NDP calls on Ottawa to fund universal sick-leave benefits

OTTAWA — All Canadians need access to two weeks of sick-leave benefits as provinces start moving to reopen their economies while fighting COVID-19, and the federal government should pay for it, the federal New Democrats say.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said on Wednesday workers without sick leave who are put back on the job during the pandemic will be left to decide between protecting others from infection and paying their bills.

“We need paid sick leave, there is no question about it. It should no longer be an option,” Singh said Wednesday.

Canada’s chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam has been reminding people almost daily to stay home when they’re sick, even with mild symptoms, or else risk further transmission of COVID-19.

The government should be paying people to do just that, Singh said, and suggested the cost could be covered by the Canada Emergency Response Benefit or the employment insurance system.

The NDP pitched the idea to the Liberals, but they declined to include it in a bill presented to the House of Commons on Wednesday.

Singh tried to put the idea forward as a motion himself, calling on the Liberal government to work on paid sick leave with the provinces, but didn’t get the unanimous vote needed to present it on short notice.

Employment Minister Carla Qualtrough said the federal government is in talks with the provinces about how they can deal with the issue.

“We are very aware that a key component to our return to work safely, and positioning businesses and workers to feel confident they can go back to work, will be making it easier to stay home if you’re feeling sick,” Qualtrough said Wednesday.

People who have received no income for 14 days while sick with COVID-19 or while under quarantine qualify for CERB payments of up to $500 a week.

According to a briefing note by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, only 38% of illness or disability leave was paid by employers in Canada in 2019. Lowincome workers, who have often been on the front lines of the pandemic, are more likely to be paid only if they work, creating an obvious incentive to go to work sick.

Just one in five workers making $15 an hour or less is able to take paid leave for more than week, according to the briefing note.