Miramichi last New Brunswick municipality to remove Sunday shopping restrictions

Sunday shopping restrictions in Miramichi, N.B. have been removed for the first time this weekend, making it the last New Brunswick municipality to lift operating hour limitations.

Prior to today, a bylaw prevented retail businesses in Miramichi from opening outside the hours of 12 noon and 5 p.m. on Sundays. Locations such as restaurants and gas stations were exempt from the bylaw’s restrictions under provincial regulations.

Starting today, retail business owners in Miramichi will be allowed to set Sunday operating hours at their own discretion.

The change is the result of a council vote Tuesday in favour of removing the restrictions, following an opportunity for online feedback. 

The city indicated online support was mostly in support of removing Sunday shopping restrictions. The bylaw amendment was also supported by the Miramichi Chamber of Commerce, the Downtown Newcastle Business District, and the Historic Chatham Business District.

The vote was prompted by the Retail Council of Canada, which made a request to all New Brunswick municipalities with Sunday shopping bylaws to reconsider them. In New Brunswick, the council identified Sackville, Woodstock, and Miramichi as still having bylaws on the books. 

The town councils in Sackville and Woodstock dropped local Sunday shopping bylaws in May and February, respectively.

Limitations on Sunday shopping hours were once quite common across the Maritimes but began to disappear in the 90s and early 2000s.

Nova Scotia’s history with Sunday shopping included a 2004 provincial plebiscite vote (with 55 per cent voting in support of most retail businesses staying closed on Sundays), and an eventual removal of the rule in 2006 following a provincial Supreme Court decision in favour of large grocery stores.

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