Public school students and their unionized teachers will have a day of rest, but not necessarily their counterparts at private schools. George Briggs, Executive Director of the Conference of Independent Schools of Ontario, says he thinks the majority will take the day off—but it seems some students will be trudging to class while their parents spend the day in their dressing gowns. And those who do get the day off will have to make up the time somewhere, in any case. Spare a thought for Ottawans, as well, who will suffer a particularly acute form of Family Day apartheid. The provincial holiday doesn't apply to federal workers, after all, of which there area great many in the Capital Region.

Some might look at the controversy and wonder if it was too much ado over a day off. But it's the inequality that seems to rankle Ontarians most, particularly on a day that's supposed to unite families across the province. Still, one suspects the movie projectionists, ski lift operators, gas station attendants, hotel chambermaids and other facilitators of family bliss—all of whom are exempt from the Employment Standards Act—might advise them to suck it up.

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