Bill 30 — Employment Standards (Serious Illness or Injury Leave) Amendment Act, 2025 (continued)

On clause 2, just very basic questions, I guess. I understand we saw this actually, I think, in Bill 11 too. It had a similar provision. Getting some head nods. By replacing the Health Professions Act with the HPOA when the act becomes enacted, will this broaden the professions the minister is able to prescribe as “health practitioner” in section 1(1)(c)? From the current Health Professions Act to the Health Professions and Occupations Act, what are the differences in the prescribed options for the minister or for the Lieutenant Governor in Council?

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Bill 30 — Employment Standards (Serious Illness or Injury Leave) Amendment Act, 2025

Again, happy birthday to the Chair. I wanted to really speak about what we heard at second reading. I do think that it is about compassion for workers. That’s one of the reasons we’re discussing this. Our hearts go out to anyone who is in this province who is undergoing treatment for a serious illness, anyone who has been in a serious accident. These are very challenging and difficult situations to be in. Everyone in this House, I think, can picture one of their loved ones, someone they know closely, that is undergoing cancer treatment or for a serious illness. At second reading, I did share the story of my own mother, who was the victim of a serious accident back in the 2000s and how that has affected her life since. She has been able to recover, but it’s been a journey. I think that’s partly why we’re going to be discussing this. Within employment standards, it is also very important that the rules are clear and that we have an employment standards system that works for both employers and employees. So as we get into the questions, a lot of this is going to be about finding out whether all of this can lead to healthy workplaces. I think that healthy workplace environments are something that we want to foster, that we want to make sure that we don’t inadvertently create tension. We want to make sure that both employers and employees know their rights and that those are respected, again with that compassion in mind as we’re having this conversation. Obviously, opening up the Employment Standards Act, there is a litany of law firms that have an interest in this. HR departments have an interest. Small business owners have an interest. So it’s important we ask a lot of questions, ensuring that the public can understand what these changes mean, that the rules are clear. The Employment Standards Act has been amended a number of times over the last seven, eight years, I’m going to say, by this government. This is the second amendment this year. We had a bill in the spring, Bill 11, that spoke to, obviously, the removal of the requirement for sick notes. I know that has just been implemented in the last several weeks to come into force by regulation. As we’re looking into this next amendment to the Employment Standards Act, I think we’ll maybe start with a question on the fact that this is the second employment standards amendment act brought in this year. Why did the government choose to separate this from the previous amendment that was brought forward in the spring? Perhaps, in that response, maybe the minister could provide just some overall comments on rationale for the bill.

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Bill 11 — Employment Standards Amendment Act, 2025

Good afternoon, Members. I’ll call Committee of the Whole on Bill 11, Employment Standards Amendment Act, 2025, to order.

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Raj Chouhan

BC NDP

5/12/2025

Bill 11 — Employment Standards Amendment Act, 2025

Bill 11, Employment Standards Amendment Act, has been read a third time and has passed.

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Raj Chouhan

BC NDP

5/12/2025

Bill 11 — Employment Standards Amendment Act, 2025

Members, the motion before the House is the third reading of Bill 11, intituled Employment Standards Amendment Act, 2025.

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Lorne Doerkson

Conservative Party of British Columbia

5/12/2025

Bill 11 — Employment Standards Amendment Act, 2025

Members, the question is third reading of Bill 11. A division has been called.

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Bill 11 — Employment Standards Amendment Act, 2025

Section C reports Bill 11 complete without amendment.

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Hon. Mike Farnworth

BC NDP

5/12/2025

Bill 14 — Renewable Energy Projects (Streamlined Permitting) Act, 2025 (continued)

In this House, I call continued second reading on Bill 14. In the Douglas Fir Room, I call continued estimates for the Ministry of Children and Family Development. In the Birch Room, House C, I call committee stage on Bill 11, to be followed by Bill 13.

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Peter Milobar

BC Liberals

5/8/2025

Bill 5 — Budget Measures Implementation Act, 2025 (continued)

The minister tried jumping into my next question. Obviously, nurse practitioner is being added, but there’s an ever-growing array of levels of medical advice and diagnostics that can happen now when you look at, say, pharmacists and things of that nature. There’s an ever-expanding role out there for a great many people in the medical professions. Frankly, I think the ever-expansion is speaking to a lack of access to health care in B.C. that people are finding. That’s what we see in Bill 11 reflected right now in terms of sick day notes and things of that nature. Recognizing that there seems to be a move to try to ever-expand who can provide that access point, partly for access and partly not to bog down people’s highest and best use of their skill sets for the tasks they’re being asked to provide…. Much like you wouldn’t want a highly trained police officer to be solely directing traffic in an accident scene — you’d want to get traffic control there at some point and let the officer get on with their day — we don’t need to necessarily tie up doctors and nurse practitioners around exemptions for the speculation and vacancy tax when we’re starting to expand scope of practice for a great many medical professions. Why at this time, with these changes being made and so many other changes being made to the speculation and vacancy tax at the same time, was only nurse practitioner decided upon and not some of those other professions that have started to actually be expanded within the medical realm as well? I’m not asking about maybe going totally outside the bounds of what the colleges and the Health Ministry are doing, but when I look at, say, a pharmacist, in particular, and things of other natures, they’ve had a pretty expanded scope of practice. Why is only nurse practitioner specifically highlighted?

