Sudbury store hours referendum: 'No' side a no-show at deadline

Morning North4:23Sudbury's store hours referendum

We check in on the referendum part of this municipal election campaign in Sudbury. the city is holding a referendum on store hours. Only the Yes side has registered to run an official campaign. We check in with supporters of both sides.​

Sudbury voters will answer three referendum questions on the regulation of store hours next month, but only one side of this decades-old debate has registered to lobby the public leading up to election day.

No one on the “No” side — which wants to keep retail store hours regulated — has signed up with the city.

But Chris Fuller from the United Food and Commercial Workers Union said the union is seeking a legal opinion about whether it can still register, even though the deadline has passed.

"I don't think we've fallen behind,” he said.

Fuller said the union still needs to ask its members how they want to fight this referendum.

He said they can do it without spending money on an official campaign.

"Traditionally, in the past, we've had literature in the stores and our members have worn buttons."

Vote a 'waste of time and resources'

The “Yes” side was surprised to see they were the only ones who registered as the deadline passed Friday.

"[We’re] floored. Absolutely floored,” said Andre Dumais, who heads up the campaign against store hours bylaws for the Sudbury Chamber of Commerce.

"To me, it's actually a waste of time and resources to be going through this referendum. But we've got it now. This is the best opportunity we've had in the 30-plus years that we've been fighting this battle. So we're going to come out swinging."

Dumais said billboards and other ads will "educate" voters on the decision they'll make next month on when stores in Sudbury can open and close.

Fuller said the union has yet to discuss a referendum marketing strategy with its members “and [if] it's even something necessary that we need to do.”

Sudburians go to the polls Oct. 27 to decide the fate of those bylaws that control retail hours during a regular shopping week, as well as on Boxing Day and the August Civic Holiday.

At least 50 per cent of voters need to cast ballots for the results to be binding.