Advocacy

Federal Hill Day 2022:

• On Tuesday, October 18, 2022, members of the RCC Board, RCC retail members, and RCC staff met key policymakers to speak on issues facing the retail sector. Those meetings featured Hon. Chrystia Freeland, Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister; Hon. François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry; Hon. Carla Qualtrough, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion; and Hon. Marco Mendocino, Minister of Public Safety, Melissa Lantsman, MP, Conservative Deputy Leader, Alexandre Boulerice, MP, NDP Deputy Leader, and senior staff from the Prime Minister’s Office. 
• RCC advocacy and general discussion topics included economic prospects, monetary policy, labour supply challenges, inflation, crime, and more. 

Food and Grocery:

• Helped minimize supply chain disruptions and potential food waste during the British Columbia flooding crisis and border blockades by working with government to open alternate transportation routes at the Canada / United States border and securing exemptions for products labelled for other markets. 
• Helped members to navigate and manage supply chain disruptions, for example on infant formula, pediatric pain relievers, eggs, and poultry products.  
• Helped members to manage major food safety investigations and recalls, including the outbreak of salmonella infections linked to kernel corn, between by proactively liaising with government and other industry sectors.  
• Helped keep costs down for members by working towards a reasonable increase (2.2%) in the farm-gate price of dairy for 2023.  
• Advocated to government to help make potential supply chain reporting legislation on forced labour meaningful and achievable for members, including providing testimony before the Senate and collaborating with other industry associations. 
• Helped members to comply with complex legal surveys under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act on chemicals found in consumer products, by developing exclusive members-only webinars. 
• Called on government to add an affordability and inflation lens to its consultation on the renewal of Canada’s tariff preference programs for developing countries to help keep costs down for retailers.   
• Secured significant changes to new front-of-package nutrition labelling regulations — including Health Canada’s use of the RCC developed magnifying glass icon 
• Provided member learning and engagement opportunities on animal welfare issues, with both producers and animal welfare organizations, and supported the ongoing work of the National Farm Animal Care Council, a critical organization to advance farm animal welfare in Canada through broad stakeholder collaboration. 
• Implementation of pilot project on transportation of dangerous goods, allowing for participating members to apply for temporary certificates to streamline the process for the transportation of small quantities of products such as chemical cleaning products, automotive products, and certain cosmetics, helping ease operational complexities and last-mile delivery.  
• Facilitated member compliance with food safety and product safety regulations through regular discussions with government and other industry partners.  
• Participated in the review of Canada’s Cannabis Act, urging a continuous review process and advocating for a regulatory path forward for non-prescription health products containing CBD. 

Sustainability:

Throughout 2022, RCC continued to develop online resources, expertise, and advocacy efforts for retailers based on the following three areas of sustainability:

• Extended producer responsibility (EPR) – Given the range of materials retailers and quick service restaurants supply into the market, including packaging and paper, electronics, tires, hazardous products and more, there is an increasing amount of end-of-life management regulatory obligations. Therefore, as programs begin to transition to full producer responsibility across the country, RCC has been actively engaged in advocacy, government consultations, and more to support members. Key wins include improved harmonization of regulatory definitions across provinces and phased-in timelines where programs are transitioning to full EPR.
• Plastics – RCC engaged with municipal, provincial, and federal governments to ensure retail’s voice was heard when discussing and implementing single-use plastic bans for items including bags, utensils, food service ware, and more. RCC was heavily involved in the federal government’s consultation and release of the Single-use Plastics Prohibition Regulations where we were successful in ensuring an adequate timeline of 18 months to 2 years for regulatory implementation. RCC also advocated on behalf of members during regulatory consultations related to recycled content minimum requirements, recyclability and composability labelling, and a federal plastics registry. As a founding partner of the Canada Plastics Pact, RCC also continues to take part in discussions with the broader plastics value chain.
• Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Reporting and Climate Action – In 2022, RCC broadened its sustainability efforts to include ESG reporting and climate action. This has led to the development of new partnerships, including KPMG as a knowledge partner, while strengthening relationships with government, including Environment and Climate Change Canada, Transport Canada, and Natural Resources Canada. RCC has also hosted numerous information sessions and webinars to support members with sustainability reporting, monitoring/tracking emissions across in-store operations, supply chains, etc. RCC also developed a new grants and incentives webpage to help members identify federal and provincial opportunities to help finance the net zero transition through energy efficiency and zero emission vehicle incentives.

