NDP pledges 10 paid sick days for every worker

Welcome toCBC's Election Notebook, your source for regular updatesandessential news from the campaign trail.

It's Day 16of Nova Scotia's 31-day provincial election campaign.

NDP Leader Gary Burrill says his party, if elected, would require all employers to pay for 10 days of sick leave for Nova Scotia workers.

Burrill highlighted the election pledge, which is part of the platform document the NDP released on the second day of the campaign, at an event Saturday morning.

The promise is a familiar one for watchers of the New Democrats, as Burrill's party has long advocated for universal paid sick leave and tabled legislation to that end last year.

Burrill said COVID-19 underscored the importance of paid sick leave, but he said paid sick leave should not be limited to pandemic times.

"We need to come out of the year-and-a-half we've been through with improvements based on the things we have learned, and this is one of the key things that we've learned it is the workplace where so much of this [viral] transmission takes place."

"From a public health point of view we need to curtail that and the way to do that is to have a paid sick leave program," Burrill said.

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Workplaces were a common source of transmission in Nova Scotia's third wave and Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Robert Strang regularly pleaded with people to not go to work if they had symptoms of the coronavirus.

On May 12, the Liberal government introduced a temporary paid sick leave program wherein the province covered wages for up to four days for people who needed to take time off due to COVID-19.

That program expired July 31.

Burrill was joined Saturday by Leanne Partridge, a Halifax woman who works as an early childhood educator. She took two sick days under the province's temporary program to get tested for COVID-19.

She said she was discouraged by the discontinuation of the program because she has no paid sick days through her employer.

"Knowing that now I'm either going to have to use vacation days to cover sick days or just take the hit obviously isn't a great feeling."

"It's hard because I would never want to say I go into work sick, but sometimes it's a big decision to have to make."

Burrill said his party would amend the Labour Code immediately. Sick notes from doctors would not be required.

"We think it's important that the health-care system not be plugged up with physicians having to provide appointments and sick notes and all that's related to that."

The Green Party has also promised to implement a paid sick leave policy, which would ensure five days per year, except in times of health crisis when it would jump to 10 days per year.

Burrillis scheduled to visit the ridings ofHants West, Kings South, Kings North, Kings West, Annapolis and Digby-Annapolis on Sunday.

PC Leader Tim Houston was scheduled to campaign alongside his candidates in Argyle, Yarmouth and Shelburne on Saturday, and in Colchester-Musquodoboit Valley and Hants East on Sunday before attending an Emancipation Day event in Halifax.

Liberal Leader Iain Rankin was also on the road Saturday, with stops scheduled in the ridings of Eastern Shore, Guysborough-Tracadie, Inverness and Glace Bay-Dominion. Rankin is set to release his party's third platform plank on Sunday at an event in Sydney.

The Liberals'first plank was health care, the second contained a variety of items related to affordability and equity, and the topic of the third is skills and training.

How to vote

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Once registered, you can vote in advance of election day by requesting a mail-in ballot or by visiting a returning office or advance polling station.

On election day, polling stations will be open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.

More information on voting is available fromelectionsnovascotia.ca.

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