Ontario, Canada public holidays 2026

2026 at a glance

• Boxing Day falls on Saturday 26 December and no substitute weekday is counted.
• In 2026, public holidays fall on 8 weekdays in Ontario, one fewer than in 2025.

In Ontario, a holiday that falls on a Saturday or Sunday is not moved to a fixed weekday: an employee who does not normally work that day gets a substitute day off with public holiday pay, arranged for each employee, or public holiday pay alone if the employee agrees in writing. These counts therefore subtract no substitute weekday; if your employer gives you one, count one working day fewer. The moves fixed by law are counted: Canada Day moves to 2 July when 1 July is a Sunday.

Public holidays in 2026

9 dates are counted as non-working in Ontario in 2026; 8 of them fall on a weekday.

• not counted some employers only

Also observed by some

3 more days are holidays only for some employers, sectors or areas in 2026. They are not counted as non-working days here.

Working days and hours by month

Working days are Monday to Friday minus the counted holidays. Hours are shown for a 7.5-hour and an 8-hour working day.

• Jan 21 working days in January, 1 holiday
• Feb 19 working days in February, 1 holiday
• Mar 22 working days in March
• Apr 21 working days in April, 1 holiday
• May 20 working days in May, 1 holiday
• Jun 22 working days in June
• Jul 22 working days in July, 1 holiday
• Aug 21 working days in August
• Sep 21 working days in September, 1 holiday
• Oct 21 working days in October, 1 holiday
• Nov 21 working days in November
• Dec 22 working days in December, 2 holidays

Compare with the rest of Canada

Long weekends in 2026

Runs of three or more days off in a row without taking leave.

• 3 days Saturday 14 February 2026 to Monday 16 February 2026
• 3 days Friday 3 April 2026 to Sunday 5 April 2026
• 3 days Saturday 16 May 2026 to Monday 18 May 2026
• 3 days Saturday 5 September 2026 to Monday 7 September 2026
• 3 days Saturday 10 October 2026 to Monday 12 October 2026
• 3 days Friday 25 December 2026 to Sunday 27 December 2026

Best days to take leave in 2026

The longest single break for each number of leave days, built around a public holiday.

Leave plans for the whole year

Non-overlapping breaks that give the most days off for a given number of leave days.

Try any budget from 1 to 30 days in the leave planner

Countdown

The days to the next holiday appear here when JavaScript is on.

The working days left this month and this year appear here when JavaScript is on.

Count working days between two dates

Calendar and data downloads

The subscription works in Google Calendar, Outlook and Apple Calendar. The CSV file also lists the days observed by some.

About public holidays in Ontario

In Ontario, public holidays for most employees are set by the Employment Standards Act (ESA), and the Ontario government's guide to the Act lists them. Employees of federally regulated employers follow the Canada Labour Code instead; their list is on the Canada (federal) page of this site.

The ESA has nine public holidays: New Year's Day, Family Day, Good Friday, Victoria Day, Canada Day, Labour Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day and Boxing Day (26 December). In 2027 they fall on Friday 1 January, Monday 15 February, Friday 26 March, Monday 24 May, Thursday 1 July, Monday 6 September, Monday 11 October, Saturday 25 December and Sunday 26 December.

The guide does not set a fixed observed date for a holiday that falls on a weekend. It covers any public holiday that falls on a day that is not normally a working day for the employee, or during the employee's vacation. In that case the employee gets a substitute day off with public holiday pay, or public holiday pay alone if the employee agrees electronically or in writing. The substitute day must be scheduled within three months of the public holiday, or up to 12 months if the employee agrees electronically or in writing.

This rule applies in 2026, when Boxing Day is a Saturday, and twice in 2027, when Christmas Day is a Saturday and Boxing Day a Sunday. In each case the substitute day is arranged for each employee within the limits above.

Several days are not public holidays under the ESA. The guide names Easter Monday, the Civic Holiday in August (Monday 2 August in 2027) and Remembrance Day, and notes that some employers give these days off but are not required to do so under the ESA. Easter Sunday is not on the list either, and the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation (30 September) is not one of the nine. This site shows days that some Ontario employers observe in a separate list and does not count them as non-working days.

Some jobs are covered by special rules or exemptions under the ESA. The Ontario government publishes a separate guide to these special rules, which the public holidays page refers to.

Source and last check

Dates are calculated with the python-holidays library 0.108 and checked against the official sources below. Last checked: 15 November 2026.

Sources

• https://www.ontario.ca/document/your-guide-employment-standards-act-0/public-holidays
• https://www.canada.ca/en/services/jobs/workplace/federal-labour-standards/vacations-holidays.html

How the counts are made