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Family Day Costs Billions, Threatens Jobs, Business Leaders Warn
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by Tina Kells | February 16, 2009 at 10:50 am
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It is Presidents Day in the United States but to the north in Canada the third Monday in February is just business as usual, unless you live in one of the three provinces with a mid-winter statutory holiday called Family Day.
Alberta, Manitoba, and Ontario all mark the third Monday in February with a province wide statutory holiday. Alberta was the first to enact a law observing a mid-winter stat holiday in 1990. Ontario followed suit 18 years later passing a similar law in 2008.
In Manitoba the day is called Louis Riel Day in honor of the famous Métis leader who was hanged in 1885. Louis Riel Day also became a statutory holiday in 2008.
"It could have been time off. We don't object to that, especially in this ... slow time," he said. "I'm not against a holiday, but it should be added that I have to look at myself as a survivor."
Small and medium-sized companies effectively end up footing the bill for the annual holiday, said Judith Andrew, who represents 42,000 members in the Ontario wing of the CFIB.
Alberta was the first province to introduce Family Day in 1990. Saskatchewan followed in 2007, with Ontario signing on last year.
Manitoba also introduced its own annual provincial holiday for February last year, calling it Louis Riel Day, named for the Métis leader who led two rebellions in Western Canada and was hanged for treason in 1885.
After New Year's Day Canadians go nearly four months without a statutory day off. The first post-New Year statutory holiday in Canada doesn't come until Easter. In 2009, Canadians in provinces that do not have a February observance will go 99 days, more than a quarter of the year, without a statutory paid break from work.
While Canadian workers are happy to have a break in what is usually a long winter work stretch business leaders aren't as keen. Some small and medium business leaders in the effected provinces claim that being forced to pay workers for another zero-productivity day is costing them billions. In this economy those business leaders claim that the lost money could translate in to lost jobs which would make Family Day very family unfriendly.
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business puts the cost of Monday's provincial holiday at $2 billion in lost productivity.Many small businesses, including retailers, restaurants and others in the hospitality industry, say the day off will hurt their bottom line.
If they close, they lose a day of business. If they remain open, they have to pay staff a holiday premium.
For Abdul Habib, a Sarnia, Ont., homebuilder for 20 years, the day amounts to a cost of more than $2,000.
"It's nice to have Family Day, of course, for ourselves, but I feel it's a little bit of pain if you have 10 or 15 employees who get a free payday," he told the Canadian Press.
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (1)
at 16:30 on February 16th, 2009
Conveniently, 'business leaders' ignore that fact that many people will actually spend money today, like they do on other statuatory holidays. Research shows that people are more productive when they have lives that are balanced and they have time off to relax and rejuvenate. Depression, anxiety and other mental illnesses are contributing way more to business' increasing costs in time lost and impaired productivity than ONE extra day off a year.