I would not want to say too much about the sick leave practices of the House of Commons. I'm not an expert on the matter and I do not know what standards have been applied to date.
However, maternity-related absences are not always necessarily because of illness. The new regulation would give the House of Commons the opportunity to also adopt regulations to cover pregnant women and parents other than the woman carrying the baby who could also be entitled to parental leave to take care of a newborn or newly adopted child.
Some women may experience illnesses associated with pregnancy, but that is not always necessarily the case. We do not want to imply that with pregnancy comes illness, which is not necessarily the case. If a pregnant woman finds herself in a situation where she has to take sick leave for reasons that are not related to her pregnancy, the two provisions of the act could apply.
It would be up to the House of Commons to decide how the two provisions of the Parliament of Canada Act would apply to its own members.