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Lorne Doerkson

Conservative Party of British Columbia

5/7/2025

Thank you very much, Member. Seeing no further speakers, Members, the question will be second reading of Bill 11, intituled Employment Standards Amendment Act, 2025.

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Well, here we are again, and the question that comes to my mind is: “Would Bill 11 be even necessary if we had enough doctors?” In other words, there’s no way a doctor wants to see less of their patients. I know I have a great doctor. I don’t see him often enough because I don’t go very often, but when I do, and it might be for this or that or the next thing, he opens my file up. He looks at it: “Oh, maybe we should check your blood pressure; maybe we should check this.” Across the aisle, we keep hearing a lot about the previous government. Well, it has been eight long years to fix things. I think that eight years is getting kind of old. Speaking to Bill 11, the Employment Standards Amendment Act, 2025, I rise today not out of routine but actually out of deep concern, first of all, for the integrity of our health care system, for the working people of British Columbia and for the future we’re building with every piece of legislation that we pass in this House. At first glance, Bill 11 may appear benign, even compassionate. The government presents it as a practical fix, allowing workers to take short-term medical leave without requiring a doctor’s note. However, by removing this requirement, we may inadvertently create a system where employees can take advantage of leave without proper accountability, leading to increased absenteeism and potential disruptions to the workplace. How can we be sure that an employee’s absence is genuinely due to illness and not a tactic to avoid worker responsibilities? I heard the member across the aisle talk about unions and how the unions have put a lot of things in place. But here’s the thing. Many, many British Columbians don’t work for a union. I’ve talked to small and medium-sized businesses, and they are carrying an extra burden with just the five days of sick leave that they’re requiring their workers to have. Many of them now have to cut their workforce because of that. They have to work longer hours because of that. It’s tough on small and medium-sized businesses across this province. On the surface, this bill seems reasonable. Who would argue that a sick individual should be forced out of bed to obtain a piece of paper to justify their absence? Who would argue that a doctor, who is already overwhelmed, should be burdened with unnecessary paperwork? But that is the reason why we have this bill, because the system and the doctors are overwhelmed. This bill, though, opens up Pandora’s box of uncertainties that could have far-reaching consequences for both workers and employers alike. But let’s not be fooled. This bill is not a gesture of compassion. It’s not a sign of progress. It’s actually a concession of defeat. It’s not a solution. It’s a symptom — a symptom of a health care system buckling under pressure. Doctors know it, and that is why they have aligned themselves with this bill. It’s not because they want it. They have no choice. A quiet admission of a much larger failure. Bill 11 is not a sign of progress. It’s a signal of surrender. Why does this bill even need to exist? Why must we even debate the necessity of waiving sick notes? Because in the year 2025, in a province as wealthy and resourceful as ours, over one million British Columbians — that’s one out of every five — do not have access to a doctor. I have children who have no family doctor. They’re unattached from primary care. They’re forced to scramble through a broken patchwork of clinics, of online services, of overburdened emergency rooms. These are not just stats. These are people. They’re your children. They’re my children. They’re your parents. They’re my parents. They’re your neighbours. They’re my neighbours. They’re seniors in rural towns, young families in suburbs, workers in our cities, navigating the broken maze of walk-in clinics, overburdened ERs and virtual platforms that promise care but too often deliver delays. In many ridings, in many communities, emergency rooms are shuttering overnight. Patients are forced to drive many, many hours for just basic care. Clinics close early. Lineups begin before dawn. People are being turned away at the doors, not because of lack of need — there’s much need — but for lack of doctors. British Columbia has the longest walk-in clinic wait times in Canada. It’s 93 minutes — that’s 1½ hours — according to Medimap Canada, and a lot longer in Abbotsford, I can tell you. I was the caregiver for my mom in the last ten years of her life. She passed away in 2022. Her family doctor retired, and she was dumped into the health care system. I navigated that system with her. I stood in lineups with her for hours, at 93 years old, just to have the door locked because they’ve reached their quota or the doctor wasn’t available. Then I’d put her in my car, and we’d drive to the ER, where we sat, and we sat, and we sat. This is not a minor inconvenience. For many, it’s a health crisis. In the North, in the Interior, in our Indigenous and remote communities, those numbers climb even higher. The barriers are even steeper, and the consequences are even