Look, this government, under the leadership of Premier Ford, will always have the backs of workers across this province. That’s why, Mr. Speaker, we were the first province in Canada to bring in job-protected leave. If anyone had to stay home because of COVID-19, they can’t be fired for that.

Furthermore, we became the first province in the country to bring in paid sick days during the pandemic. I recently extended those paid sick days until the end of March. But let me be clear to all workers in this province: We’ll continue to have their backs every single day.

I’m also proud to say, unlike the NDP plan that would bankrupt thousands of small businesses in this province, under our paid sick days, we’re reimbursing businesses for the cost of those paid sick days. Mr. Speaker, we’ll continue every day working for workers in this province and we’ll continue to have their backs.

Speaker, everyone except the Conservative government seems to know that paid sick days help workers. It helps them keep their families safe, their co-workers safe and help keeps our community safe. But instead of 10 paid sick days, the Conservative government had to be dragged, kicking and screaming, in the middle of the pandemic, to offer a measly three temporary paid sick days. Workers can only use those for COVID-19 and nothing else, and if a worker used them in the past two years, those are gone forever.

My question is, why doesn’t the Premier care about workers who get sick with something other than COVID-19, and why are workers who get COVID-19 and have already used their paid sick days not able to have more?

Front-line workers deserve to recover from illness at home without fear that their bills won’t get paid. I’m not talking about protected leave; I’m talking about paying your bills and putting food in your belly.

My question is, will the Premier commit to 10 permanent employer-paid sick days so that Ontario can keep workers, families and our communities safe?