Government looking to create ‘fairer, more consistent approach for businesses and workers’
Ontario is proposing changes that would allow retail businesses across the province to open on Family Day and Victoria Day starting as early as 2026, while maintaining public holiday protections for eligible workers.
As part of its plan “to protect Ontario, support workers and businesses, and provide more choice and convenience for families,” the government says the proposal would give retailers the option to operate on the two non‑religious statutory holidays. Under the plan, eligible retail employees who work on those days “could work and earn time‑and‑a‑half premium pay, in addition to automatically receiving their full public holiday pay.”
The government says the goal is to create “a fairer, more consistent approach for businesses and workers while allowing families to enjoy the convenience of select retail stores on these days.”
“By giving retailers the option to open on Family Day and Victoria Day, we are supporting employees and businesses while giving families more choice and convenience to shop at their local retail stores,” says Stephen Crawford, Minister of Public and Business Service Delivery and Procurement. “These changes will give many employees the flexibility to agree to pick up extra shifts at increased pay, while maintaining their right to take the day off.”
Despite the change, Family Day and Victoria Day would remain public holidays under Ontario’s Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA). The province says all ESA rights, “including public holiday pay, premium pay and the right for many retail employees to refuse work on a public holiday will remain fully in place.”
Provincewide standard
Currently, the Retail Business Holiday Act (RBHA) forbids shopping on New Year’s Day, Good Friday, Victoria Day, Canada Day, Labour Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day and Easter Sunday.
And as the Ontario government states, rules governing whether retail stores can open on Family Day and Victoria Day vary significantly between municipalities. The government describes the situation as “a fragmented and confusing patchwork for consumers and an uneven playing field for businesses and their employees.” In some municipalities, stores may open on Family Day and Victoria Day, while neighbouring regions require closures.
“As a result, a worker in one area of the province such as York Region, has the choice to take on time‑and‑a‑half premium pay shifts while a similar worker in Peel Region is not given that same option,” the government notes. The proposed changes would remove those two holidays from the application of the RBHA and “remove municipal authority to require retail business closures on those holidays.”
“Exploring a consistent, province‑wide approach for retailers on Family Day and Victoria Day would give businesses greater flexibility while respecting the choice of workers,” said David Piccini, Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development. “As Ontario continues to grow, it’s important our rules keep pace with how people live, work and shop today. Our government will continue protecting workers while strengthening Ontario’s economic resilience and productivity so businesses can thrive, invest and create more opportunities for workers across the province.”
In 2025, both Family Day and Victoria Day landed on Mondays. Statutory holiday pay has proven to be a challenge for employers, according to a previous report.
Scope of the changes
The government stresses that the proposed approach “would only apply to those two holidays,” which it describes as “non‑religious, statutory holidays observed across Ontario, making them well‑suited for a harmonized retail framework.” Existing provincial and municipal authority to require retail business closures on all other public holidays would be maintained, preserving the current approach to religious observance and worker choice on those days.
Retail businesses “would generally have the choice to open or close on these holidays; the proposed changes would not require stores to open,” the province says.
As Ontario Premier Doug Ford put it, even if the government changes the law, it would be “up to companies to decide,” according to a report from Global News.
However, some workers have already voiced their opposition of the move via Reddit:
The Ontario government is aiming to have these changes take effect in time for Victoria Day 2026, which will land on May 18. If the proposal is enacted, HR professionals will have a defined runway to update policies, adjust payroll systems to handle combined public holiday and premium pay, and inform employees about their rights and options before the new framework is in place.
In 2020, Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Labour Minister Monte McNaughton considered a proposal to eliminate all statutory holidays for retail workers except Christmas, Good Friday and Canada Day. The Ontario government later decided to cancel the proposal, a move which Unifor welcomed.
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,” Jerry Dias, who was then Unifor National President, said back then.
“Coming just days after their pay was cut by major grocers, the possibility that they would lose their statutory holidays just added insult to injury.”