more severe. They push the two-week mark to see a doctor. Those fortunate enough to even have a family physician are often left waiting weeks for an appointment. Can you imagine waiting weeks to find out what’s wrong? If you’re sick today, you may be told: “Come next Wednesday.” What good is a sick note when you can’t even find a doctor to see? What is this government’s answer? What do they do? Instead of confronting the health care crisis, they lower the bar. Instead of investing in access, they rewrite the expectations. They offer this bill, a legislative workaround designed not to strengthen our system but to excuse its shortcomings. Let’s be clear. This bill doesn’t eliminate sick notes altogether. It merely punts the issue down the road to regulation. It creates a vague, murky standard. No clear limit on how many days can be taken without documentation. No certainty for the employer — again, another thing that the small and medium-sized businesses are going to have to face with already an overburdened amount of things that they are dealing with each and every day with their employees. No safeguards for workers, just ambiguity wrapped in bureaucracy. This is not clarity. This is not accountability. It’s abdication. Let’s talk about what’s really at stake. A sick note isn’t just a piece of paper. I think that’s what I want to get across to the other side. It’s not just a piece of paper. It’s a point of contact with a person, with a health care provider. It’s a checkpoint of care, an opportunity, sometimes the only opportunity, to catch something early, possibly to discuss some symptoms they’re having, maybe to adjust some medications, to uncover something more serious lurking beneath the surface. I want to ask the people across the aisle, the members: how often does this happen to you, as a member, going to your doctor? You go in for one reason, and all of a sudden discover: “Oh, actually, you know what? He actually changed something else in my health process.” I know somebody very close who had a mole. And I don’t know about you, but when you look at yourself in the mirror every day, you don’t see things changing. But this person just happened to go to the doctor. And the doctor noticed: “Ah, that mole. It got bigger.” This person is a big football player, and they took a chunk of meat — melanoma — out of his back. He had meat to give away. But had he not gone to his doctor, where would that have ended? See, by removing this step, we risk missing those moments. And they’re real. They happen. Maybe not often enough, but they happen to British Columbians each and every day. We normalize detachment from health care. We reinforce the message: “Doctors aren’t accessible, so don’t bother trying.” I’m telling you, if we had enough doctors in B.C., they would not be asking for this. They’re asking for this because the system is broken, and that is why. This bill also risks being misused. Without clear rules, employers may tighten their own policies. Workers may feel pressure to overexplain or overwork. The system becomes more uncertain, not less. So let’s not pretend this is about trust alone. Yes, we must believe workers when they say they’re unwell. But we also, more importantly, must build a system — a system that supports recovery of patients, that promotes connection with health care workers, that reinforces, not erodes, the relationship between individuals and their health care provider. We all know we are facing a profound challenge in our health care system. Here are some solutions that I wish the government, in the last eight years, would have thought of. They needed to act boldly, and they never did, to train and retain doctors, to expand primary care networks, to rebuild access in rural communities, to restore trust in a crumbling system. All that has eroded in the last eight years. Instead, what do we get? We get a band-aid — a band-aid that covers up the wound but does nothing to stop the bleeding. What British Columbians need is not less paperwork. They need more care. They need more access, more time with professionals who can help them stay healthy, not just justify their absences. They deserve a government that sees the crisis for what it is and has the courage to confront it. Bill 11 doesn’t confront anything. It sidesteps responsibility, and it lowers expectations. For that reason, despite the glossy presentation, it is difficult to support this, because British Columbians deserve better. They deserve a health care system that is actually functioning. Doctors know it. Patients know it. A government that leads and laws that heal rather than hide the truth. When being sick doesn’t mean facing a system that’s just as broken as your own body…. Bill 11 does not solve these problems. It sidesteps it. And as the members on our side of the aisle said: “You know what? We’re going to hold our nose, and we’re going to vote for this, but we want the public to know that we’re completely aware of what the real issue is.” Our health care system is broken, and that’s why the doctors are supporting this. They’re not supporting this because they don’t want to see their patients more often. They’re overwhelmed. There are just not enough of them and too many patients and too much need. That’s why this bill is here. And this government is sidestepping the real need in our province. That is about all I’ve got to say about this.

