BarrieToday welcomes letters to the editor at [email protected]. Please include your daytime phone number and address (for verification of authorship, not publication). The following letter is from former NDP candidate Pekka Reinio.
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With rising COVID numbers, thousands of families mourning lost loved ones, and students slogging through remote learning, the Ford government’s pandemic response continues to be ineffective.
This week, the provincial government’s response to “fall off your chair” modelling numbers was spectacularly underwhelming.
If all options are on the table, then the premier should follow expert advice and introduce paid sick days in Ontario. To really dampen COVID transmission, Ontarians need access to 10 paid sick days.
Doug Ford’s conservatives cancelled paid sick days in 2018. So right now, during a pandemic, many Ontarians have little choice but to go to work if they are sick because they are understandably worried about losing pay or even losing their jobs.
In order to protect each other, Ontarians need to be able to stay home if they are sick without fear of losing their jobs or taking a financial hit.
People are going to work sick and potentially infecting others because many have no other choice. If they are truly committed to protecting the public, then the Ontario government needs to put ideology aside and provide paid sick days.
Pekka Reinio
Barrie
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