Facing calls for paid sick leave, Sask. government defers to feds

While members of the public is being told to stay home if they feel sick, some can’t afford to miss the hours at work.

However, the provincial government is pushing calls for paid sick leave over to the federal government.

On Wednesday, Ontario’s government introduced a program for three days of paid sick leave, capitulating after days of back and forth between it, the opposition party, and the federal government.

However, it doesn’t look like Saskatchewan’s government will be doing the same.

Labour Relations Minister Don Morgan said he believes the federal government should be taking that on. He said the federal government should take some of the millions it still has in the safe restart fund and use it to expand the Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit, which can already be used to help someone who has to stay home from work.

“We don’t see it as being something the provincial government should backstop at this point in time. We want to ask the federal government to continue to look at it,” said Morgan.

The program currently provides up to $500 per week for a person who has had to miss more than half of their work hours in a week, for up to four weeks. The payments can take three to 10 days to come through and it has to be reapplied for every week, but can only be reapplied for once the previous week is over.

Morgan believes the federal government should double that program and said the provincial government will continue to urge the feds to do so. However, that’s what the Ontario government had asked for before announcing its own plan on Wednesday, and the federal government declined.

Morgan pointed to new rules his government implemented in the past year to protect someone’s job if they have to stay home sick, and to provide for three hours of paid leave for someone to get a COVID vaccination.

The minister said he doesn’t think government-funded sick leave is a solution to the problems facing the province right now, but a vaccination is. As of Wednesday morning, people 42 and older were eligible for vaccine in Saskatchewan, down to 30 in the far north areas.

Saskatchewan’s NDP is pushing for paid sick leave. Leader Ryan Meili said it’s crucial right now.

“We see what’s happening in Saskatoon. We see what has already happened in Regina and other places in the province,” said Meili.

Meili said he’s been hearing from doctors and public health leaders that people going to work sick is a significant source of risk, and he said paid sick days are a key measure to reduce transmission.

“It was a concern throughout but now, at this point in the third wave, paid sick days are just obvious,” said Meili.

Meili said it’s fine to say the federal government should be stepping in. In fact, he agrees with it.

“If we don’t have that support from the federal government, we still have that situation where people in Saskatchewan are making the choice between going to work and being able to make ends meet, and staying home and keeping those around them safe,” said Meili.

The NDP leader believes the province does have a role to play.

“You don’t just throw up your hands and say it’s somebody else’s problem — that’s what Scott Moe does every time,” said Meili.