No rest for Nova Scotians
Posted Feb 15, 2010 02:18:39 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Nearly half the country and all of the United States are enjoying a long weekend, renewing calls from Nova Scotia’s MLAs for a February holiday in this province.
“The topic of conversation I get most from emails and calls is what to call this day — not whether it’s a good idea,” says Liberal MLA Diana Whalen.
She thinks Joseph Howe Day would honour a great person and give people some much-needed time off between New Year’s and Easter.
Five other provinces have today off, and Cody says we should as well.
“Everyone likes a day off when you get paid for it,” he says.
However, Anne McGrath with the Canadian Federation of Independent Business doesn’t agree.
She says staying open on a holiday means paying staff time-and-a-half, at what is usually a slow time of year anyway.
“Your restaurants and convenience stores and whatnot, it’s an awful lot of extra money going out the door and not necessarily a lot of money coming in,” says McGrath.
But Whalen says the boost in productivity from a holiday would be worth it.
