I reported on this holiday last year and can confirm again that a long weekend in February is a good idea. It is law in Alberta, according to the CBC:

Albertans already enjoy such a holiday, and have done so since 1989. The third Monday in February is Family Day in that province, giving many people a statutory holiday "to recognize the values held by the pioneers who built Alberta and the values of home and family."

So I recognized the "values of the home" by staying home and doing housework in the morning and recognized the "values of the pioneers" by sleeping all afternoon. Funny that they do not recognize the pioneers, just their values. Too bad they do not recognize the importance of families - just their values. It would be nice to name the holiday something values-free. This values-dialogue is getting to be tedious, especially as it means nothing or just whatever you want. So it is great that we call this John A. MacDonald Day here in Kingston (or as Chretien would say "Kings stone") for our favorite guy, the founder of Canada - not to "recognize his values" or, say, "heritage" or "tradition" those other bits of unthinking clap-trap going around these day.

Let's have just a holiday celebrating his actions and life - and how about making it on a Friday, too, because we all know he valued a good night out.