Mrs Dean raised the issue at her "Friday Forum" yesterday in Oamaru, which had as its guest speaker Tauranga MP Simon Bridges.
Her Bill, the Shop Trading Hours Act Repeal (Waitaki Easter Trading) Amendment Bill 2010, was drawn from the Members' Ballot in Parliament this month.
The Bill would allow businesses to open on Easter Friday and Sunday in her Waitaki electorate, correcting what some view as an anomaly between tourist towns, particularly Wanaka, where trading is banned, and Queenstown, which can open.
Mrs Dean said the National Distribution Union's stance against the Bill at a recent union meeting in Oamaru, followed by the launch of a petition opposing it, was "surprising".
"I don't imagine many [businesses] in Oamaru will want to open over Easter because it would not be worth it," she said.
Her "intuition" was tourist towns such as Wanaka, and perhaps Geraldine and Palmerston, may want to open.
"All the Bill does is allow them to do that - give them the choice."
Mrs Dean said there were "a lot of benefits" for workers who chose to work in businesses opened at Easter.
They would get time and a-half payment and a day off in lieu.
For young people, that could appeal.
She said it was "a process of negotiation" over which workers were rostered to work on those days, and the Bill also recognised the religious significance of Easter Friday and Sunday.
"There is no compulsion [in the Bill] to open, nor for people to go out and shop," she said.
Mr Bridges outlined what the Government had promised in its 2008 election campaign and what it had delivered, concentrating on three areas - the economy, education, and law and order.
