@wundayatta It makes a difference and affects everyone because, while, yes, the businesses can choose to stay open, if they do, they have to compensate their workers financially for missing out on the holiday – time and a half or some such. And like Simone de Beauvoir suggested, legitimizing one religion over another has significant socio-cultural implications that, again, affect everyone in society.
@Simone_De_Beauvoir The only Christian national statutory holidays in Canada are Christmas and Good Friday. In terms of provincial statutory holidays, I think the only place that has any Christian ones (unless you count Thanksgiving as a Christian holiday, which most provinces/territories designate as statutory) is Newfoundland – they celebrate a couple saint days or something. Easter Monday is only statutory for federal employees, although there are some other employers out there who choose to treat it as one (but they’re in the minority, as you might imagine).