Loss Prevention:

• Formed a national Loss Prevention Taskforce and invited police partners to participate in monthly discussions to address the objectives identified by the LP Advisory Committee 
• RCC facilitated advocacy meetings across the country to engage in discussion with government on the strategic objectives, including: 
  • RCC, in partnership with the Ontario Provincial Police and the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, collaborated on a Gift Card Awareness Campaign.  RCC developed several in-store assets for retailers to use to raise awareness of gift card fraud, including posters, display holder cards, and stickers. This program was release during March 2022, Fraud Awareness Month. 
  • RCC partnered with EPIC Risk, RCC’s Loss Prevention Advisory Committee, and several training and HR representatives from member companies to create a de-escalation video intended for front-line workers and management that is released as part of 2022 Holiday Security resources. 
  • RCC partnered with Safe Work Manitoba to create a Retail Safety & Security Guide.  The Guide provides information to help businesses make their businesses less vulnerable to crime, identify and select an appropriate response to address crime and approaches to preventing the most common and severe forms of crime. 
• RCC applied for and has been awarded a grant from the Ontario provincial government for a project focused on preventing cybercrime through community collaboration.  RCC is working with police partners, other associations, and retail members to ensure the timely delivery of project deliverables. 
• In Manitoba, a new first-in-Canada incident reporting project has been launched called Project Safe Shop. This pilot is focused on facilitating better collaboration between retailers, police, and the courts by enabling the participants to leverage a common technology for submitting incidents and analyzing macro data to identify and convict the most prolific offenders. Over 100 retail storefronts are submitting data through the platform with over 600 incidents reported and   over 60 repeat offenders identified. 

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• Argued against new Online Marketplace Services tax which created significant inequities for B.C.-based retailers and restaurants, which ended in a committee’s report recommending that the new tax be reviewed.
• Provided retailers with advance warning on highway and rail closures and reopening in order to help supply route planning during the 2021 B.C. flooding emergency

• Coordinated with other business associations and Port of Vancouver to involve and engage Transport Canada to alleviate supply chain impact. Also worked with Deputy Premier in regard to messaging on supply chain shortages and importance of kindness to front-line retail workers.

• Working to inform the B.C. government’s expansion of extended producer responsibility to include mattresses, foundations, pressurized containers and semi-hazardous products.

• Secured labelling flexibilities for products needing to be temporarily sourced from the United States during the emergency and negotiated an arrangement that granted Canadian motor carriers and drivers transiting essential goods through the U.S. revised border crossing protocols.
  
• No retail store was ever obligated to close during the pandemic, as a result of extensive conversations and meetings with the province.
  
• Successfully advocated for improvements to the wording of an amendment to workers compensation legislation that clarify the probability of transmission of communicable viruses in any class of workplaces must be higher than in the public-at-large.
  
• RCC worked to clarify, and simplify compliance with, the requirement from the Provincial Health Officer for businesses to have and post a COVID-19 Workplace Safety Plan.
  
• Early in the pandemic, RCC worked with members and non-members to inform the B.C. government on the strength of the retail supply chain early in the pandemic and ensured limits on sale quantities for certain grocery, household and cleaning products were not imposed.

• RCC successfully advocated that certain health care products, including incontinence aids, and canes, were exempted from PST.

• RCC achieved relief of requirements for sales to First Nations individuals and sales of certain products to require either signatures and/or viewing and recording numbers from identification cards belonging to the customer. That relief is set to expire 45 days after the last extension of the COVID-19 emergency, but RCC is working to achieve a permanent change to facilitate access for these customers to eCommerce and curb-side retail.
  
• RCC and other business stakeholders successfully advocated for the delayed reporting and remittance for the Employer Health Tax, Provincial Sales Tax, hydroelectric power, vehicle insurance and workers compensation assessments early in the COVID-19 pandemic.

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• Integral in instigating an Ontario Energy Board (OEB) consolation on new methods to price power to retail stores. Early research from the OEB suggests the alternative models of pricing could mean an average savings of 10.7 per cent on energy costs for businesses.
• Supported the distribution of rapid test kits through RCC’s pharmacy and grocery members, in addition to ongoing advocacy to see COVID-19 restrictions reduced.

• Worked with the Ontario government in 2021 to demonstrate research findings that confirmed minimal virus transmission within retail stores. These findings lead to earlier reopening and reduced restrictions.

• As a result of RCC advocacy, licensed grocery stores can now offer curbside pickup of beer, wine, and, cider, and are able to sell alcoholic products from 7am to 11pm. Stores can now also cross-promote beer, cider, and, wine with some non-alcohol products.
  
