That time of year is once again upon us: the annual Family Day long weekend in Alberta. Thirty-five years after Albertans first marked the third Monday in February as a provincial holiday in 1990, most of us who get the day off work take it for granted, but there is a big political story behind how this day was created.
Some readers will be familiar with the story about then-Premier Don Getty’s son getting arrested for possession and trafficking of cocaine and his father creating a holiday to celebrate family values in response. It sounds like a cynical take but it’s a big part of the story.
The idea to create a mid-winter holiday had been around for some time before it was announced in Alberta’s 1989 pre-election Speech from the Throne.
