Debates of Dec. 6th, 2021

Criminal Code

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

The problem is for translation.

[Peter Julian, NDP, New Westminster—Burnaby, BC]

Madam Speaker, on a point of order, I would suggest that as the member for Hamilton Centre does his work to try to get a better level of sound, we simply move to the member for Courtenay—Alberni.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

Because of where the time slot is, I will go to the hon. member for Courtenay—Alberni.

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

Madam Speaker, I am honoured to rise today to speak to this important bill, Bill C-3. It is great to see both the Liberal Party and, it seems, the Conservative Party coming around to see the importance of paid sick leave. I have talked about this in the House quite significantly and so has my party. In fact, the leader of my party raised this 22 times throughout the pandemic. Here we are, 20 months after the top medical health professionals in our country decided that outside of social distancing and washing our hands, the top two things we could do to stop the spread of the virus and combat COVID-19 were to get vaccinated and for governments to implement paid sick days. It is really great to see that everybody is coming together today to do that, to protect workers, so that people are not spreading the virus.

We talk about people going to work while knowingly showing symptoms of COVID-19 or being unsure whether they should go to work or not. For many of these people, their spouses have perhaps lost their jobs because of COVID-19 or are unable to work, or they are the sole breadwinners in their homes and are scraping to get by even at the best of times. Whatever their circumstances, they are worried about how they are going to pay their bills, like most Canadians. Fifty per cent of Canadians were within two weeks of insolvency prior to the pandemic. We can think about how many families were terrified at the beginning of and throughout the pandemic about missing any work at all and how they were going to pay their bills and feed their families. Paid sick days are absolutely critical.

There is one thing we have not talked about a lot here. I was really honoured to be the small business and tourism critic for the federal NDP for the last six years, and to stand up and fight for small business. We do not talk about how important paid sick days are, not just for workers but also for employers and small business. I was always mystified when Conservatives would not support paid sick leave, because they say they are strong defenders of the economy and small business. I know Liberals were always patting themselves on the back throughout the pandemic on the important needs of small business, but throughout the pandemic, whether it be on the CERB or another program, we had to fight to make sure small businesses would be included. Initially, proprietors were not even going to be allowed to collect CERB.

Initially, people were going to get $1,200. New Democrats were able to put pressure on the government so that people could get $2,000. We brought forward the idea of a commercial rent assistance program. Of course the Liberals bungled it initially. They made sure it was set up and designed so that people had to have a mortgage to be able to apply for rent support. It was landlord-driven instead of tenant-driven. It was a completely broken program. We found out that there were some Liberal insiders delivering the program for the government and we were glad to put pressure on the government to fix that broken commercial rent program. My colleague from New Westminster—Burnaby and I brought the idea to the government. I am glad to see that it finally fixed it.

When it comes to paid sick days, people were going to work unsure of whether they had the virus or not. They were terrified and governments at different levels did not have their backs to make sure people stayed at home instead of bringing COVID-19 to the workplace and possibly infecting co-workers.

Whether it is in the private sector or in government, it is extremely costly when people get sick and spread the virus in the workplace. One would think it would make economic sense to provide a social safety net, so that people who were sick would stay at home, not spreading the virus in the workplace or ending up having to close throughout the country and shut down government services to Canadians. We do not talk enough, not only about the workers, but also about the impact on businesses and the economy. That is a really important argument for why this is absolutely critical.

As much as we appreciate the legislation before us, there are flaws that are apparent in it, such as a person having to work for 11 months to get access to the 10 paid sick days.

The Liberal government said it would restore the cuts to the federal public services that the Conservatives made. I mean, we can look to Veterans Affairs as a great example. The Conservatives gutted one-third of Veterans Affairs Canada under the Harper government. As a result, the backlog has grown to over 40,000 veterans who have been injured serving our country.

The Liberals said they were going to fix it. What did they do? They outsourced and brought people back in on temporary contracts instead of hiring people and sending the message to veterans that they are committed to them in the long term and are going to end the backlog forever and not just outsource for temporary jobs.

