Most of us in Canada have the day off today. It's a Civic Holiday, or as I like to call it, Contrived Summer Holiday.
Essentially, with a whole summer between Canada Day and Labour Day, we needed a summer holiday. The first Monday of August sounded good, and most provinces bought in. What this holiday is called, however, depends upon where you live.
Here are the provinces outside Ontario celebrating a holiday today:
- Heritage Day - Alberta
- British Columbia Day - British Columbia
- Civic Holiday - Manitoba
- New Brunswick Day - New Brunswick
- Civic Holiday - Northwest Territories
- Natal Day - Nova Scotia
- Civic Holiday - Nunavut
- Natal Day - Prince Edward Island
- Saskatchewan Day - Saskatchewan
And here in Ontario, this holiday gets really complicated. We call it different names depending on which city you're in.
- Simcoe Day - Toronto
- Mountie Day - North York
- Colonel By Day - Ottawa
- George Hamilton Day - Hamilton
- Joseph Brant Day - Burlington
- Founders' Day - Brantford
- McLaughlin Day - Oshawa
- Alexander Mackenzie Day - Sarnia
- James Cockburn Day - Cobourg
- Peter Robinson Day - Peterborough
- John Galt Day - Guelph
Happy Contrived Summer Holiday!
