Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister, for being here today.
This issue is an important one to me, personally, because of the community I represent. Don Valley East is a great community, but there are pockets where there are low incomes—as low as $50,000 in family income per year.
During the pandemic, there were a lot of families that came in to see me—to talk to me virtually or by phone—about the impact of unpaid sick days on their lives. Only 42% of Canadians actually have paid sick days. I think the numbers were at about 42%. As one's income becomes lower, it actually goes down to.... I think at the lowest income it is about 10% with paid sick days. An additional 500,000 people getting paid sick days would be really impactful for many people in this country, so it's a great thing.
In fact, last year, I introduced a private member's bill at the Ontario legislature asking for 10 paid sick days, because it was something that a lot of people came to speak to me about. When you hear those stories out there, it really comes down to basic decency. It's about dignity. It's about making sure that a person has their back covered by the company they're working for, and that the government's putting out legislation that's actually aligned with where people are and the lives they're experiencing.
I was hoping that you could just take a few minutes to talk about some of those conversations you had with everyday Canadians, and about how this pandemic has impacted them, specifically, around paid sick days.