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Bruce Banman

Conservative Party of British Columbia

5/7/2025

I want to thank the good doctor from North Island for her very insightful words. Now, she and I are a couple of rare individuals in this House that actually had the privilege of being able to write a note for our patients to excuse them from work. It is a privilege, and it’s an honour. I think when the good doctor speaks, that this side, the opposite side of the House, should listen loud and clear. I, too, will begrudgingly hold my nose and vote in favour of this particular bill, Bill 11, the Employment Standards Amendment Act, which really, in my opinion, should be called the health care failure act. This government has had eight years to fix the problem, and sadly, the problem has not only not been fixed, but it’s actually getting worse. Members have heard me talk about my own family’s personal stories, one of which was on the day I was sworn in. My wife tripped and actually fractured her arm and was bounced between two emergency rooms in two different hospitals and spent over 12 hours waiting to be seen. On about hour ten, she asked for a glass of water, and she told me: “No, no, you go. I’m going to be fine. You go, get sworn in.” I said: “No, I can come back any time and be sworn.” She said: “I am not having this. You are going.” For those of you that know my wife, when she puts her foot down…. I may not do as you tell me, Mr. Speaker, I may put up a fight for that, but when my wife puts her foot down, I do as I’m told. [Interjection.]

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Bill 11, the Employment Standards Amendment Act, 2025. This bill proposes to eliminate the need for a sick note when an employee needs to leave for medical reasons. It says that it frees up time for our health care practitioners by cutting down on paperwork. When I’m looking at this bill, superficially, it makes sense. Doctors are busy, and a doctor’s note is often for what seems to be just the flu. It’s a waste of time for both the doctor and the patient. But like everything else, every bill, you have to look a little bit deeper and what can sometimes be unintended consequences. The reason we might have unintended consequences is that we have a health care crisis in our midst. I’m just going to give context a little bit. When you’re old, and you’ve been a practising physician for many years, you’ve got memories of what it used to be like. What it used to be like…. I have practised in different provinces, but in B.C. for most of my career, spending 38 years. When I settled down, finally, in Campbell River, not only were 20 percent of the houses for sale, super cheap, but there were too many family doctors. They were competing against each other. What did that do? The level of competence, in a sense, came up, because that’s what happens. You’re trying to give your best to every patient. You saw walk-in clinics open up. The reason walk-in clinics opened up was because doctors were competing against each other: “Let’s extend our hours. Let’s provide better service.” Amazingly, if you didn’t like your doctor, you could just switch. If you didn’t like the second one, you could switch again until you found one that was compatible with you. It was a pleasure, as well, to practise. I’ll just go back to the doctor’s note, because it’s an important thing to talk about when we’re talking about this bill. Occasionally, people would come in for a doctor’s note. It was a way of sort of connecting with the patient. Sometimes it was just the flu, but sometimes it was something a little bit more serious. Coming back to practising…. Sometimes when people came in with a doctor’s note, it was something serious. I would just pick up the phone and call the specialists, if they were in town. We had quite a few specialists, different specialties like orthopedics, plastic surgery, urology a few or 50 kilometres away, internal medicine. They would answer the phone, and that patient would be seen shortly thereafter. If that patient was sick enough to be admitted, there was a bed waiting. Not a problem. I kind of always want to give context, because sometimes something becomes a new normal, and this is not normal, what we’re going through right now. The reason we’re actually bringing this bill forward is because there’s a health care crisis, and doctors are overworked, and we’re trying to free up time. I think it’s important to remember that. When we’re talking about a solution to this crisis, unfortunately…. There needs to be short-term and long-term planning. There’s been some improvement with bringing in some doctors, but when you look at the net connection, meaning people being attached to primary care providers, the net probably isn’t that high because people are still retiring. People are still losing their family doctor. So it would be interesting to talk…. Rather than how many have come in, how many are actually attached? The other thing, as well, is we have to remember that even the family doctors that we have now…. The doctor that used to work 80 hours a week and do it all is becoming a rarer breed for, potentially, the right reason. People want to have a life, you know, physicians as well. So they tend to sometimes work less hours because they have families, or they specialize and do just emergency, or sometimes people specialize in addiction medicine, or they even do just dermatology. The doctor that used to do it all