It is pretty much the consensus of everyone who knows anything about how this pandemic is spreading that one of the most important things we need in order to curb the spread of the infection is paid sick leave, so that essential workers and those in primarily low-income positions are not feeling the obligation to go to work while symptomatic because they are more afraid of losing their paycheques than of catching or spreading the virus.  The problem, however, is that this is mostly an area of provincial jurisdiction, and the premiers have not only been reluctant to step up, but some have actively worked against this need.

In Ontario, the former government led by Kathleen Wynne instituted a two-day emergency leave benefit into provincial labour laws, and this was something that Doug Ford was quick to repeal when he took power, insisting that this was really a public good because it would let too many people claim sick days when they don't actually need them, much to the delight of the business community.  Quebec currently guarantees two paid days, and PEI currently guarantees one, while other provinces ensure various unpaid sick days.  For those workplaces in federal jurisdiction, they are guaranteed three paid sick days but federally-regulated workplaces only comprise about six percent of businesses across the country, largely in banking, communications and transportation.  This is going to have to be an area where the premiers have no choice but to step up.

But they don't want to and we have seen this repeatedly over the course of this pandemic.  Even Liberal premiers who normally get along quite well with the federal government have balked, Nova Scotia in particular, where Stephen McNeil insisted this was something that should be the result of collective bargaining and not government imposition.  It was BC's John Horgan who drove the conversation around the first ministers' table in the spring, and eventually, the federal government kludged together its two-week Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit (CRSB) where people can apply for the $500/week benefit for two weeks but as could be expected, this too is having problems.

There has been very little take-up on the CRSB, in part because you need to apply for the benefit whereas actual paid sick days would normally be applied to your paycheque, and it hasn't been very well publicized, particularly by provincial governments who are closer to workers.  It's also not flexible you can't just claim one or two days while you wait for COVID test results, but have to claim the whole week, in part because of the limitations of CRA's systems, which the benefits are paid through.

There is also a debate over who should be paying for these benefits.  There is certainly an argument that employers should be providing these benefits under provincial legislation, especially as they have a vested interest in the welfare of their employees, but in an economic crisis, that becomes difficult for business owners who are already struggling.  The small business lobby in this country, which is incredibly influential, insists that governments and not businesses pay for these benefits.  Additionally, most of the at-risk employees are part-time and don't get benefits or sick days, which gets us back into the vicious cycle of those who need to work.

The couple of provinces and the federal government for businesses in their jurisdiction don't have enough days on offer in order to make a difference when you need to isolate or quarantine, which is why additional benefits are necessary.  This is in part why the federal government stepped up to the plate, but it's also why the federal wage subsidy includes sick pay claims, which would give employers the ability to use it and put it directly on employee's paycheques rather than the cumbersome CRSB process, which takes longer to process and get delivered.  And of course, provinces don't want to have to pay for any of these benefits, so they have dragged their feet in order to ensure that the federal government has to pick up all of the cost and administrative burden, even though they have fewer levers at their disposal to make it a useable program.

This is going to be part of the conversation in the days ahead, as Jagmeet Singh is pressing to have Parliament recalled as soon as possible to deal with this issue as more parts of the country head into stricter restrictions.  He took credit for the creation of the CRSB even though Trudeau explicitly credited John Horgan, and he kept insisting that he got all Canadians paid sick leave when he did no such thing a federal benefit like CRSB is not paid sick leave.  Paid sick leave involves change to provincial labour codes.  Singh now says CRSB needs to be fixed, though there are limits to just how much the federal government is able to offer a reasonable fix unless he thinks the CRA can undergo an IT transformation in the space of a few weeks.  (The Conservatives, for their part, claim the problems with CRSB were a result of how it was rushed through the Commons, but that has been the case for most pandemic relief programs, and instead of scrutinizing legislation, they tended to be more focused on pursing the WE Imbroglio).

Singh, predictably, has prefaced this demand with lines like "I don't think jurisdiction should be an excuse for inaction," but this is a dishonest attempt to make the federal government look bad when they have few levers at their disposal.  The bigger problem, however, is that this once again keeps the premiers off the hook when this is their problem.  This is a federation each level of government has their responsibilities, and time and again during this pandemic, the full attention goes to the federal government and leaves the premiers to skate past unscathed, when they are the ones who have consistently fallen down on the job.  This problem can't be solved by the federal government, and we need to stop pretending otherwise.