I appreciate the question.
First of all, yes, I want to acknowledge the hard work of some of the members in this room who helped to get that passed unanimously. Paid sick leave is a big deal. I have also been encouraging my provincial counterparts to take note of it and consider it.
As you pointed out, right now this is not something.... In the throes of COVID, as we were trying to deal with that, if you had told me we would be coming out of this and confronting the most significant labour shortage in Canadian history with the highest employment rate and the lowest unemployment rate in Canadian history, I wouldn't have believed you. But here we are. It's extraordinary, but it does have its own challenges.
One of the benefits of paid sick leave is that—we believe in looking at other jurisdictions where it's occurred—it will lead to higher worker retention. Where workers are treated well, they will stay in the jobs where they are at if they feel the full benefit.
It was also in our experience...and this is something that came up as we were looking at how businesses are going to confront this. One of the things we know is that most workers don't take the full 10 days. In federal jurisdictions, by the way, I should also add that a number of employers were already offering 10 days, close to it or more. The 10 days is just what we are asking for. It's the minimum. We find that most workers take anywhere from four to seven days. The cost to employers is not sizable, but they do benefit from retention.
Right now, I'm happy to say that, as of February 1, workers in federal jurisdictions accumulated their fourth day. They automatically received three days on December 31, and they will continue to accumulate them throughout the course of the year. It's happening.