The day's been set and now the countdown begins. Just eight-and-a-half months, give or take, until British Columbians get to join our counterparts in five other provinces in celebrating a statutory holiday in February.
As of 2013, B.C.'s new Family Day will be marked
on the second Monday of February - the inaugural one will land on Feb. 11, just smack dab between New Year's and Easter. Heaven knows, we here in the coastal rainforest known as Metro Vancouver have heard plenty of grumbling 'round about Valentine's Day that it seems an awful long time to go without a three-day weekend.
So, we suppose a certain degree of gratitude is due to the premier for following through on this election promise. Who doesn't enjoy an extra day off with pay? (Assuming, of course, that you work somewhere that you'll get the day off - or that you'll still get paid if you're not at work. Or that you have a job at all in this shaky job market of late.)
But, in the spirit of gratitude, let's not forget the Liberals even let us average Joes decide when it would be held by hosting an online vote. The choice was either the second or the third Monday of the month: the third so that it would line up with other provincical family days and President's Day in the U.S., and the second because, presumably, holiday spots would be less crowded than on the holiday-packed third Monday.
Oh, the irony.
Considering a good many families in this province are struggling to make ends meet, let alone make it out to a "less crowded" holiday hot spot for a day with the family, it seems a strange way to frame the question.
But we don't want to seem ungrateful. An extra holiday is certainly nice.
And we're sure we'll hear all about how nice it was, seeing as the very first one falls just a few weeks before provincial election campaign season.
