Having been born in Nova Scotia and having lived over 50 years of my life here , maybe I can add some perspective. I think it rather silly of government to have held a plebiscite on such an unimportant issue , but that being said, this is why I voted against Sunday shopping:
If you look at a map of North America you will see that we are stuck out into the Atlantic ocean, off the beaten track. This has allowed us to maintain a slower pace of life than the mainstream. Tradition is highly valued and people still stop to smell the flowers. Where I live on Cape Breton Island traditional music still lives as does the Gaelic language. Part of the reason for this has been isolation through the years, but the second is that Sunday was a day when work was put aside and people, families and neighbours socialized in a setting that passed along the music and traditions that we hold dear.
Times are changing of course, and we are losing this more relaxed pace of life but I am have no desire to speed the process. I claim no organized religion so Sunday for me is both secular and special.
It is only the large stores who are forced to close.Liquor stores are government operated, and most are closed on Sunday, but that is not the question being being voted upon.
                   Obie