NDP leader Jack Layton is urging Prime Minister Harper to follow Ontario’s lead and create a February holiday throughout the country. According to Layton another day off would be a good thing because it would increase productivity.
That makes sense – it helps explain why Jacko is not now, nor will ever be, the Right Honourable Prime Minister of Canada. Or the leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition for that matter. Perhaps if Layton was running the country we could take an entire year off and become an economic superpower.
Currently Ontario has joined Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba in having a long weekend in February. Pressure is now being put on PEI Premier Robert Ghiz to follow suit and it will only be a matter of time before an extra day off during the middle of winter emerges throughout most if not all of Canada. It would be preferable for the federal government to standardize it.
Hopefully in enacting this holiday, the feds could do it properly and avoid the problems that occurred in Ontario as a result of the holiday being sprung during an Ontario election campaign and coming to fruition just months later. It has been estimated that 40 per cent of the population ended up working. The holiday allowed municipalities such as Toronto to play games; Mayor David Miller gave all municipally paid workers the day off (or a day in lieu) except the police because the council that knows no bounds when it comes to spending couldn’t afford it. It’s no secret that the Marxist mayor doesn’t much like the men and women in blue like he does his underworked and overpaid, unionized garbage collectors and tree pruners.
The matter of having a long weekend between the Christmas season and Easter has been discussed for years. There is some evidence that a long weekend in February would help many people who suffer from depression during the long dark days of winter. And if the federal government would make it a national holiday, at least they can name it. Let’s get rid of the cutesy and misleading “Family Day” moniker and choose something that would honour Canada and its past.
The trend is for more and more businesses, especially retail, to remain open and do business on statutory holidays. This is no doubt due to the fact that many business people are simply unable to grasp the intricate fundamentals of Laytonomics and think that they are increasing productivity by staying open. When a significant number of people work during a holiday, labeling it “Family Day” is insulting. As one person put it, Family Day is a day that the private sector pays to give the public sector the day off. Those who have to work have families too. If we have a holiday, we should have a reason for having it – not an excuse.
What is amazing about “Family Day” is that the name borders on, if not is, politically incorrect. It is bound to make those who have no family “feel bad”. We live in an age where it is only a matter of time before the terms “mom” and “dad” will be replaced by “parental unit” or some other such term so that those children who do not have one of each won’t feel bad. As has been pointed out by others, many people who do not have a significant other already get gloomy on Valentine’s Day. Now those with no significant other and no family will be doubly depressed because Family Day comes soon after Valentine’s Day. And we can’t have that in a caring society.
The red maple leaf became Canada’s national flag on February 15, 1965. Since then there has been off and on discussions about the appropriateness of a February holiday and calling it “Flag Day”. This is something that the federal government should seriously consider. If the Conservatives don’t do it, for sure the Liberals never will. After all, honouring the flag would make Canadians too much like, you know, “those people”.
A national holiday during February is an idea whose time has come. But let’s use it to honour Canada. Only the federal government can do that.
