Good Friday was still a legal holiday in Louisiana

You mean it's not a day off in other parts of the US? I never thought Canada was such an oddball. It's one of the few mandatory store closing days here in Newfoundland, and also in Manitoba. (There are only about five days in the year here when stores MUST close, and Good Friday is one of them. The rest of the holidays depend on the individual employer or union.) It also should be remembered that Catholics traditionally did not have a lot of power in Canadian politics, since the "usual" political split in the "olden days" would be French-Catholic vs. English-Protestant, with the English-Protestants having the upper hand.