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NAME

Date::Holidays::CA - Holidays for Canadian locales

SYNOPSIS

    # procedural approach 
  
    use Date::Holidays::CA qw(:all);
  
    my ($year, $month, $day) = (localtime)[ 5, 4, 3 ];
    $year  += 1900;
    $month += 1;
    
    print 'Woot!' if is_holiday($year, $month, $day, {province => 'BC'});
  
    my $calendar = holidays($year, {province => 'BC'}); 
    print $calendar->('0701');              # "Canada Day/Fête du Canada"
    
  
    # object-oriented approach
  
    use DateTime;
    use Date::Holidays::CA;
  
    my $dhc = Date::Holidays::CA->new({ province => 'QC' });
  
    print 'Woot!' if $dhc->is_holiday(DateTime->today); 
  
    my $calendar = $dhc->holidays_dt(DateTime->today->year); 
    print join keys %$calendar, "\n";       # lists holiday names for QC

DESCRIPTION

Date::Holidays::CA determines public holidays for Canadian jurisdictions. Its interface is a superset of that provided by Date::Holidays -- read on for details.

FUNCTIONS / METHODS

Class Methods

new()

Create a new Date::Holidays::CA object. Parameters should be given as a hashref of key-value pairs.

    my $dhc = Date::Holidays::CA->new();        # defaults

    my $dhc = Date::Holidays::CA->new({
        province => 'ON', language => 'EN' 
    });

Two parameters can be specified: province and language.

Province

  • CA

    Canadian Federal holidays (the default).

  • AB

    Alberta

  • BC

    British Columbia

  • MB

    Manitoba

  • NB

    New Brunswick

  • NL

    Newfoundland & Labrador

  • NS

    Nova Scotia

  • NT

    Northwest Territories

  • NU

    Nunavut

  • ON

    Ontario

  • PE

    Prince Edward Island

  • QC

    Quebec

  • SK

    Saskatchewan

  • YT

    Yukon Territory

Language

  • EN/FR

    English text followed by French text.

  • FR/EN

    French text followed by English text.

  • EN

    English text only.

  • FR

    French text only.

Object Methods

get()

Retrieve fields of a Date::Holidays::CA object.

    $prov = $dhc->('province');               

set()

Alter fields of a Date::Holidays::CA object. Specify parameters just as with new().

    $dhc->set({province => 'QC', language => 'FR/EN'});               

Combination Methods

These methods are callable in either object-oriented or procedural style.

is_holiday()

For a given year, month (1-12) and day (1-31), return 1 if the given day is a holiday; 0 if not. When using procedural calling style, an additional hashref of options can be specified.

    $holiday_p = is_holiday($year, $month, $day);          

    $holiday_p = is_holiday($year, $month, $day, {
        province => 'BC', language => 'EN'
    });

    $holiday_p = $dhc->is_holiday($year, $month, $day);

is_ca_holiday()

Similar to is_holiday. Return the name of the holiday occurring on the specified date if there is one; undef if there isn't.

    print $dhc->is_ca_holiday(2001, 1, 1);          # "New Year's Day"

is_holiday_dt()

As is_holiday, but accepts a DateTime object in place of a numeric year, month, and day.

    $holiday_p = is_holiday($dt, {province => 'SK', language => 'EN'});

    $holiday_p = $dhc->is_holiday($dt);

holidays()

For the given year, return a hashref containing all the holidays for that year. The keys are the date of the holiday in mmdd format (eg '1225' for December 25); the values are the holiday names.

    my $calendar = holidays($year, {province => 'MB', language => 'EN'}); 
    print $calendar->('0701');               # "Canada Day"
    
    my $calendar = $dhc->holidays($year);
    print $calendar->('1111');               # "Remembrance Day"

ca_holidays()

Same as holidays().

holidays_dt()

Similar to holidays(), after a fashion: returns a hashref with the holiday names as the keys and DateTime objects as the values.

    my $calendar = $dhc->holidays_dt($year);  

SPECIFICATIONS

The following holidays are recognized:

New Year's Day

January 1.

Islander Day

PE. Originally added in 2009 as the second Monday in February, this holiday will be revised to the third Monday in February starting in 2010. This module shows Islander Day as falling on the third Monday -- see the KNOWN BUGS section.

Family Day / Louis Riel Day

The Third Monday of February is Family Day in AB, SK, and ON, and Louis Riel Day in MB.

St. Patrick's Day

NL. Nearest Monday to March 17.

Good Friday

The Friday falling before Easter Sunday.

Easter Monday

CA, QC. The Monday following Easter Sunday.

