Today is Ontario's first ever "Family Day". This new provincial holiday creates a long weekend in February when we are all in the depth of winter's doldrums. Premier McGinty says:
"There is nothing more valuable to families than time together. And yet it seems tougher than ever to find, with so many of us living such busy lives,"
There has been controversy over this holiday and how it will actual "pay out" with people's employment contracts. Some self-employed people are aggravated their children are underfoot when they can't afford to take an extra day off themselves.
Here is my two cents on the matter. We need a long weekend in February. We need a long weekend every month! As a society, we do work too many hours and we do not relax and recreate enough, alone or without families. We are a stressed society of exhausted workers and that is NOT good for our children.
However - to call this holiday "Family Day" seems like some failed PR tactic. Lets' face it, if the government really wants to make an effort to fortify the lives of families in Ontario it should tackle the bigger issues like affordable housing, accessible quality daycare and child poverty... just as a start.
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