May 28, 2020
 
Right Honourable Justin P. J. Trudeau
Prime Minister of Canada
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa ON KIA 0G2
Submitted via Email: pm@pm.gc.ca
 
 
Dear Prime Minister:
 
Re: Temporary Sick Pay Coverage Under the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) and/or the Employment Insurance Act (EI)
 
We want to express our appreciation for your government’s ongoing efforts to help individuals, businesses, and provincial governments cope with health and economic challenges resulting from COVID-19. Your government’s responsiveness during the ongoing crisis is very much appreciated, and is making a tangible difference in the everyday lives of Canadians.
 
This week, you committed to engaging with your provincial counterparts about instituting a temporary sick pay program. This is very welcome news, as is the joint statement on May 26 by Premiers Horgan, Pallister, and Silver expressing their support for a national sick pay program as Canada’s economy restarts. 
 
During the critical re-start phase, worker safety is paramount and continued efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19 is imperative. Also important in efforts to reopen the economy is building consumer and investor confidence that COVID-19 related business risks are being managed as much as possible.
 
In this regard, Canadian business leaders support a temporary sick pay program under the CERB and/or the EI program that “sunsets” once public health and emergency orders related to COVID-19 are lifted.  The program should apply to workers who show symptoms, have tested positive for COVID-19, are required to self-isolate, and are unable to work from home. The longer-term issue of providing sick pay beyond the COVID-19 emergency period is more appropriately dealt with through collective bargaining processes in unionized settings and employer policies in non-union workplaces.
 
Prime Minister, as you know, Canadian businesses have been hit extremely hard by the health and economic fallout from COVID-19 and are simply not in a position to shoulder any additional fixed or variable business costs related to the pandemic. Similarly, all levels of government will increasingly have weaker balance sheets and less ability to add new long-term fixed program costs due to lower tax revenues following the worst economic crisis to hit Canada in a century. 
 
Therefore, a very compelling case exists for utilizing CERB and/or EI to provide temporary sick pay coverage across the country for the COVID-19 period which, at its core, is a global pandemic and a national public health emergency.
 
We look forward to your government’s continued engagement with your provincial counterparts on this important matter. We also appreciate your government’s considerable efforts to date to help Canadians cope with the health and economic fallout from COVID-19.

Sincerely, 

Greg D’Avignon, President & CEO
Bridgitte Anderson, President and CEO
Val Litwin, President & CEO
Anita Huberman, President & CEO
Chris Gardner, President
Chris Bloomer, President & CEO
Steve McClellan, CEO
Diane J. Brisebois, President & CEO
Shanna Munro, President & CEO
Sherry McNeil, President & CEO
Michael Leblanc, President & CEO
Susan Yurkovich, President & CEO
Michael Goehring, President & CEO
Patrick Sullivan, President & CEO
Chuck Davidson, CEO
Sheri Somerville, CEO
Reg Ens, Executive Director
Anne McMullin, President & CEO
Mike Leonard, President & CEO
Dave Earle, President & CEO
Doug Alley, Managing Director
Loren Remillard, President & CEO
 
CC:     
Mr. Jagmeet Singh, Leader of the Federal New Democratic Party
Honourable Andrew Scheer, Leader of the Official Opposition
Honourable Chrystia Freeland, Deputy Prime Minister, Government of Canada
Honourable Bill Morneau, Minister of Finance, Government of Canada
Honourable Carla Qualtrough, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion, Government of Canada
Honourable John Horgan, Premier of British Columbia
Honourable Brian Pallister, Premier of Manitoba
Honourable Sandy Silver, Premier of Yukon


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