Would you vote for a party promising a holiday in February?

I usually stay away from news commentary on the blog, but this one just begged to be commented on.

Yesterday, the Ontario Liberals kicked off their election campaign for the Oct. 10 election with the promise of a holiday on the third Monday of February – calling it Family Day.

For years and years and years, people have been whining that there’s nothing but long dreary days between Thanksgiving and Easter. Sure there’s the two days off at Christmas and the day off at New Year’s but if you're like me, although they’re welcomed, they’re usually too busy to be considered ‘days off’. Days off are knowing you can go out on a Thursday night because Friday is a holiday. Or you get to go away for an extra-long weekend because Monday is a free day. And after Thanksgiving, there’s nothing that can hold claim to a ‘day off’ until Easter.

That being said, what kind of low form of blackmail do the Liberals think they’re playing at? Forget about real political promises, like money into schools, or social services, or heck, even roads and public transportation. No, the Grits idea of an election promise is to dangle a carrot in front of our faces and say, “if you vote for us, you can take a day off work in February. We promise." (And don’t forget, the ‘we promise’ is probably said with their fingers crossed behind their backs.)

Sure I want a day off in February, who doesn’t? A day of doing nothing but snuggling up in front of the TV while it storms outside sounds like the perfect way to spend a day. But this kind of carrot-dangling is nauseating to me.

I’ve been a Liberal supporter for years, and it’s almost, almost enough to make me think about voting NDP.