P.E.I. cabinet split on Sunday shopping vote
A majority of the P.E.I. cabinet voted to keep restrictions on Sunday shopping Thursday, but their votes weren't enough to maintain Canada's last restrictions on Sunday store openings.
| HOW THEY VOTED | |
| Yes | No |
| Paula Biggar - Lib. | Hon. Carolyn Bertram - Lib. |
| Jim Bagnall - PC | Hon. Richard Brown - Lib. |
| Mike Currie - PC | Hon. Allan Campbell - Lib. |
| Bush Dumville - Lib. | Valerie Docherty - Lib. |
| Cynthia Dunsford - Lib. | Sonny Gallant - Lib. |
| Hon. Olive Crane - PC | Hon. Robert Ghiz - Lib. |
| Hon. Doug Currie - Lib. | Hon. Neil LeClair - Lib. |
| Gerard Greenan - Lib. | Charlie McGeoghegan - Lib. |
| Robert Henderson - Lib. | Hon. Ron McKinley - Lib. |
| Robert Mitchell - Lib. | Alan McIsaac - Lib. |
| Hon. Wes Sheridan - Lib. | Pat Murphy - Lib. |
| Hon. Robert Vessey - Lib. | Hon. Janice Sherry - Lib. |
| Buck Watts - Lib. | Hon. George Webster - Lib. |
Premier Robert Ghiz decided to allow a free vote on the opposition bill to remove the restrictions, and his cabinet voted 7-4 in favour of keeping them.
"I knew it was going to be close," said Ghiz shortly after the vote.
"We're not going to allow free votes to take place if there are government priorities. But because this was not a government bill, it was an opposition bill and really it did not affect the vision of the government of the day, we decided to allow a free vote."
The bill required a tie-breaking vote from Speaker Kathleen Casey to pass. It still needs to pass a third reading, a vote that is usually a formality.
Ghiz voted against the bill himself, and noted a majority of Liberals voted against it, but the votes of the three-member opposition caucus were enough to push it through.
"I've always said that I thought we had a good compromise," he said.
"If I get 10 calls from people asking for convenience, versus one call from a worker who's got a family where Sunday's their family day and they don't want to work on that day, that weighed heavily on my decision."
The current restrictions, which could be gone before the new year, allow Sunday openings from Victoria Day to Christmas in order to accommodate tourists and Christmas shoppers.