A new online polls suggests that 71 per cent of British Columbians support moving Family Day to the third Monday in February.
The poll, conducted by Insights West, asked 803 British Columbian adults whether they would support or oppose changing the Family Day to the third Monday in February.
Only 13 per cent said no, while 16 per cent were undecided.
B.C. first started observing the holiday in 2013, after then-Premier Christy Clark followed up on an election promise.
“Creating a Family Day in B.C. was an important priority for me. Today, my government is following through on that commitment and I am proud and delighted to let families across B.C. know that our very first Family Day will be on Monday, Feb. 11, 2013,” said Clark when the holiday was announced in 2012.
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Seven other provinces observe the holiday on the third Monday of February.
But the Revelstoke Chamber of Commerce is opposed to the change.
In a statement emailed last week, executive director Jana Thompson said that the Chamber supported keeping the holiday on the second Monday of February so as to spread out traffic in Revelstoke over two weekends.
“The economic impact to Revelstoke is massive,” she said.
A Change.org petition started by a Vancouver entrepreneur to change the date to the third Monday currently has more than 22,000 signatures.
Columbia River Revelstoke MLA Doug Clovechok told Black Press in October that he does not support the change.
“It’s not putting the interests of British Columbians ahead of others. Everyone knows prices fluctuate on the busier holidays. Now it’s more expensive for BCers to go skiing, go out to dinner, whatever,” he said. “It does not float well for rural B.C.”
When the holiday was first put forward, the government consulted with the tourism industry, business owners and chambers of commerce, said Clovechok.
At the time,the Revelstoke Chamber of Commerce supported having the holiday on a different day than Alberta.
“That’s what the majority of our members wanted,” then executive director Judy Goodman told the Review. “That’s good news for us.”
It meant that in Revelstoke, which is close to the Alberta border, the demand for hotel rooms, lift tickets and restaurant tables would be spread out over two weekends instead of stacking them over one weekend.
B.C. premier John Horgan first said in an interview with News 1130 in October that he is considering changing the date of Family Day.
The potential change has been spoken against by many ski resorts in the province as well as the Tourism Industry Association of BC.
@marissatiel
marissa.tiel@revelstokereview.com
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