Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you to the witnesses.
The Vanier Institute did a study which stated that over their lifetimes, 30% of employed women caregivers report missing at least one full day of work; 6.4% retire early or they quit or lost paid jobs; and 4.7% turn down job offers or promotions because they were trying to balance paid and unpaid care work.
During the pandemic, New Democrats pushed the government for some paid sick leave to cover COVID-related illness and time off that was required and we were successful. How could a permanent paid sick leave program and those kinds of provisions help with the balance and the stresses that a lot of people, mainly women, experience because of these responsibilities placed upon them?