Roundup: Cynicism and paid sick days

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made a couple of election promises yesterday that felt a bit cynical, and one of them is federally problematic. The first promise was to implement ten employer-paid sick days in federally-regulated workplaces. This was something that he should have done some 18 months ago, but given that they had mandated three employer-paid sick days previously – the highest in the country – they felt they were in good standing, and tried to persuade provinces to do the same. They did not.

After Trudeau made the announcement, Jagmeet Singh went on a tear about how “disgusted” he was that Trudeau had made this promise when he’d been calling for it for over a year. But there are differences here, and yes, they matter. Some of you may recall that Singh wanted the federal government to give paid sick leave to everyone in the country, but the federal government can’t do that. They can only mandate employer-paid sick leave – which is the best kind because it means that there are no interruptions on pay cheques and job security is maintained – in federally-regulated workplaces, which account for six percent of jobs in the country. That’s it. The provinces have to amend their own labour codes to cover the remaining workplaces, and Singh consistently refused to acknowledge that reality. Meanwhile, the government recognized that there were people who didn’t have access to employer-paid leave because they’re self-employed or part-time, so they created the Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit, which was a kludge – you had to apply for it, and only after you missed half of the week, and it took more time for the money to arrive. Singh demanded that the federal government “fix” that programme, but there wasn’t much more they could do to it – there are limits to the federal back-end IT infrastructure used to administer the programme, so it couldn’t be seamless like employer-paid sick leave. And the premiers, for whom the other 94 percent of workplaces are under their jurisdiction? They balked, especially because business lobbies like the CFIB lobbied heavily against mandating more sick days, so they forced people to rely on the CRSB, or created their own temporary kludges to mimic the CRSB. For Singh to now claim that Trudeau is doing what he demanded is not true – yes, Trudeau should have mandated more employer-paid sick days federally, but this is not the same as CRSB, and the two should not be equated like he’s doing here (and yes, it is cynical politics for him to claim otherwise in order to drive disillusionment).

As for the promise around school ventilation, it’s too late for this school year, and at first blush it looks like a federal overreach into provincial jurisdiction. The backgrounder states that this is just extending the Safe Return to Class Fund from August 2020, and they’re basically giving money to provinces with the slenderest of strings attached, which I’m not really a fan of. Because we’re in an election, we’re back to the constant state of promises – from all parties – that rely on provincial cooperation, and there are a lot of loaded assumptions that they’ll play ball, which seems to be fairly rare (and before you raise child care, the success there is in part because there was too much money on the table for provinces to ignore, which is not how it has played out with pharmacare). The Liberals are mostly more careful in their language, citing things like “While a Liberal government will always respect provincial-territorial jurisdiction…” unlike the other two platforms, but this certainly isn’t being picked up on nearly enough by the reporting, and it creates expectations that perhaps it perhaps shouldn’t.

https://twitter.com/JenniferRobson8/status/1428860564676222981

On the campaign trail:

  • Justin Trudeau was in Winnipeg to promise ten employer-paid sick days for federally regulated workers, plus funds for school ventilation.
  • Here’s a look at what the Liberals have accomplished on the abortion file.
  • Erin O’Toole was also in Winnipeg to tout his “job surge” plan.
  • Here’s a look at O’Toole’s shifting position on issues like abortion, which he claims haven’t changed (but really have).
  • Jagmeet Singh visited Cowessess First Nation, and made a pledge about finding every child buried on residential school grounds.
  • We’ve had our first candidate apologies for past social media problems – a Liberal in Calgary Nose Hill, and a Conservative in Saanich–Gulf Islands.
  • Here’s a look at how each of the parties plans to address the issue of sexual misconduct in the Canadian Forces.
  • Here is how the parties are reaching out to new Canadians this election.
  • This weekend we are expecting the decision as to whether or not Maxime Bernier will be participating in the leaders’ debates.
  • Here’s a view from Quebec, and how Trudeau may have bought himself some peace from the culture war brewing over issues like Bill 96.
  • Justin Ling tries to get more clarity on Erin O’Toole’s position on “conscience rights,” particularly as it comes to providing healthcare for queer and trans people.
  • Jen Gerson recaps the first week on the campaign, and the Liberals’ missteps and bunders which the Conservatives haven’t entirely deflected.

Good reads:

  • Marco Mendicino says that they are adding resources to process Afghan refugee claimants faster, as more flights are now taking off from Kabul.
  • The US has extended its border measures another month.
  • The Conservative riding association in Fort McMurray–Cold Lake is upset they had a candidate appointed by the leader (and you can’t blame them).
  • Kevin Newman calls out Canada’s actions in saving our Afghan interpreters and contractors as slow to react, risk-averse, and ultimately selfish.
  • Robert Hiltz goes back to October 15, 2001, when MPs voted on a motion to support the deployment to Afghanistan, and their predictions of complete victory.
  • Hiltz also thinks that Jagmeet Singh is poised to make some gains in the election.
  • My weekend column points out that if parties want to talk about inflation, then they should actually have some ideas when it comes to monetary policy.

Odds and ends:

https://twitter.com/LindsayTedds/status/1428727128498098180

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2 thoughts on “Roundup: Cynicism and paid sick days”

  1. Jurisdiction has always been a problem for Singh. That is why he would have nothing but problems if he were to hold power, the likelihood of that is equal to any of us surviving in the coldness of deep space without a suit.

  2. Kevin Newman’s article on Canada’s lack of preparedness to evacuate Afghans and our attitude in this matter does not surprise me at all. I was in the Foreign Service when Libya fell and we failed to take Canadians out. Washing our hands of it all. It was the Turkish navy and the Italian army who came to our rescue. The same in Syria, our Embassy staff left in a hurry and abandoned local staff and Syrians who wanted to come to Canada. In both cases we asked favours of other countries but did little ourselves. This illustrates the gross incompetence of our bureaucracy in love with paper trails and biometrics, covering their asses always. Sad but we are not a serious country. We love to pat ourselves on the back for a so so job.

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