isn’t as common. We have to remember that as well. As many as we bring some in, some will specialize in something different. They won’t be providing primary care. The other thing that’s happening is…. Even if you’re attached and you need a doctor’s note, if you phone your doctor, well, your doctor often is busy, and you can’t get seen for a couple weeks unless it’s a real emergency. Attachment doesn’t guarantee a note. What do you do when you don’t have a family doctor? Right now you can always go to emergency, right? We’ve all heard of what happens in emergency with a 12-, 14-, 18-hour wait. If you’re sitting at home going, “I need a doctor’s note; I’m not feeling very well,” are you going to take the time? That’s the question, right? Unfortunately, sometimes a flu is not just a flu. Sometimes a flu is not what it seems. These are just a few examples I’m going to give. These examples are not to scare people. They’re quite rare, but they’ve happened. Somebody who, for example, is a construction worker has a history of gout, and his toe gets all inflamed and red. Well, sometimes gout isn’t gout. Sometimes gout is what’s called necrotizing fasciitis. What is necrotizing fasciitis? Well, it’s flesh-eating disease, and that’s a medical emergency. Because you didn’t go see your doctor for your swollen toe, by the time you see your doctor, you need an amputation. Depending on how long you waited to go see your doctor, you might get a toe amputated, or you might get a below knee amputation. That’s how fast it progresses. A rare but real story. Another example. This is an example close to home. Somebody who, for example, has indigestion and really doesn’t feel well calls to work, and work says: “Stay home, but we don’t need a note anymore.” Okay, great. You don’t have a family doctor. You don’t want to go to emergency because you’ve got indigestion. You don’t want to bother anybody. It doesn’t quite feel like indigestion, but you just don’t feel good. Well, that indigestion could be pericarditis or angina. It can present as indigestion. Is that common, in terms of presenting that way? It can. Like a previous member sometimes said, sometimes people are tough, and they decide: “I can handle this at home.” You worked out the night before. Again, you’re a worker. You’re really sore. You’re allowed five sick days — five sick days you don’t need a note for. And because you’re a construction worker, your shoulder is super sore and even your neck is sore. Well, you could be having a heart attack, right? But you’re tough. You’re not going to go see your doctor. You don’t need that note. My point being…. I can go on and on. I will go on and on, because I want people to kind of understand how important it is to connect with your doctor and to have that easy accessibility, because when it’s hard, sometimes you don’t show up. That’s why in emergency right now, we’re diagnosing stage 4 cancers, because people couldn’t go see their family doctor. They couldn’t access primary care. By the time they show up in the emergency, they’ve got stage 4 cancer. Neck stiffness could be a meningitis. You fell at work the day before, and you call your employer, and you say: “Well, I’ve got a bit of a headache, and I think I’m starting a flu because my nose is runny.” Well, it could be cerebrospinal fluid leaking. It could be leaking from your brain down your nose. Rare? Yes, but possible. Pink eye. Who hasn’t gotten pink eye? You don’t notice a little rash beside it. Well, it’s shingles. Sometimes shingles around the eye can blind you. A bit of dizziness could be a cerebellar stroke. We all know about a cough that continues, right? Again, you don’t have a doctor. I mean, I’ve seen members here coughing. We’re talking about MLAs that cannot find a doctor in Victoria, and they’re coughing for two or three weeks. Well, two or three weeks — maybe you’ve got a pneumonia. Your sore throat is getting worse. You’re starting to have trouble swallowing. It could be a peritonsillar abscess. That’s a medical emergency. Real story. Bad headache. Temporal arteritis. You could go blind. My point with all this is that connection with your family doctor is important. When I was practising, I have to say, we used to like to have people come in for their flu, for the note they needed for work, because it was fast, and we got paid for it. That’s the reality of it. But now doctors are so busy, over-the-top busy, so that extra income means nothing to them. That extra income balanced that complex patient you saw that took 45 minutes…. You get paid the same. So that doctor’s note is great. Doctor’s note — compensate. Now no more, because they’re so busy. They say: “Most of what we see….” I want people to realize that all the kind of examples I gave are rare. But in a time of medical crisis, when you’re actually, like I said, diagnosing cancer in emergency, maybe it’s time to start looking at why. I’ll probably be supporting this bill, because the family doctors are supporting this bill. They need to free up time. But I want to support it with caution, because people that have issues…. Someone mentioned mental health issues. If you’ve had some bad weeks at work and you’re isolating and you decide to take a day off, but you’re actually pretty depressed, that doctor’s note can maybe prevent something worse from happening. I’m going to support it, but with caution. I think maybe when we re-address the health care crisis and it improves, we should maybe revisit this bill.

