# Happy "Civic Holiday," Canadians! **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 5, 2024, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-civic-holiday-canadians/1005272 "2024-08-05T17:24:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![2\_More\_Bits](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/2_more_bits/32/4148_2.png) [@2\_More\_Bits](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2_More_Bits)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2024, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-civic-holiday-canadians/1005272/1 "2024-08-05T17:24:38Z")
My calendar says today is “Civic Holiday” in Canada? What the heck is that? Do you get presents? Cake? The day off? ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2024, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-civic-holiday-canadians/1005272/2 "2024-08-05T18:39:34Z")
Not all provinces have it, and the name varies. It’s “Saskatchewan Day” here in my province. I don’t think it’s a holiday in Quebec. Dunno about other provinces. It’s summer time. That’s why it’s a holiday. Plus, we normally get a stat holiday every month. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2024, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-civic-holiday-canadians/1005272/3 "2024-08-05T21:15:38Z")
It’s Ribfest weekend in my city! Yummy! I live very close to the venue, so night before last we had brisket with Mac and cheese, and tonight we’re having Boss Hogs ribs and chicken with potato salad. The whole neighbourhood smells divine, and I didn’t have to cook 2 nights out of 3! Happy Civic Holiday! ---
**Author:** ![FinsToTheLeft](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finstotheleft/32/2930_2.png) [@FinsToTheLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinsToTheLeft)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2024, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-civic-holiday-canadians/1005272/4 "2024-08-05T21:34:09Z")
In Toronto, it’s Simcoe Day named after the first Lieutenant Governor of and Ontario and noted abolitionist John Graves Simcoe. > **[John Graves Simcoe](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Graves_Simcoe)** > > John Graves Simcoe (25 February 1752 – 26 October 1806) was a British Army general and the first lieutenant governor of Upper Canada from 1791 until 1796 in southern Ontario and the watersheds of Georgian Bay and Lake Superior. He founded York, which is now known as Toronto, and was instrumental in introducing institutions such as courts of law, trial by jury, English common law, freehold land tenure, and also in the abolition of slavery in Upper Canada. > His long-term goal was the developmen... ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2024, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-civic-holiday-canadians/1005272/5 "2024-08-05T22:10:56Z")
So I guess it’s sort of like the Queen (and I suppose now the King) choosing when to have her birthday, on the basis of when would be a good day for folks to have a day off. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2024, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-civic-holiday-canadians/1005272/6 "2024-08-05T22:26:43Z")
It is, apparently, an optional holiday in Quebec. When my wife worked for the Dept. of Education, she could choose to work that day in order to get an extra day off elsewhen. A friend of mine was supposed to get an arteriogram with the likely installation of a stent and the cancelled it because the hospital discovered it was a holiday. Her oxygen capacity was down to 20% of normal, so this is serious business. Hopefully tomorrow. On the other hand, my wife had a medical appointment today and the clinic was operating normally. ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2024, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-civic-holiday-canadians/1005272/7 "2024-08-06T04:06:16Z")
IIRC it was just a holiday “just because…” then politicians had to go assigning a reason to it Something like the Bank Holidays in Britain? We also have a holiday now in mid-February or soo, because it’s too long between New years’ and Easter; and we don’t have an MLK or George Washington (“But mommy… the man on TV said he’s the father of our country…”) so they make up all sorts of excuses across the country to declare a holiday. Depending on how grumpy and cheap your provincial government has been, it may or may not be a statutory holiday requiring time-and-a-half pay. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2024, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-civic-holiday-canadians/1005272/8 "2024-08-06T04:09:15Z")
> [@md-2000](#): > > We also have a holiday now in mid-February or soo, because it’s too long between New years’ and Easter Three months of Canadian winter without a holiday break ? of course we needed a February holiday. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2024, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-civic-holiday-canadians/1005272/9 "2024-08-06T04:14:56Z")
