Essential? Well, that depends… Vague provincial code-red retail regulations allow plenty of room for interpretation By: Malak Abas Posted: 7:00 PM CST Monday, Jan. 18, 2021 Last Modified: 7:40 PM CST Monday, Jan. 18, 2021 Updates

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This article was published 17/01/2021 (1341 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

For nearly two months, Manitobans have been able to buy the pans necessary to make their meals — but not the bowls to eat from.

The public-health order that required all businesses in the province to restrict in-person sales of “non-essential” items has remained in place since Nov. 21, but has gone through several amendments in the weeks since. Prepaid credit cards, gift cards and newspapers were added to the essential list almost immediately after the health order was issued, and cosmetics were added Dec. 12.

With current orders set to expire Saturday, and case counts shrinking in much of the province, a potential relaxation of restrictions is likely on the horizon.

In the weeks under critical-level restrictions, it has been difficult for many to understand the rationale behind the decision, for example, that allows Manitobans to buy a hairbrush at a drug store, but not a hair dryer.

A spokesperson from the province said decisions to amend the order were made on a “committee based on comments or concerns,” but did not elaborate on the composition of the committee or how amendments were decided upon.

“The team is diverse, so no, we won’t be able to explain every decision, but clearly the list can be modified,” the spokesperson said in an email Monday.

While people have speculated on the reasons for amendments — some in the province rely on prepaid cards to make essential purchases — the provincial spokesperson said the list is balanced based on the public’s immediate need.

“At the same time it needs to remain relatively consistent so retailers and the enforcement team understand what the current guidelines are,” he said.

However, inconsistencies inside stores have been one of the only constants. Here are some examples based on visits to some south Winnipeg big-box stores Monday:

Personal-care products

The category of personal-care products has one of the more specific lists of essential and non-essential items made available by the province — skin and hair-care products, razors, hairbrushes, elastics and nail polish are included in the essential list, while hair dryers, perfume and “decorative hair accessories” are considered non-essential.

While simple on paper, stores seem to have differing interpretations of the order. At the Tuxedo Village Shoppers Drug Mart on Corydon Avenue, a small section of hair clips is blocked off with caution tape, while hair ties, bobby pins and brushes are left open to the public. Not all of the hair accessories under the caution tape are decorative. While hair elastics are available to buy, scrunchies and large hair clips — sometimes a better option for thicker hair — are blocked off.

Meanwhile, the nearby Superstore at Kenaston Boulevard and Grant Avenue has an entirely different setup; all hair products, including decorative clips and “hair doughnuts,” which exist solely for esthetic purposes, are available for sale.

And while the province considers razors essential, there’s no specifics on whether electric shavers qualify under that rule. Regardless, Superstore has them under wraps, while Shoppers is willing to sell them.

Orthotic insoles, a mobility aid for some, are blocked off at Superstore and not mentioned in the province’s list of items. Air purifiers aren’t available at Shoppers, but dehumidifiers are; dehumidifiers aren’t for sale at Superstore. Both items are considered non-essential by the province.

Customers are out of luck looking for travel-sized products, even essentials, at Shoppers, but they’re for sale at Superstore. They’re also not on the province’s list.

Home improvement

Home-safety products and major household appliances can be purchased in-store, and much of the Kenaston Boulevard Home Depot location was open to traffic Monday.

That included products that may have not been deemed essential under a more specific list, including elaborate crystal chandeliers and ceiling fans.

Items blocked off at Home Depot includes television mounts, barbecue accessories and water filters.

Batteries, while considered essential and available at Home Depot, are among the blocked-off items at Superstore.

Valentine’s Day products

While heart-shaped boxes of chocolate popping up in stores are, technically, an essential item — they’re food — both Shoppers and Superstore have decided that Valentine’s Day cards to accompany them are essential, too.

Even where all other greeting cards are covered up as per provincial restrictions just centimetres away, red-and-pink declarations of love and boxes of children’s cards — typically handed out at school, arguably an especially inappropriate practice this year — are available.

The small store-vs.-store variations may seem trivial to some, but could be making things more difficult for low-income people, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Manitoba director Molly McCracken said Monday.

McCracken said she’s disappointed the province wasn’t clearer.

“If you’re a low-income person and you have to take a bus around to do your shopping, you go to one place and you can’t get it, it could be very hard to get to another place to get something,” she said.

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: malakabas_