As the date of Queen Elizabeth’s funeral approaches, Canadians are waiting to find out if they will have the day free to observe the event.
A government official speaking on the merits told CBC News that a decision on whether to make September 19 a statutory holiday for federally regulated industries is being considered, among other options, and that a decision will be soon to be made public.
Some 85-90% of working Canadians would miss such a holiday unless the provinces also join in.
“We hope governments won’t go down this route because the costs would be enormous,” Dan Kelly, president and CEO of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, told CBC News.
“Companies are already struggling to pay their employees and find enough employees to run their business. For those that can close, they would obviously lose a day of productivity.
“For ones that need to be open, like a restaurant or a cinema or something, all of that means employees would get extra pay while they work, pay that employers would be hard pressed to find.”
Kelly said that while a holiday would cost the economy billions of dollars, small and medium-sized businesses would escape that pain if the provinces decided to let the federal government act on its own, because most federally regulated businesses are large companies.
Bank of Montreal chief economist Douglas Porter said the cost to the economy of an additional holiday is between 0.1 and 0.2 percent of annual GDP, or between $2 billion and $4 billion. of dollars. He added that this figure was only an estimate.
“Presumably not all activities would be stopped. Some may be reinstated at a later date and some activities are 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 big factor in the government’s decision. The Monarchist League of Canada said it agreed.
“Obviously we would like the government to 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 the opportunity to watch the funeral and think in their own way and have the day off to do that.”
Finch said while supportive of Kelly’s arguments, cost shouldn’t be the deciding factor.
“I think those are very real concerns, absolutely. They have to be factored into the decision. But I also like to think that it’s not an annual event, it’s a one-time event,” he said. -he declares.
An educational opportunity
New Zealand and Australia have said they will hold unique national holidays to mark the occasion.
New Zealand has announced that it will hold its “Queen Elizabeth II Remembrance Day” party on September 26. Australia has announced that it will hold its unique National Day on September 22.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said his government had contacted regional governments and they all agreed a national holiday was a good idea.
So far, Canada has announced that parliament will return for a one-day sitting on September 15 to commemorate Queen Elizabeth II and that parliament will return full-time on September 20 instead of the scheduled September 19.
In the UK, a public holiday has been announced for the date of the funeral which will see the closure of government services and schools. Businesses will not be required to close or compensate employees.
Kelly said he had yet to receive “strong signals that a government was considering making the Queen’s funeral a public holiday”.
If Canadians have to go to work on Sept. 19, Finch said, that might not be bad news for monarchists.
“The flip side is that if it’s not a public holiday, and if the students are in school, there’s an opportunity to learn about it, which isn’t necessarily the case if it’s a public holiday,” he said.
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