Ontario's newly announced Family Day might mean one more paid day off for workers but for Toronto, it means one more holiday the cash-strapped city can't afford.
The city's Employee and Labour Relations Committee will discuss a report this week from the city manager that says Toronto will lose $2.3 million because of the new statutory holiday.
"The increased costs would result from the requirement to pay a regular day's pay to employees who are not scheduled to work on the new public holiday and to pay a premium rate for all hours worked on the public holiday," City Manager Shirley Hoy writes in the report.
The financial burden does not include costs associated with loss of productivity on that day.
The city will be most impacted by the services that are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week such as Emergency Medical Services, Homes for the Aged and Toronto Water.
One city councillor suggested to The Globe and Mail the city should try and recuperate the costs by scaling back the number of non-statutory holidays civic employees currently have. City employees currently have an additional five days off on top of provincially-mandated public holidays.
Premier Dalton McGuinty promised to introduce a new public holiday, hoping to please voters by giving them a break during the winter months by allowing them to spend more time with their families.
Family Day is the province's ninth public holiday. It will take place on the third Monday of every February. The first one will be on Feb. 18, 2008.
