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construction holiday
DCHP-2 (Aug 2012)
Spelling variants:Construction Holiday
n. — Quebec, Administration
a government-mandated summer vacation period for construction workers in Quebec, which is observed more generally in Quebec.
Type: 1. Origin — Vacation periods for construction workers in Quebec are set by the Commission de la construction du Québec; one two-week period starts just before Christmas and the other in late July, but it is the latter that has come to be generally known as the construction holiday. The time of that holiday influences the vacation choices of other Quebeckers as well. Construction holidays were put into force by provincial governmental decree in 1970 (see Commission de la construction du Québec reference).
As can be seen in Chart 1, the term is a Quebec regionalism.
See also COD-2, s.v. "construction holiday", which is marked "Cdn (Que.)".
See also COD-2, s.v. "construction holiday", which is marked "Cdn (Que.)".
Ontario once had construction holidays as well (see the 1954 quotations), but now they are limited to Quebec. The term seems to be an Ontario innovation that was taken over and preserved by Quebec.
Quebec's construction holiday usually starts in late July for a period of two weeks, which in 2016, for instance, was from 24 July to 7 August. During this period, many services are unavailable throughout the province, not just construction services.
Quotations
1954
The Ottawa Builder's Exchange announced yesterday that this year's construction holiday is scheduled for the week of August 2.
1954
Construction Holiday Most major construction in the Toronto area will close down this week for the annual holiday in the building trades.
1973
Construction holiday Throughout the province, thousands of construction workers are on vacation for two weeks. The period of relative inactivity started on July 13 and continues until July 30th.
1977
The new restaurant, originally planned for September, was built and opened for business in precisely 10 days when Pankalla realized he was faced with the annual construction holiday the last two weeks of July.
1985
The workers accepted a company request to work through a two-week provincial construction holiday to make up time on delayed contracts, said union president Francois Lamoureux.
1994
Enumeration for the by-elections will start July 25, in the midst of Quebec's traditional construction holiday. That holiday is why a general election won't be held before September, Johnson explained yesterday.
2003
All I got was a backyard swing set and, for a few years, an annual construction-holiday week in a housekeeping motel in dreary, Speedo-plagued Wildwood, N.J.
2010
There's a weird Sorcerer's Apprentice quality to infrastructure work in Quebec: the more you do, the more there is that needs to be done. Stranger still, right in the middle of the best time to do it - midsummer - we stop doing it. I'm talking about the construction holiday, of course.
It might be considered just another quaint anachronism that helps define the distinct society - like Celine Dion or poutine.
2015
This is, however, just a yearly tradition in the province and workers will be back on the job in a couple of weeks, following the province's unique government-mandated Construction Holiday that essentially shuts down the entire industry between July 19 and August 2. Quebec's construction industry has about 150,000 employees and about 80 per cent are on a two-week vacation, along with nearly a quarter of the province's population.
References
- Commission de la construction du Québec • "Construction holidays and vacations"
- COD-2
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