ELLERTON: Time for feds to fix failing CRSB program

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For weeks, a growing chorus of voices have demanded Premier Doug Ford institute “paid sick days” in Ontario. A mix of social justice advocates and medical professionals present the issue as a crucial measure needed to further public health goals of stopping the spread of COVID.

While some usual suspects project “paid sick days” as moving us closer to their utopia, if medical and public health goals require this, reforming the underperforming Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit (CRSB) is the quickest way to do it.

The federal CRSB was introduced to address this very issue, giving people paid time off work due to COVID-related matters. The Globe and Mail reported the program had $5 billion budgeted when it was created but is now “forecast to just $738 million in the April 19 federal budget.”

For a policy measure we are being told is crucial to fight COVID, a program using only 15% of its allocated resources is a program that is not working. A bunch of programs and individual support programs were created quickly and not all of them worked. Unprecedented times justified the speed — 20/20 hindsight will show us what worked, what did not, and how we can do it better should the need arise again.

However, federal Liberals have been bragging that $8 of $10  spent on government support programs to Canadians came from the feds. If “paid sick days” are essential to fight COVID, a poorly designed paid sick-leave program seems like a weird place to draw the line for our spendthrift federal overlords.

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This debate has dominated Ontario political conversations since Ford’s tearful news conference last week, but this is not an Ontario issue alone. NDP MP Don Davies brought some much-needed perspective to the discussion, offering insights into regional variances. TLDR: This does not exist in other provinces:

“The simple truth is that no province in Canada — Liberal, Conservative, NDP, CAQ — has paid sick leave as a basic employment standard,” he tweeted. “Higher income employees generally get it, low paid don’t. This must change for social justice + public health reasons. It’s time.”

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The simple truth is that no province in Canada – Liberal, Conservative, NDP, CAQ – has paid sick leave as a basic employment standard. Higher income employees generally get it, low paid don’t. This must change for social justice + public health reasons. It’s time.

— Don Davies MP (@DonDavies) April 26, 2021

The CRSB is not working as intended and provincial governments are loath to saddle businesses with more expenses when they continue to take a beating due to COVID. For those screaming at Ford to “fix this” and feeling righteous in their position, it is not working.

Fixing the CRSB, however, is way easier, and to Davies’ point, addresses the issue nationally. The federal wage subsidy (CEWS) is already using existing business payroll accounts with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) to flow money to businesses to support keeping people employed. Reforming the federal CRSB removes the obstacle of individuals having to apply for the CRSB as employees and instead get paid through their normal pay cycles from their employers. Employers can recoup the cost for “paid sick days,” we are told needed to fight COVID, through the existing channel between the CRA and employers.

While Toronto, at the centre of the universe, is consumed by itself in this debate, Ottawa has proven they are really good at writing cheques and processing direct deposits. Let them. Provinces can make temporary amendments to Labour Codes if required and revisit the issue post-pandemic.

If this is such a big issue for medical reasons, it’s time for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to fix the failing CRSB program. They have our backs, don’t they?

— Jamie Ellerton is the Principal at Conaptus Public Relations and political strategist.