The Liberals are notorious for this and do it all the time. They are outsourcing throughout the government, and this is creating a huge problem, because we have contract flipping going on. Obviously, we do not want this practice to continue. We want the government to hire people and make sure they have job security and benefits they can rely on so that the people they are serving, like veterans, can count on the services being delivered to them. We want to make sure the government is open to amendments that all federal subjurisdictional workers have access to the 10 paid sick days. It is very important that we cover that.

The other thing I have not talked about is the fact that women are being disproportionally impacted. With a lot of the outsourcing and temp jobs in our country, women have been disproportionally impacted by COVID-19. Social services have failed people across Canada, and the lack of child care has had a huge impact. CBC reported that 100,000 working-age women have completely left the workplace since COVID-19, which is 10 times the number of men. We talk about having an employee work approximately a month to achieve one paid sick day, but this is disproportionally going to impact women if it takes 11 months to accumulate 10 days' sick leave.

I really hope the government will consider amending this situation, because we know that people who have been working at a job need that security. Also, we do not want them coming to work sick. We do not want them spreading the virus. We are in the fourth wave right now, and we do not know what the omicron virus, which is spreading quickly, is going to look like. We want to make sure we have workers protected throughout.

We also saw how fractured the health care system became throughout the pandemic. I could speak all day about the things we saw that were highlighted in the pandemic. However, when it comes to paid sick days, it is absolutely critical. This is a victory today for health care workers, workers across this country and professionals.

We are going to continue to ensure that workers across this country have support from us as parliamentarians, but I question why it took so long. Why did Liberals and Conservatives sit on their hands against medical health professionals' advice? Members have heard me talk a lot about the government failing to listen to medical health professionals, like in the opioid crisis. The medical health professionals have made very clear and sound recommendations. Even the government's own officials are asking it to decriminalize and provide a safe drug supply, but it has not done that.

The government does not listen to its health professionals when it comes to sick days or to the other crisis that is happening, which has taken more lives than we have seen in generations. However, I am hoping the government will act swiftly, start listening to its health professionals when it comes to developing policy, and act with much more urgency in the future.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons (Senate)]

Madam Speaker, a lot has been said today about the need for such legislation. However, given that it has come out of the rise of this anti-vax movement and people who are so dead set against accepting the realities of what is going on in our country right now, I have to be honest: I cannot help but think that some of it has to do with the fact that there are so many people out there who are willing to play footsies, so to speak, with the proponents of these conspiracy theories that suggest that their liberties are being taken advantage of.

I am curious to hear the member's comments on what he sees as a leadership role when it comes to the anti-vax movement. How important is it for members of this House to stand up and say what is right and what is wrong, and how important is it to lead by example?

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

Madam Speaker, the reality is that we need people to get vaccinated, and not just to protect each other. For example, in this place I am thinking about all the staff: the security, the pages and the clerks who are here. It is our duty to protect each other.

One part I really like in the legislation is about protecting health care workers at their workplaces so that people are not protesting outside of them. This is also about their patients and ensuring that people get safe access to the hospitals or where they need health services.

It is absolutely critical that we stand up and defend each other, and make sure that people are getting vaccinated and that we are protecting health care workers along the way. I appreciate the point the member made.

[Sylvie Bérubé, Bloc, Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC]

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech.

He mentioned that the bill is not quite good enough. I would like him to go into more detail about why it should be improved.

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

Madam Speaker, it is a good question. There are a number of improvements. We want to ensure that workers do not have to wait 11 months to access 10 paid sick days. As I said, this would disproportionately impact women, for sure, and workers who have been outsourced.

With regard to ensuring that workers have access to their first day of sick leave after a continuous period of employment of at least 30 days, the goal of unduly delaying access to the first day of sick leave is not okay. The government needs to relax the requirement to provide a medical certificate so as not to discourage applications for sick leave. This has been supported by medical health professionals.

We need to listen to medical health professionals. The Liberals continue to not listen to medical health professionals in a timely fashion and it is costing lives. If they mean to table this legislation so that it actually benefits those whom it is targeting, they need to make sure they are listening to health professionals and need to do it in an expeditious way.

