Premier Doug Ford has scuttled a controversial proposal that would have reduced the number of holidays for retail workers to help businesses cope with COVID-19 fallout. The Star reported Thursday that Queen’s Park was considering a plan to change the Retail Business Holidays Act to reduce the number of mandatory statutory holidays for retailers to three from nine, in order to offset the pandemic’s impact. “This was a proposal from a stakeholder and that’s all it was, a proposal,” one official said. Indeed, the city of Toronto is already exempt from the act and has its own regulations dealing with retail openings on holidays. “Retail workers have been a vital part of getting our communities through the pandemic, and have been working incredibly hard to keep food on our tables,” he said.

Source: thestar June 19, 2020 16:00 UTC