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I rise to speak in complete support of Bill 11 today, the Employment Standards Amendment Act. I’m thankful this bill is before us and that I get the opportunity to share my support for it. I’m grateful to the Minister of Labour for keeping our promise to workers who, when sick, will now have the ability to stay home and rest when they need to, not run around on the day they are supposed to be resting, trying to get a hold of a sick note, which is not only expensive but adds unnecessary stress. It’s important to understand why we’re introducing this legislation. I heard the member speaking before me talk about the issue and the challenge with doctors, and the reality is…. Also, I should say, calling it a band-aid solution — I guess, pun intended — is interesting to me, because we have to meet the challenges of the moment while we work to address the issues systemically. We also know that there are ongoing administrative burdens and that these have been a concern for many health care providers in B.C. In fact, I think the member before me said that it sounds good on paper. Well, we met with the College of Family Physicians today. I spoke to Dr. Johnny Chang, who is from Creston, and one of the first things he mentioned to me is that workers are being forced to get return-to-work notes. Here we are talking about sick notes, but this is a doctor who is concerned about another piece and, by the way, expressed his deep gratitude and support for this bill. I would like to also mention that in Burnaby, there are three primary care networks supporting team-based health care, as well as a brand new Burnaby urgent and primary care centre. This work is being done across the province. The list is incredibly long, but I’m going to, of course, speak to my riding and to the city of the folks that I represent. I want to address a continuous comment I heard yesterday, as well as today, that leave should be legitimate and honest. I really want to ask the members to consider: is that somehow not an option now? For people who want to take advantage, as the other side keeps saying…. He also admitted himself that most people are honest; most people don’t take advantage of the system. As a worker from the labour movement, although I am elected here, I know firsthand that people are very hard-working, they are very honest, and they take leave or short-term absences when they need it. It’s also important to note that there was another comment made about there not being any doctors. Well, that’s really interesting because in 2024, over 250,000 people were matched with a doctor under this government. The Canadian Medical Association estimates that in 2024, doctors wrote approximately 1.6 million sick notes. That’s a lot of appointments and a lot of time taken away from people who may truly actually need an appointment at that very moment — not to force a sick worker to have to go and line up at a walk-in clinic or make an appointment with their family doctor to be able to get that sick note. There’s another piece that I think is so common sense, and I’m not sure why we’re missing this. Of course, with enabling legislation such as Bill 11, there will be regulatory measures that will need to be ironed out. That is standard practice. That’s not something new, and that’s not something different. Of course, we’re going to talk to folks, consult with everyone involved, all of the interest holders that would be impacted, about what constitutes a short-term leave. For many of us, we know that it’s usually between three to five sick days, and I can tell you from my own collective bargaining agreement. This legislation is going to apply to all employers under the B.C. Employment Standards Act in the public and private sector. This is really important because the private sector is the area where most folks don’t have a collective bargaining agreement. If I remember correctly, the last time I checked the statistics, I think only 12 percent of workers within the private sector are unionized. That’s a pretty low number. Whereas in the public sector, it’s much higher. That means that those people have those protections that they need. Sick notes are not only costly, this demand from an employer means that much of their time is not spent resting and recuperating but is spent under stress — first, booking an appointment with their family doctor or, as I mentioned, going to a walk-in clinic. But that also means that they stand in line and put others at risk. That’s not to mention: how are they getting there? If they’re privileged and they have access to a vehicle, that’s wonderful. They can keep themselves isolated. For most people…. This particular amendment act speaks to the most vulnerable workers, those who use transit as their main method of transportation, those who often work in the private sector and don’t have a collective bargaining agreement to outline the process for a short-term absence or a sick leave. For many workers who do have a collective bargaining agreement in the public sector, they have good sick leave and absence provisions that already don’t require a doctor’s note — as I mentioned, often between three and five days. And they have short-term disability and long-term disability provisions. For example, my mom worked as a care aide her entire life, proud member of the Hospital Employees Union — shout-out HEU — and has had