It’s not a statutory holiday here in Alberta, but a lot of workplaces regard it as such. City Hall is closed, downtown street parking is free, and buses are running on reduced schedules, because nobody has to go to work. Pretty much the only places that are open and operating (other than police, fire, etc.) are restaurants, casinos, and tourist attractions. ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2024, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-civic-holiday-canadians/1005272/10 "2024-08-06T04:20:26Z")
> [@md-2000](#): > > Depending on how grumpy and cheap your provincial government has been… > [@Spoons](#): > > It’s not a statutory holiday here in Alberta, I rest my case… ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2024, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-civic-holiday-canadians/1005272/11 "2024-08-06T04:34:23Z")
I believe this “civic holiday” was created for the following vital reason: “We need another long weekend around the beginning of August”. Unless I’m confusing it with “Family Day”, which was created for the following vital reason: “We need another long weekend around the middle of February”. Anyway, around here this “civic holiday” isn’t being taken particularly seriously. Office workers have the day off, and banks – which will shut their doors on virtually any pretext – are also of course closed. But almost all retail establishments were open today. Even the government-owned liquor stores were open, though only for about half the day. The first Monday in August is kind of a “semi-holiday”. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2024, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-civic-holiday-canadians/1005272/12 "2024-08-06T04:48:16Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > Even the government-owned liquor stores were open, though only for about half the day. When I worked for the Beer Store back in the day, we’d be slammed on the Friday before a long weekend, and get slammed again on the Saturday. Why? Because we were closed on Sunday, as always, and we’d be closed on the holiday Monday. Gotta stock up to make it through those two days we were closed! Other holiday times were also pretty hairy. Christmas/Boxing Day/New Year’s could get really crazy, depending on where in the week they occurred. Nice to hear, though, that Ontario now allows LCBOs to open on the holiday Monday, even if it is reduced hours. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2024, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-civic-holiday-canadians/1005272/13 "2024-08-06T05:15:45Z")
BC Day here. It was too hot to work, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2024, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-civic-holiday-canadians/1005272/14 "2024-08-06T12:57:23Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > and the[n] cancelled it because the hospital discovered it was a holiday I mean, these holidays can be real hard to predict in advance. Who knows _when_ they’re going to happen? ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2024, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-civic-holiday-canadians/1005272/15 "2024-08-06T13:18:47Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > A friend of mine was supposed to get an arteriogram with the likely installation of a stent and the cancelled it because the hospital discovered it was a holiday. Her oxygen capacity was down to 20% of normal, so this is serious business. Hopefully tomorrow. On the other hand, my wife had a medical appointment today and the clinic was operating normally. I hope that’s only her rate without oxygen or something, because that’s deadly, passed out low. In other words, an emergency. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2024, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-civic-holiday-canadians/1005272/16 "2024-08-06T13:25:16Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > I don’t think it’s a holiday in Quebec. It is not. Although I live in Ontario, where it’s family day, I technically work in Quebec. Instead of this weekend, we get June 25th off for Fete National, which used to be St. Jean Baptiste Day. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2024, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-civic-holiday-canadians/1005272/17 "2024-08-06T15:04:00Z")
Of course she is getting oxygen. She’s in the cardiac ward of the hospital. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2024, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-civic-holiday-canadians/1005272/18 "2024-08-06T15:42:05Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > Of course she is getting oxygen. She’s in the cardiac ward of the hospital. ⁢ That’s not what I meant. I meant that I hope that being on oxygen has raised her oxygen levels above 70%. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2024, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-civic-holiday-canadians/1005272/19 "2024-08-06T16:05:47Z")
I don’t know. I hear only from her husband who is remarkably uninformed on things medical. Anyway, I hope she is getting treated today and I expect to hear from him. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2024, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-civic-holiday-canadians/1005272/20 "2024-08-06T16:34:16Z")
Everybody gets a Honda Civic. You get a car! You get a car! (Actual car may be smaller in size than expected.)