[Mike Morrice, Green, Kitchener Centre, ON]

Madam Speaker, is the hon. member for Courtenay—Alberni open to elaborating specifically on the point about women's participation in the workforce and paid sick days? Would he like to elaborate on an amendment that he thinks would improve the legislation?

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

Madam Speaker, I want to congratulate my colleague, as I have not had a chance to do that in the House.

I have articulated fairly clearly that women have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. Again, women are disproportionately more likely to do temp work and to be outsourced. That being said, they are going to be recycled through this and will miss the opportunity to get 10 paid sick days if they do not work for 11 months straight. We need to amend the bill so that workers do not have to wait 11 months and so they can do the right thing should they have signs and symptoms of COVID-19 or be exposed to it. They should not have to wait six months.

We cannot afford this, actually, as a society, and their workplaces cannot afford it. Certainly no one wants to go to work and potentially infect one of their colleagues with COVID-19.

[Laila Goodridge, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB]

Madam Speaker, I remember very clearly that a couple of weeks into September, about a week before the election, we saw protests happening at the hospitals and health care centres across this country. As a brand new mom and a federal candidate, I remember thinking about how scary it would be if I were going into labour and trying to get to a hospital that was blockaded by protesters. I know many watched in horror as these protests happened all across the country.

In Alberta, we saw those protests happen at two of our major hospitals: the Royal Alexandra in Edmonton and the Foothills Medical Centre in Calgary. I am very proud to say that luckily we did not have any of those protests in my riding of Fort McMurray—Cold Lake at our amazing health centres and hospitals. However, we very easily could have.

One thing I am really proud of is that the Conservatives' campaign plan actually had a protection proposal for Canada, the critical infrastructure protection act. It would have prevented any protesters from blocking infrastructure such as hospitals, roadways, rail lines and pipelines.

As some members in the House have already pointed out in this debate, these protests are evolving. A few months ago the protests were happening in hospitals, but this weekend we saw protests in the West Edmonton Mall. We do not really know what the next place for these protests will be, and while I believe that all members on this side of the House support the idea of peaceful protests and understand that it is a fundamental right here in Canada to peacefully protest, many of these protests, unfortunately, have been very violent. It is these violent protests that are the problem.

I remember watching as traffic was being directed around the Royal Alexandra and the Foothills hospital. I watched it on the news. Police officers were allowing ambulances to get through, and I cannot imagine what that would have meant for me had I had a family member who was trying to access one of those hospitals at that point in time and was delayed in getting there. I think there is overall agreement on this, but the bill is a bit too narrow because we are only protecting certain small locations.

One thing that is critically important to do is thank our health care workers. Our health care workers have stepped up. They have brought us through this pandemic by smiling through their masks, by protecting us and by serving us to the best of their ability, often working extra shifts to make sure that all patients had the very best of care.

I am someone who is generally quite healthy and I do not go to hospitals. However, having been pregnant this last year, I probably went to the hospital more often than I had gone in the 10 years prior. I was very grateful that each and every time I went to the hospital, I was greeted by friendly, amazing health care workers who really did step up. That is one of the big pieces.

In my hometown of Fort McMurray, we saw countless acts of kindness toward our health care centre, the Northern Lights Regional Health Centre. At the very beginning of the pandemic, flooding hit the community of Fort McMurray and hundreds of people stepped up, filled sandbags and protected the hospital from flood damage. We saw people putting the needs of the many well ahead, and it was spectacular to watch.

We also had some pretty unexpected health care heroes who stepped up and helped us in a way that really hit close to the heart of so many, me included. We had help come from far away. We had a team of seven spectacular health care workers: two doctors, four nurses and one nurse practitioner. They flew to Fort McMurray all the way from Newfoundland and Labrador to help us in our surge capacity.

We welcomed them with open arms. We did everything we possibly could as a community to make sure these health care professionals knew they were supported and welcomed in our community. I think there needs to be more done in general to show our thanks.

