National Post

Ford unfairly getting most of sick-leave flak

There are flaws but the program is not broken

- Randall denley Randall Denley is an Ottawa political commentato­r, author and former Ontario PC candidate. Contact him at randallden­ley1@gmail.com

Doug Ford has made plenty of mistakes as Ontario’s premier but it’s a bit much to criticize him for not making up for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s shortcomin­gs.

The sick leave plan Ford announced this week offers three days of paid sick time and a lot more than that if the federal government ever wakes up. Ontario wants to double the $450 a week already provided under the federal Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit, but so far Trudeau is resisting the opportunit­y to send more money to sick Ontario workers at no cost to his own government. It is an inexplicab­le position for a federal government that hopes to seek Ontario voters’ support sometime very soon.

The province has budgeted up to $2 billion for the extra sick help it announced Wednesday, but of course the people who have demanded better sick leave immediatel­y criticized the new Ontario plan as inadequate, even though it would match what the federal government has done and give workers more total assistance than any other province.

It’s easy to get the impression that Ontario is an exceptiona­l laggard on COVID sick pay but the province is not an outlier. Prince Edward Island provides three days. Quebec offers two. B.C. said this week that it would implement some sort of provincial program, details to come. That is the full extent of provincial involvemen­t in paid COVID sick time. The Yukon, a lightly populated territory, offers 10 days, leading the country.

The Ontario government’s suggestion to double down on the federal program makes sense. Why invent a new program when there is one already in place and it can be enhanced immediatel­y? Naturally, those who have convinced themselves that the federal program is “broken” dumped on the idea.

Trudeau’s refusal to co-operate was weakly explained. His big argument is that provincial government­s should work directly with employers, the exact opposite of what the federal government is doing.

So just how broken is the federal program? The main complaints are that it is too slow to pay out and doesn’t provide enough money.

Say you have COVID symptoms this week and take some time off until you get test results. Next Monday, you can apply online for benefits that will be deposited in your bank account within three to five business days. How much faster do people think government can provide money?

One peculiar weakness of the federal program is that it pays out only in weeks. Take three days off and you get five days’ pay. Take two days off and you get nothing. The Ontario plan will help fill that gap.

People who make a lot more than $450 a week have sneered at the sick-leave pittance, but a new study from the Institute for Research on Public Policy says than 74 per cent of workers without employer-provided paid sick leave earn less than $25,000 a year. The federal plan is in line with their weekly earnings and the Ford plan could double their weekly pay.

In Canada now, a free money program that has paid out $455 million is regarded as a failure, except by those who got the money. So far, 172,000 Ontarians have collected $153 million.

OK, so workers can get the money quickly and it’s as much as most of those who need it make now, but the fallback criticism is that people don’t know about the federal plan. Perhaps that’s because so many politician­s, medical experts and journalist­s keep telling them there is no government-provided sick leave.

Improving sick leave could certainly provide some reduction in COVID cases. One study done a year ago in the U.S. suggests such a policy cut COVID cases by 50 per cent. That would be a great outcome, if it happens here.

What’s curious is that people think it’s down to Doug Ford or any other premier to fix COVID sick leave. The federal government accepted responsibi­lity for that file when it started its program last October. It is a mediocre program, but it’s not broken.

To see how much better we could have done, look to the U.S. The federal program there, the one that is said to have reduced workplace infections, offered two weeks of full pay for workers affected by COVID, plus two weeks more at two-thirds pay, plus money for parents — 10 weeks at two-thirds pay — to look after children when their school or day care was closed. People got paid by their employers and the federal government compensate­d employers.

If you think sick pay in Canada is inadequate, ask Justin Trudeau why our federal government hasn’t come close to matching the level of support provided by the much-maligned Americans. That’s the real question. Not why Doug Ford hasn’t done better than the Canadian government.

 ??  ?? Citizens rallied in Blyth in front of Huron-bruce MPP Lisa Thompson’s office Feb. 26 to promote the “Stay Home If You Are Sick Act,” which would allow for seven days paid sick leave, three days
of unpaid sick leave and 14 days of paid sick leave during a pandemic.
Citizens rallied in Blyth in front of Huron-bruce MPP Lisa Thompson’s office Feb. 26 to promote the “Stay Home If You Are Sick Act,” which would allow for seven days paid sick leave, three days of unpaid sick leave and 14 days of paid sick leave during a pandemic.
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