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 Employment 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.

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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 Bridgitte Anderson
President & CEO President and CEO

_________________ _________________
Val Litwin Anita Huberman
President & CEO President & CEO

_________________
_________________ Chris Bloomer
Chris Gardner President & CEO
President

_________________ _________________
Steve McClellan Diane J. Brisebois
CEO President & CEO

_________________ _________________
Shanna Munro Sherry McNeil
President & CEO President & CEO

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 _________________ _________________
Michael Leblanc Susan Yurkovich
President & CEO President & CEO

_________________ _________________
Michael Goehring Patrick Sullivan
President & CEO President & CEO

_________________
_________________
Sheri Somerville
Chuck Davidson CEO
CEO

_________________ _________________
Anne McMullin
Reg Ens
Executive Director President & CEO

_________________ _________________
Mike Leonard Dave Earle
President & CEO President & CEO

_________________
Doug Alley
Managing Director

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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Honourable, Jason Kenney, Premier of Alberta
Honourable Scott Moe, Premier of Saskatchewan
Honourable Doug Ford, Premier of Ontario
Honourable Francois Legault, Premier of Quebec
Honourable Blaine Higgs, Premier of New Brunswick
Honourable Stephen McNeil, Premier of Nova Scotia
Honourable Dennis King, Premier of Prince Edward Island
Honourable Dwight Ball, Premier of Newfoundland
Honourable Caroline Cochrane, Premier of North West Territories
Honourable Joe Savikataaq, Premier of Nunavut