If it seems like your vacation wasn't nearly long enough, you might actually be on to something.

It seems the Canadian Labour Congress agrees with you, and it has some numbers that support its claim.

According to a new report from the Congress, Canadians give more hours of the day to their employer than many counterparts in Europe, Australia or New Zealand.

"We're very far from Europe in terms of our statutory annual leave and our paid public holidays," said CLC executive vice-president Barbara Byers.

"Our workers don't get the same kinds of time to be with their family, their friends ... to get some rest and relaxation, to recharge their batteries so they can go back and give a hundred per cent to their employers."
  
She said the goal of the study is to apply pressure on the government to enact legislation that would guarantee a minimum of 10 paid statutory holidays and three weeks vacation rather than the current average of two weeks off paid and 10 stat holidays following the first year of employment. The only exception Saskatchewan, which has legislated that employees receive three weeks paid vacation after the first year.

But it's still nowhere near Europe, where, in Austria for example, workers get a minimum of 30 days paid vacation time and 13 public holidays a year. In Sweden there aren't any public holidays, but everybody gets five weeks off. In Australia and New Zealand the magic number is four weeks.

Still, Canadian workers fare better than their counterparts in the United States or Japan.

Much like the Canadian worker, Japanese employees get two weeks off after the first year. But the Japanese get no statutory holidays and in the U.S., well, there's no legislation for any of it.