The Civic Holidays take place annually on the 1st of August. Almost every adult takes a day off of work without thinking what this day meant in the history of Canada. The Toronto City Council has tried, every year, to change the dull and meaningless name of the "Civic Holidays" into "Simcoe Day." Why is this a good idea? Well first off, it has a special purpose to honour John Graves Simcoe, the first governor of Upper Canada. The name "Simcoe Day" also gives the listlessly named day a bit more colour and attraction. Also it adds well-deserved meaning to the day, a meaning in which we realize why we get the day off. I consider these three main reasons are excellent enough for the name to be changed let alone with the rest of the many reasons.
John Graves Simcoe, the first governor of Upper Canada, arrived in Kingston in 1792 with his wife, Elizabeth, and his two children.
Statue of en:John Graves Simcoe at en:Queen's Park...
John Graves Simcoe, commander of the Queen's Range...
English: The unveiling of the General John Graves ...But why should we honour him? Well, Simcoe was one of the most energetic and wise leaders of all time and put in a great framework of laws and policies for the next governors. Simcoe changed the history of Canada to its benefit, yet probably most of Canada's population has not even heard of him let alone his accomplishments. What better way to honour Simcoe and to make people ponder about his deeds than name a holiday after him?A good, well thought out and interesting name is always better than a dull and done let's go, kind of name. The name Simcoe Day may not be an amazing, attention-grabbing name but it is well thought out and suitable for the occasion whereas Civic Holiday basically means "city day." If a tourist happened to be in town, he or she would think, what a boring name. If the holiday were renamed Simcoe day, the tourist would stop to find out more about Simcoe and why the holiday was named after him. The general idea is that a good name can go a longer way than a random, made on the second one.
Everything has to have a meaning, whether or not it is a good one. But why not make a bad meaning into a good one when you have the chance? The name Simcoe Day gives the holiday a good reason to be celebrated, to remember Simcoe. It is a vast difference from the Civic Holiday, which means absolutely nothing but city day, which is everyday. So why celebrate something completely futile when you could be celebrating something worthwhile and memorable? Why settle for less when you can have more?The point of this essay was, in simple terms, to support the change of the name Civic Holiday to Simcoe Day for three important reasons: to pay tribute to Governor John Graves Simcoe, support the change to a more remarkable name and to provide a decent reason to celebrate this day. These three factors are good enough on their own to convince myself why the Civic Holiday should be renamed. Every year on July 31st, people pour out of office buildings and shops thinking about nothing except for the basketball game going on at nine when they could be thinking about what Canada would be like without John Graves Simcoe.
Flashback Canada - J. Bradley Cruxton, W. Douglas Wilson
English: Sir John Graves Simcoe, first Lieutenant-...
Simcoe, Ontario