Canadians live in a country where the national unemployment program provides zero support to most of the people who are out of work.
A country where the most populous province, Ontario, had to recall the legislature on Thursday to pass a labour law that says workers can’t be fired just for being sick or staying home to care for children at a time of crisis.
That’s how frayed our federal and provincial worker protections and safety net has become.
This, of course, is not news to the many who have long decried this situation, which leaves an increasing number of people precariously employed and on the verge of poverty.
But now, with the coronavirus pandemic creating a health and economic crisis the likes of which we could scarcely have imagined, governments — with the sudden support from all political parties — are finally paying attention.
And acting with incredible speed.
The Trudeau government started with a $1-billion aid package that included tweaks to Employment Insurance. Then came a $10-billion credit line to help businesses and, this week, a comprehensive $82-billion package.
It delivers EI benefits to those who do not normally qualify, such as the self-employed and part-timers; increases direct support to lower-income people with temporary boosts in the Canada Child Benefit and GST credit; and provides a host of tax deferrals for struggling individuals and businesses.
We’re promised that even more help will come as it’s needed.
Governments are suddenly alive to the fact that EI hasn’t kept up with changes in the economy, the nature of work and the dramatic increase in businesses using part-time, contract and self-employed workers, in large part to cut their costs by avoiding minimum labour standards designed decades ago.
That should never have happened. Governments should have ensured that social programs and labour protections adapted to changing times to serve workers — all workers, not just those lucky enough to have employers that offer good pay and benefits.
It’s a similarly sad story with provincial labour laws that have allowed minimum standards to fall to such depths that a great many Ontario workers have no job protections and so few benefits that they’re not entitled to a single paid sick day.
That includes some of the warehouse workers, delivery drivers, cashiers and cleaners we’re now relying on so heavily to keep supply chains going.
With so many people being told to stay home to help flatten the COVID-19 curve, Ontario Labour Minister Monte McNaughton has quickly come around to seeing at least half the problem.
“No one should lose their job because they listened to the best advice of medical professionals,” says McNaughton.
He’s right. But why should that be any different when we’re not in the middle of a pandemic?
Ontario’s public health officials routinely plead for people to stay home when they’re sick, especially in the annual flu season. Yet, when the Ford government came to power in 2018 it rolled back legislation to make that harder, not easier for workers to do.
Ontario’s new legislation takes a temporary first step in a better direction, but it still doesn’t ensure workers are paid. So far it’s leaving that responsibility, which surely must be shared, up to Ottawa.
Having now accepted that better job protections and income supports are necessary in this crisis, how can we go back to pretending they’re not needed all the time?
We’ve already learned through the coronavirus crisis that governments know what needs to be done to support workers and can take action quickly to make it happen.
We must build on the progress we’re making.
This should be a learning experience that guides better policies for the long-term — not simply one-offs that will disappear when the crisis passes.
https://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/2020/03/19/coronavirus-shows-its-time-to-mend-the-safety-net.html
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