Business Days

Public holidays and working days, country by country

Public holidays in Canada, 2028

Canada observes 8 nationwide public holidays in 2028. After weekends and those holidays are removed, the working year comes to 255 days.

2025 2026 2027 2028
8Public holidays
255Working days
106Weekend days
3Fall on a weekend
2,040Hours at 8 per day

Every public holiday in 2028

Canada, 2028. Dates marked as falling on a weekend do not create an extra day away from work.
Date Day Holiday Scope
Sat, 1 Jan Saturday Weekend New Year's Day Nationwide
Mon, 21 Feb Monday Family Day CA-AB, CA-BC, CA-NB, CA-ON, CA-SK
Mon, 21 Feb Monday Heritage Day CA-NS
Mon, 21 Feb Monday Islander Day CA-PE
Mon, 21 Feb Monday Louis Riel Day CA-MB
Fri, 17 Mar Friday Saint Patrick's Day CA-NL
Fri, 14 Apr Friday Good Friday Nationwide
Mon, 17 Apr Monday Easter Monday CA-AB, CA-PE
Sun, 23 Apr Sunday Weekend Saint George's Day CA-NL
Mon, 22 May Monday National Patriots' Day CA-QC
Mon, 22 May Monday Victoria Day Nationwide
Wed, 21 Jun Wednesday National Aboriginal Day CA-NT
Sat, 24 Jun Saturday Weekend Discovery Day CA-NL
Sat, 24 Jun Saturday Weekend National Holiday
Fête nationale du Québec
CA-QC
Sat, 1 Jul Saturday Weekend Canada Day Nationwide
Wed, 12 Jul Wednesday Orangemen's Day CA-NL
Mon, 7 Aug Monday British Columbia Day CA-BC
Mon, 7 Aug Monday Civic Holiday CA-MB, CA-NL, CA-NT, CA-NU, CA-ON
Mon, 7 Aug Monday Heritage Day CA-AB, CA-YT
Mon, 7 Aug Monday Natal Day CA-NS
Mon, 7 Aug Monday New Brunswick Day CA-NB
Mon, 7 Aug Monday Saskatchewan Day CA-SK
Mon, 21 Aug Monday Discovery Day CA-YT
Mon, 21 Aug Monday Gold Cup Parade Day CA-PE
Mon, 4 Sep Monday Labour Day Nationwide
Sat, 30 Sep Saturday Weekend National Day for Truth and Reconciliation Nationwide
Mon, 9 Oct Monday Thanksgiving Nationwide
Sat, 11 Nov Saturday Weekend Armistice Day CA-NL
Sat, 11 Nov Saturday Weekend Remembrance Day CA-AB, CA-BC, CA-NB, CA-NT, CA-NS, CA-NU, CA-PE, CA-SK, CA-YT
Mon, 25 Dec Monday Christmas Day Nationwide
Tue, 26 Dec Tuesday St. Stephen's Day
Boxing Day
CA-AB, CA-NB, CA-NS, CA-ON, CA-PE

23 further dates are observed in some regions only and are not counted in the working day totals above.

Working days month by month

Calendar days less weekends and nationwide public holidays.
Month Calendar days Weekend Holidays Working days Hours
January 31 10 0 21 168
February 29 8 0 21 168
March 31 8 0 23 184
April 30 10 1 19 152
May 31 8 1 22 176
June 30 8 0 22 176
July 31 10 0 21 168
August 31 8 0 23 184
September 30 9 1 20 160
October 31 9 1 21 168
November 30 8 0 22 176
December 31 10 1 20 160
Year 366 106 5 255 2,040

Reading these figures

The working day count treats Saturday and Sunday as the weekend, which is the standard working week in Canada. Only nationwide holidays are deducted; a date observed in one region alone still counts as a working day here, because a national figure that moved with regional calendars would describe nobody accurately.

3 of this year's public holidays fall on a weekend and therefore add no time away from work: New Year's Day (1 Jan), Canada Day (1 Jul), National Day for Truth and Reconciliation (30 Sep). Whether these are compensated with a substitute day depends on national rules rather than on the calendar, so confirm before planning around them.

The longest working month is March at 23 days; the shortest is April at 19. That spread of 4 days matters for anything billed or accrued monthly, which is why payroll and capacity plans that assume an even year drift by the end of it. The thinnest quarter is Q2, carrying 63 working days across April, May, June.

Compared with 2027, which held 254 working days, 2028 is 1 working day longer. Where a target is carried over from one year to the next unchanged, that difference is absorbed silently unless someone accounts for it.

Against the 204 countries covered here for 2028, Canada's 8 nationwide holidays put it below the median of 12, around the 13th percentile. The range across all countries this year runs from 3 to 50.

The holidays produce 5 breaks of three consecutive non-working days or more. The longest runs 3 days, from 14 April 2028 to 16 April 2028, built around Good Friday. The full breakdown is here.

4 of this year's holidays sit on a different calendar date than in 2027: Good Friday, Victoria Day, Labour Day, Thanksgiving. Dates that move cannot be carried forward from last year's planning spreadsheet, which is the most common way a holiday is missed.

Notes on Canada

Canadian holidays split between federal and provincial jurisdiction. The federal statutory
holidays apply to federally regulated industries such as banking, telecommunications and
interprovincial transport; every other employer follows the rules of the province. The two lists
do not match, and neither does the treatment.

The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on 30 September has been a federal statutory holiday
since 2021, but it is not observed as a paid holiday in every province, which makes it one of the
clearest cases where a national figure describes nobody exactly.

Provincial days such as the August civic holiday and the February family day holidays vary in
both name and date across the country and are not in the national count here.

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