New holiday a burden, say P.E.I. businesses

The P.E.I. government's decision to introduce a new statutory holiday in February will be yet another burden on Island businesses, says the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.

'It's not necessarily the impact of one new statutory holiday.' — Erin McGrath-Gaudet, CFIB

The provincial government announced Islander Day in the throne speech Friday.

CFIB policy analyst Erin McGrath-Gaudet told CBC News Tuesday that the new holiday adds to a number of challenges P.E.I. businesses are already facing.

"You have to recognize that this is just one way that they have been impacted in the past year," said McGrath-Gaudet.

"Business owners are being hit by high fuel costs, the high Canadian dollar, the crisis in agriculture, there has been an increase in minimum wage, so they are being hit with a lot of costs. So it's not necessarily the impact of one new statutory holiday, but there is a lot of impacts that are hitting them at the same time."

The Charlottetown Area Chamber of Commerce echoed those concerns, but executive director Kathy Hambly said if a holiday had to be brought in, February was probably the best possible month.

"We certainly knew that the government was looking at this," said Hambly.

"The Employment Standards Act review did recommend and extra statutory holiday around the time of Thanksgiving. And certainly we'd prefer to see if there is going to be an extra statutory holiday, that it falls in February so it doesn't negatively impact the tourism sectors."

Islander Day will be celebrated on the second Monday of February, beginning in 2009.