid we had pretty strict “blue laws” in Massachusetts.Just about *everything* was closed on Sundays and major holidays.Oh how I’d like to see the return of those simpler times.
It's crazy how they have them now. For instance, here in CT, supermarkets can be open on Sundays until 9PM but they have to stop selling beer after 5PM. I can't stand all this "halfway" nonsense. We should either be "all-in" on blue laws or do away with them altogether.
That said, I vote to go "all-in" and bring the blue laws back. Have all retail and other business shut down on Sunday for the entire day. Restaurants and gas stations are fine because otherwise, people wouldn't be able to travel to visit family. But all the stores and shopping malls should be closed.
There was something special about Sundays when I was growing up in the late 1960s and early 1970s. All the parents were home and in warm weather, you could smell the grilling of the hot dogs and hamburgers from every yard. Entire families sat out on their stoops at night and played Top 40 radio while playing board games like Monopoly and Risk on picnic tables. We used to ride our bicycles to the shopping plaza and jump ramps in the empty parking lots. It was nice and quiet in my neighborhood on those days. Nobody was power mowing their grass or using those infernal leaf blowers. From a distance, we could hear church bells and train whistles that we never would have heard on any other day.
It wasn't even a religion thing with me. It was just a day where everybody could slow the heck down, be with family and smell the flowers.
I think bringing them back - even if we had to do it in a secular way - would benefit our society.
Cool.
And rather tastefully put. It certainly stands out against the coarseness and license of today’s culture and values.
Let me add another. A woman was always “expecting” a baby, and never said to be “pregnant”... unless maybe whispered, in the event it was an out of wedlock situation.
We lost our culture when we lost the blue laws. People used to visit and enjoy the day off. Plans were made. Family making happened.
But...you can go to jail for publicly reciting certain verses from Leviticus.
And Blue Laws dictated you could buy a can of beans but not a can opener so you could eat them. Stupid laws then. Stupid laws now.
I remember when I lived in Florida, that Publix was closed on Sundays.
Although the stores here in Ventura County eventually opened on Sundays - some with compressed hours - I DID my best by not shopping for ANYthing on Sundays.
Alas, not true any longer - it’s not frequent, or a habit, yet still feel ‘funny’ - -
Once some years ago, I said to a checker that I felt sorry he had to work on Sundays. He said he could use the money - - -
I can ‘hear’ some now saying because they work, they have to shop on Sundays. Whatever did they do when stores were closed on Sundays??
Which reminds me - I believe in ‘dressing up’ for church - no sneakers or shorts, or pants on women - - - whatever happened to women wearing hats to church? (I think it may be when women’s hair styles changed - no hats, lest they crush the hairdo).
I know a gentleman who said if you wear plan on wearing shorts or sneakers, don’t bother coming to his funeral. His family roars about this!
He says it somewhat humorously, but kind of means it!
Yeah, I can hear the wailing now - - -
What is it - ? Have we lost or forgotten some dignity? The appropriate attire for the occasion? Is ‘Miss Manners’ or the like, still writing the ‘rules’ for society?
If asked, I think society does need some rules - if just for decency alone.
What’s that saying - -’Once seen, cannot be unseen.’
We never did anything on Sunday except church, visitors and special trips when the children were small. It was truly a day of rest and all families and peoples can do this.
Canada is more anti-Christian than the U.S.
What do you base that on? There are still voluntary bible classes in many Canadian public schools. These are run by Christian organizations that go into public schools and teach about Jesus and the bible.
Good Friday is not christian, nor Biblical, it is catholic.
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