St. Patrick's Day

NL. Nearest Monday to April 23.

Victoria Day

Monday falling on or before May 24.

National Aboriginal Day

NT. June 21.

Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day

QC. June 24.

Discovery Day

There are actually two holidays named "Discovery Day". Newfoundland observes Discovery Day on the Monday nearest June 24, and the Yukon observes Discovery Day on the third Monday of August.

Canada Day

July 1.

Nunavut Day

NU. July 9.

Orangemen's Day

NL. Monday nearest July 12.

Civic Holiday

AB, BC, MB, NB, NS, NT, NU, ON, PE, SK (that is to say, not CA, NL, QC, or YT). First Monday of August.

Different provinces call this holiday different things -- eg "BC Day" in British Columbia, "Alberta Heritage Day" in Alberta, "Natal Day" in Nova Scotia and PEI, and so forth.

Labour Day

First Monday of September.

Thanksgiving Day

Second Monday of October.

Remembrance Day

All but ON and QC. November 11.

Christmas Day

December 25.

Boxing Day

CA, NL, NT, NU, ON, PE. December 26.

REFERENCES

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_holidays_in_Canada

http://www.craigmarlatt.com/canada/symbols_facts&lists/holidays.html

http://www.craigmarlatt.com/canada/symbols_facts&lists/august_holiday.html

http://geonames.nrcan.gc.ca/info/prov_abr_e.php (Provincial abbreviations)

A grillion government web pages listing official statutory holidays, all of which seem to have gone offline or moved.

http://www.gov.mb.ca/labour/standards/doc,louis-riel_day,factsheet.html (MB's Louis Riel Day)

http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/index.cfm?sid=244766&sc=98 (PEI's Islander Day)

KNOWN BUGS

Historical holidays are not supported; the current set of holidays will be projected into the past or future. For instance, Louis Riel Day was added as a Manitoba holiday in 2008, but if you use this module to generate a holiday list for 2007, Louis Riel Day will be present. Also, PEI's Islander Day was first observed on the second Monday of 2009, but will subsequently be observed on the third Monday of the month; this module will always show it as occurring on the third Monday. This will be addressed if there is demand to do so.

Several lesser holidays are not yet implemented:

Calgary Stampede

I am told that the morning of the Stampede Parade is commonly given as a half-day holiday by employers within the city of Calgary, but I haven't been able to verify this, nor does there seem to be a way to mathematically calculate when parade day will be scheduled.

St Johns Regatta Day

Regatta Day is a municipal holiday in St Johns, NL, and it is scheduled for the first Wednesday in August. However, if the weather on Quidi Vidi Lake does not look promising on Regatta morning, the event (and the attendant holiday) are postponed until the next suitable day.

How to programatically determine the day of this holiday has not yet been satisfactorily ascertained. Acme::Test::Weather has been considered.

Gold Cup and Saucer Day (PEI)

Some few employees apparently get the day of the Gold Cup and Saucer harness race as a holiday, but I haven't been able to independently verify this.

Construction Holiday (Quebec)

In Quebec, the vast majority of the construction industry gets the last full two weeks of July off, and it's also a popular time for other folks to book vacation. Since this technically only applies to a single industry, I haven't added it to this module, but I will if there is sufficient demand.

HELP WANTED

As you can see from the KNOWN BUGS section above, our holiday structure can be fairly baroque. Different provinces and cities get different holidays; sometimes these are paid statutory holidays that are included in Employment Standards legislation; other times they are unofficial holidays that are given by convention and codified only in collective agreements and municipal by-laws. Thus, it's hard to know what's commonly considered "a holiday" in the various regions of the country without actually having lived and worked there.

I only have direct experience with British Columbia and Ontario; my impression of what folks in other provinces consider to be a holiday is based on research on the WWW. I've tried to define a holiday as any day when "the majority of the workforce either get the day off (paid or unpaid) or receive pay in lieu." If the holidays list in this module doesn't accurately reflect the application of that definition to your region of Canada, I'd like to hear about it.

Assistance with French translations of the holiday names and this documentation is most welcome. My French isn't all that great, but I'm happy to learn. =)

Finally, I'd appreciate an email from any users of this module. I'm curious to know who has picked it up, and any feedback you might have will shape its future development.

CAVEATS

For reasons outlined in the two sections above, please be forewarned that what days are considered holidays may change with versions of the module.

AUTHOR

Rick Scott <rick@cpan.org>

SEE ALSO

Date::Holidays
DateTime
DateTime::Event::Easter

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

Copyright (C) 2006-2009 by Rick Scott

This module is free software! You can copy, modify, share and distribute it under the same license as Perl itself.