The date of Queen Elizabeth’s funeral will be marked in Canada with a national holiday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday.
“We have … chosen to move forward with a federal holiday on Monday [Sept. 19],” Trudeau said in New Brunswick, where he is attending a Liberal caucus retreat.
“We will be working with the provinces and the territories to try and see that we’re aligned on this. There are still a few details to be worked out, but declaring an opportunity for Canadians to mourn on Monday is going to be important.”
The Prime Minister’s Office said that unless the provinces come on board with the plan, only federal government employees will get that day off. About 85 to 90 per cent of workers are regulated by provincial governments.
Dan Kelly, president and CEO of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business [CFIB], reacted swiftly to the news by urging provinces to reject the move.
“Given it would allow only six days notice and cost the economy billions, CFIB is urging provincial governments to not declare next Monday as a statutory (paid) holiday,” he said on Twitter. “Provinces should follow the lead of the United Kingdom, rather than the Government of Canada.”
Quebec Premier François Legault has said that while the day will be commemorated, it will not be a statutory holiday in the province and he will continue campaigning in the provincial election. Ontario also will not declare Sept. 19 a statutory holiday.
Nova Scotia, N.B., P.E.I. and Newfoundland and Labrador announced they will join the federal government in making Sept. 19 a provincial holiday.
In the United Kingdom, a bank holiday has been announced for the funeral date that will see government services and schools shuttered. Businesses will not be required to close or compensate employees.
Both New Zealand and Australia, however, have declared that they will hold one-time-only national holidays to mark the occasion.
New Zealand announced that it will have its “Queen Elizabeth II Memorial Day” on Sept. 26. Australia said it will hold its one-off national holiday on Sept. 22.
Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said his government has reached out to regional governments and they all agreed that a national holiday is a good idea.
The federal government also has announced that Parliament will return in Ottawa for a one-day sitting on Sept. 15 to commemorate Queen Elizabeth II and will come back full-time on Sept. 20, instead of the scheduled Sept. 19.
Costing out a statutory holiday
Speaking to CBC News on Monday, Kelly said the cost of a holiday would be an unfair burden on businesses.
“Businesses are already struggling to pay their employees and to find enough employees to keep their businesses going. For those that can close, they would obviously lose a day’s productivity,” he said.
“For those that need to be open, like a restaurant or a movie theatre or something like that, all this means is that employees would receive extra pay while they’re working, pay that employers would be struggling to find.”
Kelly said that while a public holiday would cost the economy billions of dollars, small- and medium-sized businesses would escape that pain if the provinces decide to let the federal government act alone, since most federally regulated business are large enterprises.
Bank of Montreal chief economist Douglas Porter said that the cost to the economy of an extra statutory holiday comes in at between 0.1 and 0.2 per cent of annual GDP, or somewhere between $2 billion and $4 billion. He added that figure is only an estimate.
“Presumably not all activity would be shut down. Some could be made up at a later date and some activity occurs on weekends,” Porter told CBC News in an email.
Porter said that while the cost might seem high, he does not think cost should be a significant factor in the government’s decision. The Monarchist League of Canada said it agrees and welcomed today’s news.
“We’re delighted by the news. Hopefully, the provinces will follow suit so Canadians have the opportunity to reflect on the life of the only head of state most of us have ever known,” league spokesperson Robert Finch told CBC News in an email Tuesday.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau makes an announcement during the Liberal summer caucus retreat in St. Andrews, N.B., Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022. (The Canadian Press/Darren Calabrese)
On Monday, Finch said that while he is sympathetic to Kelly’s arguments, the cost should not be the deciding factor.
“I think they’re very genuine concerns, absolutely. They have to be factored into the decision. But I also like to think that this is not an every-year occurrence, this is a one-off,” he said.
If the provinces do not back the move and the vast majority of Canadians do have to go to work on Sept. 19, said Finch, it might not be all bad news for monarchists.
“The flip-side of the coin is that if it’s not a holiday, and if students are in school, there is an opportunity to learn about it, where you may not necessarily have that if it is a holiday,” he said.
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
