I am rather embarrassed to say that Jo’s “Holiday is Here” thread brought up an other Québec quirkiness – the construction holidays. In Québec, 80 percent of the population takes their vacation during the last two weeks of July. Shops close down, warehouses and manufacturers grind to a halt and offices are shut down. Naturally, beaches and resorts are full, and you can’t get a room for the life of you.

This came about the 20’s or 30’s I believe. The government of Québec implemented legislation to insure that construction workers (who were treated miserably back then) earned at least a minimum wage and were allowed two weeks respite from the job. They determined that the last two weeks of July were the nicest of the summer (or the only summer in our case) so those were the weeks the construction companies had to let people take off. A domino effect was created since wives (who back then worked in factories and as secretaries) took their vacations at the same times as their husbands…and thus a two-week stop-work came into effect.

I will HAVE to stop telling you people these things. Your impression of us will be widely skewed. All right, you’re all invited up for a good ‘joie de vivre’ Québecois party. It’ll show you what a great bunch we really are.