I remember chatting with Brian, a constituent of mine, during the campaign. He decided that he was going to show his support for our health care workers, so he and his company bought hundreds of donuts from Tim Hortons on the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation and brought them to our hospital to thank our nurses and doctors. He said it was a double win because the money went toward amazing charitable organizations to help further truth and reconciliation, and it was a tangible way of thanking our nurses and health care professionals. Little acts like the one by Brian need to be done more often. We need to show kindness, compassion and a level of respect.

I am blessed to have some amazing friends who are nurses working at our hospital. They are always there. I know many of them have given up their evenings and weekends and have taken on extra shifts. They do that gladly because they are there to serve.

I think of one particular friend, Katie, and all of the amazing work she has done in going from team to team to make sure that our health care centre, our hospital, has all of the nurses in the right places at the right time and with the right training. I think about the nursing students who joined our hospital before finishing all of their schooling so they could help in our time of need. It is these kinds of things that really are important. It is about compassion and kindness, and they need to be shown. Often when these protests were happening, they turned quite violent, and respect and kindness were not witnessed. It is therefore critically important to make sure we find a balance so that peaceful protests can happen.

However, I do not think a hospital or health care centre is necessarily the best place to have protests of any form, to be perfectly clear. Most people who go to hospitals are not going because they choose to go, unlike our health care workers. Most people are going because they are under some kind of duress or in distress. They would rather not be there, so seeing these protests probably does not make their lives any easier.

The bill, as some of my colleagues have mentioned, is a bit of an omnibus bill that clashes together many pieces, and I think we should bring it to committee to explore all of its different pieces and consider its intent. I have heard some great speakers on the other side explain some of the rationale behind the bill, but I really think it would benefit from further exploration at the committee stage to ensure that we are always putting forward the best possible legislation for all Canadians so we can serve Canada as a whole.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons (Senate)]

Madam Speaker, I congratulate my colleague on being a new mother. I understand she was previously in the Alberta legislature, so I welcome her to the House.

When we talk about what fuels the individuals who engage in harassment-type activities in front of hospitals, I cannot help but think there are certain elements about this relating to the roles that leadership play. I think of the new caucus that has been formed in the Conservative Party, the liberty caucus. I wonder what the member's thoughts are on that caucus and what it tends to promote. Does it fuel the rage and frustration of the people who participate in these activities?

[Laila Goodridge, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB]

Madam Speaker, I think the member's question was very misplaced, but I will thank him nonetheless.

Our caucus has shown a great deal of leadership, as have all members of the House, in following all of the rules and acting with that leadership space. I was previously a member of the provincial legislature in Alberta. I shared some of my personal medical history. I actually got my first dose of the vaccine when I was 20 weeks pregnant. I very proudly did so, because I thought it was important for women across the province of Alberta, as well as across the country, to see that their leaders were making those decisions. Based on medical advice that I had received from my health care team, I made that decision. I encouraged others to talk to their doctors. That is one of the things I think is really important: to make sure that everyone is taking that time.

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Madam Speaker, unless I missed something, it is hard to determine whether our Conservative colleagues are going to vote for or against Bill C‑3.

After all, there are a few contradictions. The English-language media has been reporting that the Conservatives consider it unnecessary to amend the Criminal Code. In the French-language media, however, we sometimes heard the member for Mégantic—L'Érable bring up the notion of prohibiting demonstrations near hospitals and key infrastructure like railroads or pipelines, which is part of the Conservatives' platform.

Furthermore, we have not really heard anything from the Conservatives about the proposed 10 days of paid sick leave. I would therefore like to know if my colleague can shed a little more light on these issues, because I would really appreciate it.

[Laila Goodridge, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB]

Madam Speaker, during the last election campaign, we included protecting critical infrastructure such as hospitals, pipelines, highways and railroads in our platform.

It was a really popular issue, as we saw in many provinces across the country, including Alberta, where I am from.

[Lori Idlout, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

Qujannamiik, Uqaqtittiji.

As I mentioned earlier today, another example of the lack of health services has to do with three communities in Nunavut: Igloolik, Gjoa Haven and Sanikiluaq. Each of those communities has a population of over 1,000 people.

The services I have been talking about and the paid sick leave are all very important. I am trying to hear how difficult it might be for paid sick leave days. My question is very similar to what the other member just asked about paid sick leave.

