Enjoy your holiday that's coming in February
Editorial

Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory is taking shots at Premier Dalton McGuinty for the new statutory holiday he is about to bestow on us; namely Family Day.

Tory is upset because it's going to come with a cost attached. He cited the expense it's going to be for municipalities which, like Mr. Scrooge, are going to be obliged to pay a day's wages for no work. He even produced some examples. Taxpayers in Hamilton are going to be out about $750,000, and we can add another $200,000 to that tab if it snows. The City of Toronto will be on the hook for $2.3 million, according to Tory's figures, but you can more than double that when you factor in the transit costs that are going to have to be paid.

Closer to home, Mayor Margaret Black reported the extra day off for municipal staff is going to cost King Township about $25,000.

Granted, King is no Toronto, but that is still 25 grand that's not going to be used on other things, like services to the taxpaying public. And as the senior elected representative of that taxpaying public, Black is naturally concerned.

Of course, this is going to impact on all employers, since they will be obligated to give their staffs the day off, or let them make it up in lieu time.

"This is no different than a tax," York - Simcoe MPP Julia Munro observed, with considerable justification.

There are going to be other costs associated with this new holiday too. For example, if you've picked up a traffic ticket in the last little while, and the court date is Feb. 18, you may have caught yourself a break, and the public coffers might be out what ever fine you would have owed.

Tory calls this holiday "nothing more than another ploy cooked up by the McGuinty Liberals, without any thought or planning, to win votes."

True, this was part of the Liberal platform in the fall provincial election, and we think it's very nice to see the McGuinty government actually keeping campaign promises for a change. Dare we express the hope that this is the start of a promising trend for the crew running the show at Queen's Park?

But let's all give our heads a collective shake, shall we?

Considering McGuinty's track record of broken campaign promises (we all pay a hefty health care premium that McGuinty led us to believe, during the 2003 campaign, that we would never see), and Tory's promise to fund faith-based schools, how many people would have viewed the lure of a holiday in the middle of February as the clincher when they were deciding who to vote for in October. You could probably count those voters on the fingers of a clenched fist.

Besides, the idea of a holiday in the middle of February is absolutely nothing new. Let us not forget that Feb. 15 is commonly referred to as Flag Day in this country, commemorating the day in 1965 when that banner with the two red bars at either end and the maple leaf in the middle became our national flag. There have been efforts to have that day declared a national holiday for at least 10 years, if not longer. One of the arguments was the fact that between New Year's Day and Good Friday, there aren't many breaks in the regular work routine. There are a few hopeless romantics who will mark St. Valentine's Day, but the sad fact is not everyone has enough of "ye olde blarney" in him to celebrate St. Patrick's Day.

So a break in the traditional winter "blahs" might be a tonic that many of us could use. Despite her reservations, even Black agreed that extra day off might reenergize Township staff, possibly making them more productive in the long run.

So let's stop worrying about the cost. Let's give the premier some credit, which he may or may not deserve, and let's all take a day off Feb. 18, at least those of us who can.

And if you feel like waving a flag three days before that, tell anyone who complains that we said it's okay.