Thank you, Chair.
Thank you, Minister. It's always a pleasure to see you. I recognize the importance of this bill and the urgency in which we must pass it, given your appearances yesterday and today.
I want to cut to the chase and get to the two issues that came out of the Senate, which are being reported in the media today.
The first one is proposed subsection 239(1.2), with the bill currently reading:
An employee earns, at the beginning of each month after completing one month of continuous employment with an employer, one day of medical leave of absence with pay, up to a maximum of 10 days in a calendar year.
What we're hearing is that you, the government, might seek to have those 10 days begin automatically at the start of employment, rather than accrue over time. The rationale for that is, in many cases, that someone might need the 10 days before 10 months of being employed. However, providing all 10 days of paid medical leave up front could impose costs on employers in high turnover industries, such as road transportation, where employees change employers frequently. By accumulating paid leave throughout the year, new and departing employees would receive days of medical leave with pay for the months that they are with a particular employer, thus limiting costs on employers in high turnover industries, for example.
I want to ask you in a very upfront way where the government is in its thinking with this request to go to the immediate bulk entitlement, as opposed to the accrual method. Where are you, Minister?