Does the member agree that it is time for 10 days of paid sick leave for our workers?

[Laila Goodridge, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB]

Madam Speaker, the member has raised a very important question in regard to this bill. It is a question that we really need to take to committee to be able to study further and to see some of those answers.

We have not been able to have members from the other side of the House give us any clarification as to whether this piece would actually apply to contractors or other federally mandated and regulated employers. That is important—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès), Liberal, Alexandra Mendes]

Resuming debate, the hon. member for Langley—Aldergrove.

[Tako Van Popta, Conservative, Langley—Aldergrove, BC]

Madam Speaker, I am here to talk about the government's proposal to amend the Criminal Code to criminalize certain behaviour, which I believe most Canadians thought was already against the law.

Before speaking to Bill C-3, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the fine people of Langley—Aldergrove for endorsing me for a second term. It is a great honour to be re-elected. I have promised my constituents that I will be a clear voice for them in this Parliament.

I want to thank my wife, Inga, and my extended family for their ongoing support. I also want to thank the many volunteers who helped me throughout the campaign and made my success a reality. Politics is a team sport.

Moving onto Bill C-3, an act to amend the Criminal Code and the Canada Labour Code, I am going to focus on the Criminal Code aspect of the bill, which would make harassing health care workers illegal if the intent is to prevent them from doing the work of serving the public.

As I said, many people think that this is already against the law. There are provisions in the Criminal Code that the police and prosecutors could rely on to prevent this type of anti-social behaviour. One thing we have learned through the pandemic is that we must value our health care workers as they are essential to the full and proper functioning of our society and our communities. We owe them a debt of gratitude.

Everybody in this House knows a health care worker, is related to somebody who is a frontline health care worker, or is a neighbour to one. I have two family members, a daughter and daughter-in-law, who are. One is a care aid in a seniors home and the other is a nurse in a hospital. Every day they go to work, and they are eager and happy to serve their patients to the best of their abilities.

Sometimes they are in very stressful situations, such as situations of understaffing or having to be moved from one ward to another on very short notice. Sometimes they have to work extended shifts due to a shortage of health care workers. Sometimes they have to work in the COVID ward. I think not only of the health care workers, but also of the family members, who share the risks, stresses and strains of health care work.

This law is a step in the right direction. It is a gesture in support of our health care workers. A more constructive and substantive way to support our health care workers would be by hiring more nurses. The shortage of nurses is a long-term problem that we knew about long before the COVID pandemic, but it has been exacerbated by that.

I met with members of the Canadian Federation of Nurses Union. I have a quote here from a publication they shared with me. It states, “Many risk factors for burnout have been exacerbated during the pandemic, including increased patient acuity, understaffing...increased overtime...reassignment to unfamiliar roles”. It goes on to say, “Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, severe burnout was typically found in 20%-40% of healthcare workers.” In the spring of 2020, at the commencement of the pandemic, that percentage increased to between 30% and 40%, and by the spring of 2021, it was more like 60%.

The publication goes on to say that job vacancies for registered nurses had the largest increase of all occupations over a two-year period. This is what is happening to our health care workers. There is a shortage of them and that shortage is increasing stresses and strains. The best thing that we could do for our health care workers would be to hire more health care workers.

I asked the people with whom I met with whether there is a shortage of people who want to be in the nursing industry, and I was told absolutely not. There are many applications to universities and to nursing schools across the country, but not enough seats in these nursing schools. I am thinking of Trinity Western University in my riding. The nursing school has a very good reputation across the country and around the world, and it would love to open up more chairs. That is what we need to do. We need to increase the supply of nurses.

Let us go back to Bill C-3. I am happy to listen to the debate. There seems to be a consensus developing that we are all in support of this bill. I am happy to hear that we want to support our health care workers, but I am hoping there is also a consensus forming around the right of protest.

Long-standing democratic rights in our society include the rights to freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and freedom to protest; however, they need to be done in a balanced way. No rights under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms are absolute. They are always subject to such reasonable limitations as defined in law and as are demonstrably justifiable in a free and democratic society. The question for the committee would be to determine whether we have found that right balance in Bill C-3. It is an open question.