access to sick leave and short-term absences for a very long time. She hasn’t required a doctor’s note for short-term sickness in many years. For the worker who is not protected by a CBA and doesn’t have a union to support them, they are left to fulfil any and all requests of the employer. Many times the requests, particularly for a doctor’s note, unfairly impact their healing process, whether it be due to illness or injury. Prior to being elected, I was the director of organizing and campaigns at the B.C. Federation of Labour. I remember countless workers reaching out to me about doctors notes. These were not organized workers; these were unorganized workers. They just needed support and help, so they came to us to find out what their options were. One worker shared a particularly egregious story with me. He worked in a warehouse where they made furniture, and he got injured really badly one day. Something had happened to his hand as well as his shoulder. He went to the hospital, and he was told that he had to rest until he got better. Normal — we all know that. The hospital had provided him with a note, some paperwork. Unfortunately, within 24 hours, the employer said: “Get a doctor’s note.” The wild thing about that is the manager who asked for that doctor’s note was on site and actually saw the injury take place. Make that make sense. By the way, that hospital document was free. That was just documentation. But forcing that worker to then go and get a doctor’s note meant that not only did he not get to rest, but he had to also go and get that doctor’s note, which cost about $40. The manager who made the request tried to force the worker back to work. The worker was so injured but had no choice because he had to pay the bills, so he went back to work. But the way that it works, in that warehouse in particular, is you’re measured by speed. You’re supposed to complete furniture sets at a certain pace. He wasn’t able to keep up, of course. He had an injury. He got fired. What did that doctor’s note do for him, other than add stress and force him to go and get a doctor’s note when he was already in pain and injured? Then he was forced back to work anyway, and because he couldn’t keep up, he was fired. These are real stories of real workers in this province, people that I’ve spoken to firsthand. I remember the worker telling me: “I felt punished for getting injured in the workplace, and I felt punished to go and get a doctor’s note.” It was like a punishment. It reminds me about what Dr. Johnny Chang said earlier this morning: “Get a return-to-work letter.” He said that the patient had had a flu and was better for one week already and just wanted to return to work, and the employer wouldn’t let him. Another punishment simply for even taking sick leave when this worker was obviously sick and had the flu. It’s really rich when I hear the other side say: “Well, you know, of course an employer is going to say yes and let them stay home when they’re sick.” That’s just not true. That’s why government does the work that it does, because we have to support workers that need it. We’re here for the most vulnerable workers, the workers that slip through the cracks. That’s our job. There’s another reality. There are members on that side that say that they’re union members, but when it comes down to it, I’ve seen the focus be so much more on the employer and not the most vulnerable person in that power dynamic. One can fire; the other can’t. I mean, it’s not rocket science. We want fairness for both parties, of course, the employer and the workers, and we advocate for it. As union members, we have been blessed with many employers understanding the need to not worry about a doctor’s note, which is why the language in Bill 11 is worked into many of our collective agreements already, including mine. See, I’m a proud Steelworker, and a real Steelworker does not associate with CLAC. I encourage the members on the other side to read existing collective agreements from Steel — use my union as an example — and see what the sick leave provisions are and what short-term absences look like. They’re already worked in. We’re just bringing the standard up. That’s the reality. This bill is bringing the standard in line for all workers with what is already standard practice for union members. Yesterday the member mentioned the health care system, and yes, we should absolutely talk about that. I heard that many times from the member across from me before I spoke. Let’s talk about the pharmacists who are stepping in to support patients with basic testing for strep, RSV, influenza and COVID. Let’s talk about the doctors who are burned-out and have been working in overdrive because of a global pandemic, and they haven’t had time to rest three years later. It is very busy. The doctors I met with today, they are in complete support of Bill 11. Let’s talk about the aging population that deserves dignity and health care and support and the many youth who face complex issues. Is it fair to take up a doctor’s time with an appointment in the name of a doctor’s note for short-term sickness? Make that make sense. To conclude, I’d like to share my heartfelt gratitude to this government for standing up for worker rights and to the Minister of Labour for her work to advance and fulfil this important piece of fairness for the most vulnerable workers. I urge all members to support Bill 11. I know I will.

