“This COVID surgery is a shoplifer’s wet dream,” says Kelowna’s Steve Merrill.
“No face masks allowed” reads the sign at Kelownas Sun City Silver and Gold on Bernard Avenue.
“It’s a clue to people who don’t know me that we don’t want them to wear a mask in a store with silver and gold on the shelves,” says owner Steve Merrill.
“The first concern is someone with a mask walking in and holding a gun to my head. My cameras in my shop don’t see through those idiot masks,” he added.
Merrill says it is dangerous for any retail business with products on the shelves for shoppers to wear masks.
“Sunglasses, makeup, whatever – this COVID Operation is a shoplifer’s wet dream, “he explains.
Merrill says he doesn’t wear a mask when he goes out COVID Flu.”
Despite his personal approach to masks and the sign on his door, Merrill says he won’t stop you if you come into his shop with one.
“If someone were really sincere about it, it wouldn’t be so bad. If I recognized them and they were afraid of it COVID-19, of course I’ll let her in, don’t get me wrong, “says Merrill.
Merrill tells Castanet that if government officials stop by his shop to enforce the wearing of masks, he will refer to the BC Human Rights Commission, which says dealers should take away those who claim they are up due to a medical exception their word cannot wear a mask.
“What a thief,” he says. “Well, you don’t come to my shop with a mask on.”
Some Jewellery Shops in the Okanagan only asked customers to briefly show their faces to the security cameras when they entered and to return to shopping with their masks on.
Merrill made headlines last year after being sentenced to 90 days in prison for failing to file income taxes for four years. During his trial, he tried to argue that he was not a “person” for the purposes of Canadian income tax law. The judge dismissed Merrill’s arguments as “twisted” and “straw man logic” that “defies rational reaction”.
In particular the man who is responsible for organizing the anti-mask and anti-Lockdown Rallies in Kelowna Last year, David Lindsay also spent some time in jail for refusing to collect income taxes. In fact, the judge in Merrill’s 2020 tax case cited a 2011 BC appeals court ruling regarding Lindsay’s refusal to raise taxes as a precedent for convicting Merrill.