• Advocated for provincial level harmonization for a variety of topics, including masking.

• Ensured retail restrictions made sense. This included working to exempt employees from store capacity calculations, and modifications to screening guidance for staff and third-party visitors.
  
• Following an RCC-led push on municipalities to exempt retail and restaurant delivery vehicles from noise by-laws, and a subsequent Ontario-wide emergency order, RCC successfully delivered legislation enacted in September 2021 that permanently exempted all Ontario retail/restaurant/DC deliveries from municipal noise by-laws and encouraging off-peak deliveries.
  
• Lobbied for changes to the Ontario Blue Box Regulation, including exemptions for food-protection products, changes to the rule creation threshold, and the scope of eligible sources, such as parks and public spaces.
  
• Supported the development of the Producer Responsibility Organization (PRO), Circular Materials. RCC continues to act as the Secretariat to ensure producers have an industry-led, not-for-profit option.
  
• In 2nd COVID-19 wave, actively pushed province to remove non-essential vs essential restrictions and allow all retailers to open with capacity limits.
  
• Worked with the majority of Ontario’s 34 Public Health Units to push the removal of fines from a retailer when customer fails to wear/remove mask.
  
• Secured moratorium on evictions for unpaid rent as well as deferral of provincial and municipal taxes & other regulatory burdens.
  
• Secured 24-hour truck delivery in Ontario allowing for expanded hours, shorter delivery times and reduced fuel consumption.
  
• Served members as trouble-shooter/intervenor with local health authorities, police and bylaw enforcement to ensure reasonableness of approaches during the crisis and to avert tickets for infractions. In Ontario, this meant frequent conversations with enforcement, and provincial governments, keeping many business’ curb-side sale operations open, as well as Ontario-based distribution centres.
  
• Worked with governments and local authorities to protect curb-side activity during pandemic. In Ontario, this included actively pushing definitions with SOLGEN to allow many retailers to operate curb-side throughout Stage 1. As Ontario provides additional clarity over its “Second Wave” rules, RCC continues to push a narrative supportive of curb-side, and preventing further shutdowns of bricks-and-mortar retail, in contrast to other service industries.
  
• Protecting retailers against frivolous COVID-19 lawsuits and insurance premium increases by pushing for a “best effort” duty of care for compliance with health laws. In Ontario, a bill is currently in committee which, if passed, will enact protection.
  
• Worked with governments to keep merchants open for as long as possible within public health constraints at the outset of the crisis and to re-open early in the recovery period, relative to other service industries. In Ontario, this meant delaying original restrictions, and keeping the first ‘essential business definition’ broad in scope. It meant several changes to what types of retail construction projects were ‘essential’, as well as timely reopening of garden centres, to save the commercial season.
  
• Obtained reasonable rules for dressing-room use and for quarantining of tried-on apparel and footwear.

• Advocated to remove the establishment of a public health rating in Bill 99, an act to amend food product safety.
  
• Pushed to allow for consultation in 2022/23 for a draft regulation modifying the current food regulation before the final regulation is sanctioned in 2024/25.
  
• Supported the repeal of the Act Respecting Stuffing and Upholstered and Stuffed Articles in the Bill 103 (Red Tape Bill).
  
• Persuaded the Ministry of Agriculture in 2021 to set up a system that will ensure and facilitate access of inspection reports to impacted retail locations and their respective head offices.
  
• Provided member and RCC commentary on proposed regulatory amendments for the recovery and reclamation of products, such as batteries, appliances, electronics, and more.
  
• Negotiated with all governments to ensure COVID-19 related closures, circuit breakers, capacity restrictions, and inspection blitzes either did not impact or had a light impact on RCC members.
  
• Convinced the Quebec government to increase the salaries of employees earning less than $2,000/month by $400 while CERB was available to keep them on the job.
  
• Advocated for the reopening of all non-essential businesses during the 1st wave and the complete reopening on Sundays.
  
• Lobbied aggressively to keep non-essential retailers fully open during the 2nd wave (until Christmas) informing members about the best practices to follow to comply with public health instructions while maintaining open communications with the Quebec government, mall owners, retailers, and media.
  
• Advocated strongly to allow for curb-side pick up for non-essential retailers during 2^nd wave.
  
• Pressured by the RCC, the Committee on Standards, Equity, Health and Safety at Work (CNESST) announced the development of a certification program to produce non-medical masks.