Ontario officials meet to decide if Monday will be a provincial holiday to honour the Queen | Globalnews.ca

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says that the country will mark the death of Queen Elizabeth II with a holiday on Monday, but it’s not yet clear if the Ontario government will follow suit.

The national day of mourning will coincide with the Queen’s funeral in London, England.

While Trudeau has said Monday would be a “federal holiday,” which normally applies to public servants and federally regulated workers, Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan later said in a tweet that federally regulated workers will not get the day off automatically.

He said it would only be for “federal government employees.”

“Federally regulated employers are welcomed to follow suit, but they are not required to do so,” he said.

Trudeau said discussions were underway with the provinces, which make their own decisions about whether to grant provincial holidays in tandem with federal ones.

Global News has learned that Ontario officials were meeting Tuesday afternoon to decide whether or not they will recognize the holiday for provincially regulated workers.

Sources tell Global News the government was concerned about the cancellation of scheduled court cases in the event of a provincial holiday, as well as aligning school closures with other provincially regulated workplaces.

A source said Premier Doug Ford was also meeting with other premiers to possibly make a joint decision.

If the province were to declare Monday a holiday, it could mean that more workers get the day off and schools could be closed.

Quebec has already said that provincially regulated employees will not get the day off on Monday. In New Brunswick, meanwhile, government offices and schools will be closed, while it’s up to private employers whether or not to give their employees the day off.

Meanwhile, president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), Dan Kelly, called on provincial governments to not declare a holiday.

“Given it would allow only six days notice & cost the economy billions, CFIB is urging provincial governments to NOT declare next Monday as a statutory (paid) holiday,” he said.

— With files from Colin D’Mello, Eric Stober, Amanda Connolly and Silas Brown