By Cecilia Nasmith
Northumberland-Peterborough South MPP David Piccini said in an interview Friday that Doug Ford's forthcoming paid-sick-leave policy will make the province the first to identify the gaps in Federal benefits and address them.
“We know that the fastest way to get money to Canadians is through the Federal government - unemployment, things of that nature. That is why we worked with other premiers, including the NDP premier in BC – John Horgan was a real leader. Premier Ford supported him in working toward a Canadian solution,” Piccini said.
“I think it's unfortunate some of the things we have been advocating for were not in the budget. Having said that, I am not going to shirk our responsibility in the Province of Ontario.”
The MPP identified three core issues - upping the payment, simplifying the application process and amplifying awareness across Canada – pointing out that only about $400-million of the $1.1-billion set aside for the Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit has been used so far.
“What our goals are - more support and get the money to workers faster. Those are the things we are focusing on. We need to make sure workers have enough money and that the money gets to workers faster.”
Piccini cited the US bill that provided relief to Americans with bipartisan support that provided them with even more money than Canadians received. He would like to see that kind of spirit at Queen's Park.
“We have all got to work together,” he urged.
“The Federal government did improve the payment process from just over a week to two or three days. But we need to make that even faster, and we want workers to get even more support.
“Why this is such a nuanced issue – how do you distinguish between the big players like Amazon and the small businesses like our downtown core?” Piccini posited.
Most people would agree Amazon should provide workers with paid time off for testing, vaccinations and sick leave. But what about the mom-and-pop businesses whose owners have sacrificed to pay their staff and are struggling to break even.
“We can't punish small businesses. We know Liberal leader Steven Del Duca said we should not put it on the backs of small businesses, yet his own recently tabled private-member's bill this week would have required our smallest businesses to pay for it at a time when they can't afford it.”
The MPP said Ontarians can expect Ford's plan “in the coming weeks.”
Piccini expanded on two comments he made on CBC's Power & Politics on the day of Ford's appearance, the first a compliment for the premier.
“Politicians are always side-stepping. It's refreshing finally when we have seen other big leaders in this country say, 'I got it wrong, my apologies, let's get it right,'” he declared.
“To have a leader take that responsibility, full stop – not paint this as a learning exercise at all, but take full responsibility, period. Ultimately people take from that what they may, but I think it's refreshing to see a leader just take responsibility.”
Piccini had commented on CBC that paid sick leave is not a panacea.
“It's not a silver bullet,” he said the following day.
“It's not the answer to defeating COVID. If it was, what about other jurisdictions which have paid sick-leave programs and are worse off than us.”
In fact, he said, no other province has done this besides Ontario.
“Ultimately, we will be the first jurisdiction in Canada to address the Federal program and fix some of the gaps,” he said.
“We are disappointed the Federal government did not work with us to fix the gaps, but they did not make any moves on the speed of payment – and now we are fixing the gap and we will be the first province to do that.
“When you have a country as affluent as ours – we are Canada. We can afford to look after Canadians when things get tough.”
Having volunteered earlier in the day at the mass-vaccination clinic in Campbellford, Piccini expressed concern about supplies. Checking his records, he provided numbers.
The March 22 shipment was 30% of what was expected, with the balance of the shipment delayed until Easter. The 500,000 doses of Moderna due April 19 are now expected May 3.
“To add insult to injury, that shipment will be cut to 235,700 doses,” he added.
The story on personal protective equipment is a more positive one. Piccini is proud of how the provincial government, early in the pandemic, invested in the capacity to manufacture what was needed in Ontario instead of negotiating the chance to purchase supplies. The result was a more reliable supply to the workers on the front lines coming from small companies (hand sanitizer produced by local manufacturers, face masks turned out by Northumberland.io) and large ones (like the provincial investment in 3m in Brockville).
“We can make it. We have got the ingenuity and we are standing up to that,” Piccini said.
“These tough times require defensive action. That is what the premier did, and it's paying dividends now.”
