TORONTO - Ontario workers could be enjoying a new paid holiday by as early as this coming February if the governing Liberals win next month's provincial election, Premier Dalton McGuinty suggested Tuesday, but critics panned the pitch as a bad economic plan.
The proposed holiday -- to be dubbed Family Day, on the third Monday of February -- would become law as soon as a re-elected Liberal government could get the necessary bill approved in the legislature, McGuinty told a news conference.
"(As) soon as we can get it done,'' he said when asked when the promise of a new holiday, which the Liberals unveiled Monday, would go into effect. "It's a matter of getting legislation through.''
Not everyone was thrilled with the news, however.
The Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses, which represents small and medium-sized firms that employ nearly half of Ontario's 6.6 million workers, warned Tuesday that a paid day off means a $2 billion "blow'' to the province's economy.
"It's not very good economics. It'll hurt productivity,'' said CFIB's Ontario vice-president Judith Andrew.
"It's obviously good politics to announce it on the eve of an election, and no doubt most employees would want a paid day off during the February blahs; however, the issue is who pays for it.''
Opposition parties also blasted the idea as little more than a blatant attempt to win over voter support in the upcoming election. McGuinty, however, insisted the plan was anything but a snap decision.
"I can tell you it's not out of the blue.'' he said. "We've been thinking about it for a long, long time.''
Ontario workers have "earned'' the right to a holiday in February, just like their counterparts in Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia and the Northwest Territories, he added.
"I think that if B.C. has found a way to do this and Alberta has found a way to manage this, that we can,'' he said after visiting with Grade 4 students at Oakwood Public School for the first day of classes.
"That's a long space of time between January and Easter, that's a dark part of the winter, and this gives families something that they can plan for, something that they can do together. It's a modest(proposal).''
McGuinty said Ontario's economy is now strong enough to withstand the financial burden of adding another paid holiday, especially since the Liberals finally moved the province out of the red and into budget surpluses.
"We've put ourselves in a position where, having eliminated the deficit, we've got an economy that's strong and continues to grow.''
Andrew called it insulting that the Liberal government did not even consult the small business lobby before announcing the new holiday, and said employers who cannot afford to pay staff a holiday premium will end up having to close and lose a day's revenue.
NDP Leader Howard Hampton wondered why McGuinty thought businesses in Ontario could afford another paid holiday when the premier says they can't afford to immediately hike the minimum wage by $2 to $10 an hour.
"No one would be opposed to another holiday,'' Hampton said.
"However, if we can't afford the minimum-wage increase but can afford this (holiday), it seems to me there's a huge leap of logic there that won't meet the test.''
Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory admitted people could use a break in February, but wondered why the Liberals waited until a month before the general election to propose the new holiday.
The new holiday would give Ontario workers a total of nine long weekends per year, the same as the three western provinces and the Northwest Territories.