The effective paragraph in the bill states:

No person is guilty of an offence under [the relevant] subsection...by reason only that they attend at or near, or approach, a place referred to in that subsection for the purpose...of obtaining or communicating information.

We are allowed to have information pickets. I agree with that. I think everyone in the House is going to agree with that, but the right of protest does not extend to interfering with the proper functioning of society.

I am going to pivot to something that was in the Conservative platform in the last election. Reference has been made to it by several of the previous Conservative speakers. We are proposing to introduce a critical infrastructure protection act that would prevent protesters from interfering with infrastructure projects, whether they are hospital construction, transit construction or pipeline construction. Yes, we have a right of protest. No, we do not have a right to interfere with legal projects that Canadians have determined are essential for our society. I am very pleased that we are introducing Bill C-3 because not only would it protect health care workers, it would also set a good precedent for us going forward.

I look forward to an opportunity, at some point, to introduce something like what the Conservatives were proposing: a critical infrastructure protection act. The work that the committee would do, and that Parliament is doing right now around Bill C-3, is going to be precedent-setting for legislation going forward that would regulate how protesting is to be done. Peaceful protesting is allowed, but getting in the way of society's functioning is not.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Madam Speaker, the member made reference to our health care workers. It goes without saying just how much we collectively appreciate how our health care workers have stepped up to the plate.

Many years ago, I was the health care critic in the Province of Manitoba. We found that for many health care workers it was more than just the demand of getting more nurses into the profession. It was the way in which human resources often allocated staffing years and things of that nature at different institutions.

I am wondering what the member thinks of the Standing Committee on Health looking at this as a possible study, going forward, on health care workers and how Canada can provide some national leadership on the whole health care resources file, with a special focus on nurses.

[Tako Van Popta, Conservative, Langley—Aldergrove, BC]

Madam Speaker, it starts with having enough people in the workforce. Right now, there is a shortage of health care workers. We are focusing particularly on nurses. We need to solve that problem. We need to get enough people in the workforce working in hospitals and in the many other fields where nurses serve their patients and keep Canadians safe. That is where we need to start. I would certainly be open to any suggestions about how hospital administrators allocate those resources, but the resources need to be there first.

[Marie-Hélène Gaudreau, Bloc, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

Madam Speaker, I am having a hard time understanding what is going on. We hear about the need for health transfers and funding. I hear my colleague talking about what can be done to address the labour shortage, to maintain and respect the work of nurses, but we know that the solution is to increase health transfers and let the appropriate jurisdictions do their work.

On the subject of protests, which we heard a lot about during the election campaign, what happened? Quebec took the bull by the horns. As recently as September 2021, the National Assembly took direct action on protests.

What does my colleague think of the solution of increasing health transfers and giving Quebec and the provinces the authority to respect our health care workers?

[Tako Van Popta, Conservative, Langley—Aldergrove, BC]

Madam Speaker, the member's question gives me an opportunity to talk about jurisdiction and Canadian constitutional law. I am not talking about the federal government taking over jurisdiction. Of course, we are going to work with the provinces. Health care is a provincial matter. The federal government needs to work with the provinces to find the best way to increase health care resources.

[Lisa Marie Barron, NDP, Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC]

Madam Speaker, since the pandemic, the NDP asked the Prime Minister 22 times to fix the old version of the paid sick leave so more workers could access it. Constituents in my riding of Nanaimo—Ladysmith have had to choose between their health and paying rent. This is a choice that no one should have to make. The Conservatives and the Liberals have also voted against making life-saving medications more affordable through pharmacare.

Could the member share when they will start putting the health and wellness of workers, and families first and will my colleague support the much-needed 10 paid sick days for workers?

[Tako Van Popta, Conservative, Langley—Aldergrove, BC]

Madam Speaker, as other speakers have said, this needs to go to committee to be studied. We do not have a lot of detail about the government's plans in that regard. I do know that many unionized workers working in federally regulated industries have paid sick leave in their contracts, and I believe in the sanctity of contracts. I would certainly be willing to look at gaps where further assistance is required. However, that is for the committee to look into.