Over the past few weeks, social networks have been full of lists and plans for maximizing your days off and turning a few days of paid leave into almost two months of vacation. Not two consecutive months, of course.
When you’re European and move to Montreal for work, the memory of May and its bridges (long weekends) creates a cruel lack of spring. We can do a lot of things that give us a change of scenery and soothe our soul (without a computer, please) in just a few days. We can go camping, take off with friends or lovers. We can party in Las Vegas. We can even sleep in.
To maximize paid leave, the strategy is pretty simple. We have about 20-25 days of paid vacation per year, and we’ll take days off around the public holidays of 2026. Here’s how it works;
Days to be taken in 2026 – around public holidays
- New Year’s Day – Thursday, January 1 (we’ve set aside our end-of-year vacations with our 2025 paid leave, so we don’t count them)
- Good Friday – Friday, April 3
- Easter Monday – Monday April 6 – we take April 1 and 2 or April 7 and 8 to have April 1 to 6 or April 3 to 8 (2 days taken for 6 days of vacation, enough for a week in the sun).
- Journée Nationale des Patriotes – Monday, May 18 – 2 days on Friday, May 15 and Tuesday, May 19 (2 days on for 5 days off)
- Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day – Wednesday, June 24 – Thursday, June 25 and Friday, June 26 (2 days off for 5 days on )
- Canada Day – Wednesday, July 1 – Friday, June 26, Monday, June 29 and Tuesday, July 30 (3 days on, 6 days off)
- Labor Day – Monday, September 7 – Friday, September 4 ( 1 day off for a 4-day weekend)
- Thanksgiving – Monday, October 12 – set aside Friday, October 9 (1 day set aside for a 4-day weekend)
- Remembrance Day – Friday, November 13 – Monday, November 16 (1 day for a 4-day weekend)
- Christmas – Friday, December 25
- New Year’s Day 2027 – Friday, January 1 – December 28, 29, 30 and 31 are laid (4 days laid for a 7-day vacation)
We have transformed 16 days of paid vacation into 41 days of vacation.
In these 41 days off for 2026, there are two times 6 days and one time 7 days – a week when we can go on vacation – and four long weekends of 4 or 5 days.
Happy New Year 2026!