NDP MP’s bill to make Remembrance Day a national statutory holiday gets support of Harper government | National Post
OTTAWA — The Conservative government is throwing its support behind an NDP private member’s bill that would make Remembrance Day a national statutory holiday, as Canadians mourn the death of two soldiers killed in separate attacks on home soil.
New Democrat MP Dan Harris’s Bill C-597 would establish a cross-country standard to treat Nov. 11 as a national statutory holiday, although it would still be up to provinces to enact their own legislation.
Members of Parliament will hold a second-reading free vote Wednesday on the bill, which is expected to pass with Conservative MPs’ support. If approved, the bill will go to the House of Commons Heritage committee for further study, before coming back to the Commons for a final vote.
Mr. Harris said he expects a prominent Conservative senator will sponsor the bill in the upper chamber, assuming it gets past third reading in the Commons, and he hopes the bill becomes law in time for Remembrance Day next year.
“The government throwing its support behind the bill means it should actually pass, and that makes a world of difference,” he said Tuesday. “The important thing at this point is to get this into legislation and have it enacted for the next Remembrance Day.”
Currently, the federal government recognizes Remembrance Day in the Holidays Act as a national holiday, but it doesn’t force provinces to treat Nov. 11 as a paid statutory holiday.
Mr. Harris’s bill would amend the Act to treat Remembrance Day like other paid, national statutory holidays, such as Victoria Day and Canada Day.
Currently, there is a hodgepodge of legislation in each of the provinces. Six provinces and three territories — British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut — mark Remembrance Day as a paid general holiday.
OTTAWA — The Conservative government is throwing its support behind an NDP private member’s bill that would make Remembrance Day a national statutory holiday, as Canadians mourn the death of two soldiers killed in separate attacks on home soil.
New Democrat MP Dan Harris’s Bill C-597 would establish a cross-country standard to treat Nov. 11 as a national statutory holiday, although it would still be up to provinces to enact their own legislation.
Members of Parliament will hold a second-reading free vote Wednesday on the bill, which is expected to pass with Conservative MPs’ support. If approved, the bill will go to the House of Commons Heritage committee for further study, before coming back to the Commons for a final vote.
Mr. Harris said he expects a prominent Conservative senator will sponsor the bill in the upper chamber, assuming it gets past third reading in the Commons, and he hopes the bill becomes law in time for Remembrance Day next year.
“The government throwing its support behind the bill means it should actually pass, and that makes a world of difference,” he said Tuesday. “The important thing at this point is to get this into legislation and have it enacted for the next Remembrance Day.”
Currently, the federal government recognizes Remembrance Day in the Holidays Act as a national holiday, but it doesn’t force provinces to treat Nov. 11 as a paid statutory holiday.
Mr. Harris’s bill would amend the Act to treat Remembrance Day like other paid, national statutory holidays, such as Victoria Day and Canada Day.
Currently, there is a hodgepodge of legislation in each of the provinces. Six provinces and three territories — British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut — mark Remembrance Day as a paid general holiday.
