Hanes: While the ROC sleeps in, we suffer without a stats day

Opinion
columnists

Most of Canada today is free to relax or hit the slopes. Memo to Premier Legault: Quebecers need a day off even in the middle of the winter doldrums.

It sure would be nice to treat today as our own family day – or any other kind of break. Photo by Allen McInnis/Montreal Gazette

Quebecers have every reason to be particularly upset this Monday morning.

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While most of the country enjoys a public holiday, we’re back to everyday life.

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And as if knowing the ROC is sleeping or hitting the slopes isn’t insulting enough, some of us might even be hosting relatives from out of province who took advantage of their long weekend to come visit. showing off

I mean, how fair is it that Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and New Brunswick celebrate Family Day, Manitoba celebrates Louis Riel Day, Nova Scotia Commemorating Heritage Day and Prince Edward Island, enjoying Islander Day while in Quebec we have to get up early, pack lunches, trudge through the mud, sit in class or go to work? That seems unfair, to say the least.

Sure, we have St. Jean Baptiste’s Day on June 24th and they don’t. But most of the country has a public holiday on the first weekend of August, and we don’t. Without Family Day, or whatever you call it, we have one less day off a year. It’s an outrage. So much for balancing across the association.

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It would be tempting to resort to the old reflex of blaming Ottawa for this injustice. But it turns out these are just our fellow provinces trying to make Quebecers jealous or something — and then showing up to turn their noses up at us. The variously named holidays were set under provincial jurisdiction, so no one but our own government is responsible for this affront.

What is it about the restraint in the province of la belle?

Not knowing why previous governments haven’t introduced a ‘Journée de la Famille’ or some other entirely made-up day off, Prime Minister François Legault seems skeptical about special leave. Although there may have been political motives for denying Quebecers a one-off break on the day of Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral last year, he cited lost productivity as the reason. Ditto for the reason Quebec hasn’t declared a mandatory break on National Truth and Reconciliation Day like New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut have, along with state-regulated jobs.

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Obviously, such a statistic should serve as a day of somber reflection on the genocide perpetrated on successive generations of Indigenous children confined in dormitories, so it’s apples and oranges really – and maybe fodder for another column. But on the purely recreational vacation table, Quebecers are losing out thanks to the inertia of our own government.

Meanwhile, Legault always says that one of his main goals as prime minister is to bridge the wealth gap with Ontario. When time is money, this is another type of fiscal imbalance that needs to be addressed.

To lift our spirits, Quebecers could look down on our idle countrymen and pat themselves on the back for our superior productivity. But who are we kidding? We want a day off – need a day off, some might say – just as badly in the midst of the winter doldrums. We can call it a mental health day if that helps strengthen the case.

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To be honest, the productivity argument seems like a weak excuse anyway. Just last week my kids had a four day weekend with educational days on Friday and Monday. Next Friday is another children’s day. There’s a clear recognition that students and teachers deserve a little extra rest to get through the home stretch in February, even though it’s the shortest month of the year and March break is just around the corner.

But what about the parents? We had to find childcare, work from home, or take vacation days due to this random day off from school. Couldn’t Quebecers have reveled in our own family day instead? What if it was a different weekend? We’re a separate company, aren’t we?

Typically, Quebec is Canada’s most family-friendly province. Our subsidized day care and cheaper parental benefits have long been the envy of neighboring provinces – so much so that Ottawa has now copied Quebec’s welfare programs and rolled them out nationally. Now we are falling behind on this one small but important measure.

So after waking my grumpy children and seeing my houseguests off on their merry way, I’ll sigh, whine, and grumble my way through this horrible, horrible, not good, very bad Monday with no holidays, and wish I lived somewhere else— if only for today.

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