Labour Minister Filomena Tassi told CTV News Channel’s Power Play on Tuesday that measures like the Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit were implemented in response to the pandemic.
Article content
Let’s separate fact from fiction when it comes to paid sick leave by the provinces most notably Ontario and its ability to deter the spread ofCOVID-19.
First, there is no provincial sick leave plan that would have halted the spread of COVID-19.
We apologize, but this video has failed to load.
Try refreshing your browser.
Only two provinces have paid sick leave.
Quebec mandates employers to provide two paid sick days annually after someone has been on the job for three months.
Prince Edward Island mandates one paid sick day annually after five years of employment.
Ontario used to have a paid sick leave plan under the previous Liberal government two days annually after a week of employment.
“The federal government has done what they believe is enough and we’ll be left to fill the gaps,” Horgan said during an unrelated news conference Tuesday. “We asked them to fix it, they haven’t, and now we’re stepping up,” he said. “I don’t want to sound overly whiny about this but … we didn’t get the program we needed at the time we needed it. [The federal government has] done a lot of great things in the last 14 months, but this isn’t one of them.” The province was working on a provincial sick-leave program last summer and “we’ve taken those [plans] off the shelf,” Horgan said.
Article content
Ontario announced Wednesday it is doubling federal existing Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit (CRSB) program coverage of $500 to $1,000 but only for a maximum of three days – not the full 20 days offered by Ottawa to cover illness during the pandemic by workers.
Monte McNaughton, Minister of Labour, Training and Skills Development, was joined by Peter Bethlenfalvy, Minister of Finance and President of the Treasury Board, to announce the changes in a virtual press conference from Queen’s Park.
We apologize, but this video has failed to load.
Try refreshing your browser. Ontario offers three days of pandemic sick-leave coverage Back to video