This holiday brought to you by Labbatts, I mean Queen Victoria

The teenager will never be a brain surgeon,supreme court justice, concert pianist or world renowned historian. She does have some smarts and maintains a
"B" average. Some of her grades are simply outstanding and yet she struggles with the other half. I can't understand how she can pull off an 'A' plus in English yet skim by in Ancient History.
Through osmosis, the teenager has innate knowledge of Canadian history and like her Mom hates the ignorance of her classmates.
The argument of the week between the teenager and the "heathers" at the "snob by reputation" high school was based on the origin of "Victoria Day".
Several young ladies in Grade 11 who maintain a 4 grade point average were quite adamant that the stat holiday celebrated on the third Monday in May is to celebrate beer.
The holiday is hardly ever on May 24, so it's not connected to the date,it's connected to buying a case of beer.Everyone buys a case (24) of beer to celebrate hence the 2-4 holiday.
That's right folks, these senior high school students are dumb as doorbells.This blog is brought to you by the "stupidest generation ever" tm.

Wikipedia states,"Victoria Day (in French: Fête de la Reine), colloquially known as May Two-four, May Long, or May Run, is a Canadian statutory holiday celebrated on the last Monday before or on 24 May, in honour of both Queen Victoria's birthday and the current reigning Canadian sovereign's official birthday. It has been marked since before Canada was formed, originally falling on the sovereign's actual birthday, and continues to be celebrated across the country on a fixed date and in various fashions, also being considered an informal mark of the beginning of the summer season. As a federal holiday, Victoria Day is a holiday for Quebec; however, the government of Quebec in 2003 made 24 May concurrently National Patriots' Day."

Victoria Day was established as a holiday in Canada West (Now Ontario) in 1845, and became a national holiday in 1901. The holiday has evolved as Wiki describes," It was noted that on that date in 1854 – the 35th birthday of Queen Victoria – some 5,000 residents of Canada West gathered in front of Government House (near present day King and Simcoe Streets in Toronto) to "give cheers to their queen,"[2] and on Victoria Day 1866, the town of Omemee, also in Canada West, mounted a day-long fête to mark the occasion, including a gun salute at midnight, pre-dawn serenades, picnics, athletic competitions, a display of illuminations, and a torch-light procession.[3]

Following the death of Queen Victoria in 1901, 24 May was by imperial decree made Empire Day throughout the British Empire, while, over the ensuing decades, the official date in Canada of the reigning sovereign's birthday changed through various royal proclamations: for Edward VII it continued by yearly proclamation to be observed on 24 May, but was 3 June for George V, 23 June for Edward VIII (their actual birthdays), and various days between 20 May and 14 June through George VI's reign as king of Canada. Elizabeth II's first birthday as sovereign was the last to be celebrated in June; the haphazard format was abandoned in 1952, when the Governor-General-in-Council moved Empire Day to the Monday before 25 May, and Elizabeth's official birthday in Canada was by regular vice-regal proclamations made to fall on this same date every year between 1953 and 1957, when the link was made permanent.[1] The following year, Empire Day was renamed Commonwealth Day, and in 1977 it was moved to the second Monday in March, leaving the Monday before 24 May solely as Victoria Day.

The reigning Canadian monarch has been in Canada for his or her official birthday twice: the first time being on 20 May 1939, when King George VI was on a coast-to-coast tour of Canada and his official birthday was celebrated with a Trooping the Colour ceremony on Parliament Hill.[4] The second time was when Queen Elizabeth II was in Canada from 17 May to 25 May 2005, to mark the centennial of the entries of Saskatchewan and Alberta into Confederation; no events were organized to acknowledge this fact.

Although Canadians have historically been loyal to the crown, the holiday's intent was to promote loyalty amidst a fractured Canadian society.
Canada was not yet a country, merely two colonies ruled by the elite with very few democratic rights and freedoms.

Immigrants from the United States were denied the right to buy land and many United Empire Loyalists who fled the US and persecution were frustrated by the slow reform of colonial government in Upper and Lower Canada.
Our "civil war" took place in 1837, the year Victoria assumed the throne and in subsequent years the government of the time was quite eager to inflame Canadian patriotism by any means necessary. Even a statutory holiday.
For more information on our civil war, take the jump to http://tripatlas.com/Upper_Canada_Rebellion.

The first "long weekend of the summer " is traditionally marred by tragedy, too often on our roads or in our lakes.
The first Victoria Day tragedy took place in my hometown of London when a passenger ferry named Victoria overturned in the Thames River, near London, Ontario. The boat departed in the evening with 600 to 800 people on board ,three times the allowable passenger capacity and capsized part way across the river, drowning some 182 individuals, including a large number of children who had been with their families for Victoria Day picnics at Springbank Park. The event came to be known as the Victoria Day disaster.
Since the victims were evangelical christians, I don't believe beer was involved.
Happy Victoria Day !