Referendums are great

I just love this thread about Saskatoon's 1988 referendum on school store closing times. I'd not heard of it before; I was 12 years old in Manitoba when this would have happened.

Let me introduce you to the most confusing referendum result. It occurred in Saskatoon in 1988, held at the same time as the municipal election.

— Paul Fairie (@paulisci) September 29, 2019

It was about store openings, and there were five questions posed to voters.

The first was straightforward enough:

"Are you in favor of all stores being allowed to be open on Sunday? "

YES 22,497
NO 35,319

Simple enough -- no to Sunday shopping.

— Paul Fairie (@paulisci) September 29, 2019

Question 2 is OK by itself.

"Are you in favor of grocery stores being open on Sunday?"

YES 28,461
NO 27,485

No general Sunday shopping, but grocery stores are OK.

— Paul Fairie (@paulisci) September 29, 2019

The word 'only' complicates question 3.

"Are you in favor of only drug stores and confectionary stores being open on Sunday?"

YES 30,444
NO 24,434

Now people have voted against Sunday shopping, allowing grocery stores but also *only* drug stores and confectionary stores.

— Paul Fairie (@paulisci) September 29, 2019

Question 4 is also OK by itself.

"Are you in favor of city council regulating store hours to close all stores between 1:00 am and 5:00 am?"

YES 32,768
NO 20,223

So no late night shopping.

— Paul Fairie (@paulisci) September 29, 2019

Question 5 is weird with Question 4.

"Are you in favor of all stores being allowed to set their own hours Monday to Saturday?"

YES 30,363
NO 24,384

Now a majority want stores to be able to set their own hours, but not from 1am to 5am.

— Paul Fairie (@paulisci) September 29, 2019

To summarize:

A majority wanted no Sunday shopping, and for grocery stores to be open on Sundays, but also *only* drug stores and confectionary stores to be open, and a majority also wanted stores to not be allowed to open from 1-5 am, but also be able to set their own hours.

— Paul Fairie (@paulisci) September 29, 2019

The result of all this? pic.twitter.com/jw2WeT1Fmv

— Paul Fairie (@paulisci) September 29, 2019

More aftermath: https://t.co/MMzpzhBDLH

— Paul Fairie (@paulisci) September 29, 2019

When I was in grad school, Bryan Caplan liked to tweak a standard rally chant:

The People!
United!
Will Never Be Defeated Coherent!

I wish that I'd known about the Saskatoon referendum when I was teaching public choice.

Update - I dunno what happened the first time I wrote the first line. I was thinking about schools perhaps.