A government official briefed on the matter told CBC News that it is considering, among other things, whether to make Sept. 19 a national holiday for federally regulated industries, and that the decision will be made public soon. Such a national holiday would only apply to 85 to 90 percent of Canadian workers, unless the provinces also participate. “We hope governments don’t go down that road because the costs would be enormous,” Dan Kelly, president and CEO of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, told CBC News. “Businesses are already struggling to pay their employees and find enough employees to keep their businesses going. For those who can shut down, they would obviously lose a day’s productivity. “For those that need to be open, like a restaurant or a movie theater or something like that, all of this means that workers are going to get extra pay while they’re working, pay that employers are going to have a hard time finding.” Kelly said that while a public holiday would cost the economy billions of dollars, small and medium-sized businesses would be spared that pain if provinces decide to let the federal government act alone, since most federally regulated businesses are big businesses. Bank of Montreal chief economist Douglas Porter said the cost to the economy of an additional statutory holiday is between 0.1 and 0.2 per cent of annual GDP, or somewhere between $2 billion and $4 billion. He added that the number is only an estimate. “It is likely that not all activities will be closed. Some could be made up later and some activities take place on weekends,” Porter told CBC News in an email.
Considering the cost
Porter said while the cost may seem high, he doesn’t think cost should be a major factor in the government’s decision. The Monarchical Association of Canada said it agreed. “Obviously we’d like to see the government have a national holiday on the 19th,” league spokesman Robert Finch told CBC News. “I think it would be a huge sign of respect. I think it would give people a chance to attend the funeral and reflect in their own way and have a day off to do that.” Finch said that while he shares Kelly’s arguments, cost should not be the deciding factor. “I think those are very genuine concerns, absolutely. They need to be factored into the decision. But I also like to think that this is not an every-year occurrence, this is a one-off,” he said.
An educational opportunity
Both New Zealand and Australia have said they will only hold national holidays once to mark the occasion. New Zealand has announced that it will have a “Queen Elizabeth II Remembrance Day” holiday on September 26. Australia has announced it will hold its one-off national holiday on September 22. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said his government had contacted regional governments and all agreed a national holiday was a good idea. So far, Canada has announced that Parliament will return for a one-day session on September 15 to commemorate Queen Elizabeth II, and that Parliament will return to full session on September 20 instead of the planned September 19. In the UK, a public holiday has been declared for the date of the funeral which will close government services and schools. Businesses will not be forced to close or compensate employees. Kelly said he had yet to receive “strong signals that any government is considering making the Queen’s funeral a public holiday”. If Canadians have to go to work on Sept. 19, Finch said, it may not all be bad news for monarchists. “The other side of the coin is that if it’s not a holiday and the students are in school, there’s an opportunity to learn about it, where you might not necessarily have that if it’s a holiday,” he said.
