money on recreational activities and/or entertainment on their extra day off. To be sure, businesses that remain open on Family Day might see increased demand for their goods and services but their wage costs will also increase as they will be forced to pay workers two and a half times their regular pay (British Columbia, Ministry of Labour, 2012b). More importantly, increased spending by families on their day off might mean less spending at other times throughout the year. Family Day might change the timing and location of spending but not the total amount families actually spend during the year. The bottom line is that statutory holidays aren’t free: taxpayers, workers, and business foot the bill.
References Canadian Federation of Independent Business [CFIB] (2012). CFIB letter to Premier Christy Clark. Canadian Federation of Independent Business. <http://www.cfib-fcei.ca/cfib-documents/bc120402.pdf>, as of July 24, 2012 . British Columbia, Ministry of Labour (2012a). Employment Standards Branch: Statutory Holidays in British Columbia—2011–2014. Government of British Columbia. <http://www.labour.gov.bc.ca/ esb/facshts/stats.htm>, as of August 16, 2012.
British Columbia, Ministry of Labour (2012b). Employment Standards Branch: A Guide to the Employment Standards Act. Government of British Columbia. <http://www.labour.gov. bc.ca/esb/esaguide/#12>, as of July 24, 2012. Government of Saskatchewan (2012). Labour Standards, Public Holidays (Statutory). Government of Saskatchewan. <http://www.lrws.gov.sk.ca/public-holidays>, as of July 24, 2012. Government of Nova Scotia (2012). Holiday and Designated Closing Day Charts. Government of Nova Scotia. <http://www. gov.ns.ca/lae/employmentrights/holidaychart.asp>, as of July 24, 2012. Gunderson, Morley, Douglas Hyatt, and Craig Riddell (2000). Pay Differences between the Government and Private Sectors: Labour Force Survey and Census Estimates. Human Resources in Government Series, CPRN Discussion Paper No. W10. Lahey, James (2011). Controlling Federal Compensation Costs: Towards a Fairer and More Sustainable System. In Christopher Stoney and G. Bruce Doern (eds.), How Ottawa Spends 2011-2012 (The School of Public Policy and Administration at Carleton University): 84-105. Statistics Canada (2012). Table 183-0002–Public sector employment, wages and salaries, annual.
CSPC 2012 Themes •
CANADIAN
SCIENCE
POLICY CONFERENCE CALGARY ALBERTA
• • •
Innovating on energy supply and demand for more sustainable resource management: a critical test for the integration of science, technology and policy Re-imagining Canadian Healthcare: How innovation in science and policy can contribute to a more sustainable system Food, Fuel and Farmers: Agriculture at the convergence of multi-disciplinary science policy issues Science-Technology-Society-Nexus Honorary Co-Chairs: Preston Manning Dr. Eric Newell Dr. Elizabeth Cannon
21 Panel Sessions | 80 Speakers 3 Days of Conference, Workshop: Science Policy 101 Info@cspc2012 | www.cspc2012.ca | @sciencepolicy
www.fraserinstitute.org
Fraser Forum September/October 2012
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