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Lorne Doerkson

Conservative Party of British Columbia

5/7/2025

Bill 11 — Employment Standards Amendment Act, 2025 (continued)

Good afternoon, Members. We’ll ask for conversations to move to the hall as we’ve got business to conduct here. We are considering Bill 11, of course, and we’ll look to Courtenay-Comox for continued debate on Bill 11.

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Lorne Doerkson

Conservative Party of British Columbia

5/7/2025

Thank you very much, Member. Seeing no further speakers, Members, the question will be second reading of Bill 11, intituled Employment Standards Amendment Act, 2025.

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Well, here we are again, and the question that comes to my mind is: “Would Bill 11 be even necessary if we had enough doctors?” In other words, there’s no way a doctor wants to see less of their patients. I know I have a great doctor. I don’t see him often enough because I don’t go very often, but when I do, and it might be for this or that or the next thing, he opens my file up. He looks at it: “Oh, maybe we should check your blood pressure; maybe we should check this.” Across the aisle, we keep hearing a lot about the previous government. Well, it has been eight long years to fix things. I think that eight years is getting kind of old. Speaking to Bill 11, the Employment Standards Amendment Act, 2025, I rise today not out of routine but actually out of deep concern, first of all, for the integrity of our health care system, for the working people of British Columbia and for the future we’re building with every piece of legislation that we pass in this House. At first glance, Bill 11 may appear benign, even compassionate. The government presents it as a practical fix, allowing workers to take short-term medical leave without requiring a doctor’s note. However, by removing this requirement, we may inadvertently create a system where employees can take advantage of leave without proper accountability, leading to increased absenteeism and potential disruptions to the workplace. How can we be sure that an employee’s absence is genuinely due to illness and not a tactic to avoid worker responsibilities? I heard the member across the aisle talk about unions and how the unions have put a lot of things in place. But here’s the thing. Many, many British Columbians don’t work for a union. I’ve talked to small and medium-sized businesses, and they are carrying an extra burden with just the five days of sick leave that they’re requiring their workers to have. Many of them now have to cut their workforce because of that. They have to work longer hours because of that. It’s tough on small and medium-sized businesses across this province. On the surface, this bill seems reasonable. Who would argue that a sick individual should be forced out of bed to obtain a piece of paper to justify their absence? Who would argue that a doctor, who is already overwhelmed, should be burdened with unnecessary paperwork? But that is the reason why we have this bill, because the system and the doctors are overwhelmed. This bill, though, opens up Pandora’s box of uncertainties that could have far-reaching consequences for both workers and employers alike. But let’s not be fooled. This bill is not a gesture of compassion. It’s not a sign of progress. It’s actually a concession of defeat. It’s not a solution. It’s a symptom — a symptom of a health care system buckling under pressure. Doctors know it, and that is why they have aligned themselves with this bill. It’s not because they want it. They have no choice. A quiet admission of a much larger failure. Bill 11 is not a sign of progress. It’s a signal of surrender. Why does this bill even need to exist? Why must we even debate the necessity of waiving sick notes? Because in the year 2025, in a province as wealthy and resourceful as ours, over one million British Columbians — that’s one out of every five — do not have access to a doctor. I have children who have no family doctor. They’re unattached from primary care. They’re forced to scramble through a broken patchwork of clinics, of online services, of overburdened emergency rooms. These are not just stats. These are people. They’re your children. They’re my children. They’re your parents. They’re my parents. They’re your neighbours. They’re my neighbours. They’re seniors in rural towns, young families in suburbs, workers in our cities, navigating the broken maze of walk-in clinics, overburdened ERs and virtual platforms that promise care but too often deliver delays. In many ridings, in many communities, emergency rooms are shuttering overnight. Patients are forced to drive many, many hours for just basic care. Clinics close early. Lineups begin before dawn. People are being turned away at the doors, not because of lack of need — there’s much need — but for lack of doctors. British Columbia has the longest walk-in clinic wait times in Canada. It’s 93 minutes — that’s 1½ hours — according to Medimap Canada, and a lot longer in Abbotsford, I can tell you. I was the caregiver for my mom in the last ten years of her life. She passed away in 2022. Her family doctor retired, and she was dumped into the health care system. I navigated that system with her. I stood in lineups with her for hours, at 93 years old, just to have the door locked because they’ve reached their quota or the doctor wasn’t available. Then I’d put her in my car, and we’d drive to the ER, where we sat, and we sat, and we sat. This is not a minor inconvenience. For many, it’s a health crisis. In the North, in the Interior, in our Indigenous and remote communities, those numbers climb even higher. The barriers are even steeper, and the consequences are even more severe. They push the two-week mark to see a doctor. Those fortunate enough to even have a family physician are often left waiting weeks for an appointment. Can you imagine waiting weeks to find out what’s wrong? If you’re sick today, you may be told: “Come next Wednesday.” What good is a sick note when you can’t even find a doctor to see? What is this government’s answer? What do they do? Instead of confronting the health care crisis, they lower the bar. Instead of investing in access, they rewrite the expectations. They offer this bill, a legislative workaround designed not to strengthen our system but to excuse its shortcomings. Let’s be clear. This bill doesn’t eliminate sick notes altogether. It merely punts the issue down the road to regulation. It creates a vague, murky standard. No clear limit on how many days can be taken without documentation. No certainty for the employer — again, another thing that the small and medium-sized businesses are going to have to face with already an overburdened amount of things that they are dealing with each and every day with their employees. No safeguards for workers, just ambiguity wrapped in bureaucracy. This is not clarity. This is not accountability. It’s abdication. Let’s talk about what’s really at stake. A sick note isn’t just a piece of paper. I think that’s what I want to get across to the other side. It’s not just a piece of paper. It’s a point of contact with a person, with a health care provider. It’s a checkpoint of care, an opportunity, sometimes the only opportunity, to catch something early, possibly to discuss some symptoms they’re having, maybe to adjust some medications, to uncover something more serious lurking beneath the surface. I want to ask the people across the aisle, the members: how often does this happen to you, as a member, going to your doctor? You go in for one reason, and all of a sudden discover: “Oh, actually, you know what? He actually changed something else in my health process.” I know somebody very close who had a mole. And I don’t know about you, but when you look at yourself in the mirror every day, you don’t see things changing. But this person just happened to go to the doctor. And the doctor noticed: “Ah, that mole. It got bigger.” This person is a big football player, and they took a chunk of meat — melanoma — out of his back. He had meat to give away. But had he not gone to his doctor, where would that have ended? See, by removing this step, we risk missing those moments. And they’re real. They happen. Maybe not often enough, but they happen to British Columbians each and every day. We normalize detachment from health care. We reinforce the message: “Doctors aren’t accessible, so don’t bother trying.” I’m telling you, if we had enough doctors in B.C., they would not be asking for this. They’re asking for this because the system is broken, and that is why. This bill also risks being misused. Without clear rules, employers may tighten their own policies. Workers may feel pressure to overexplain or overwork. The system becomes more uncertain, not less. So let’s not pretend this is about trust alone. Yes, we must believe workers when they say they’re unwell. But we also, more importantly, must build a system — a system that supports recovery of patients, that promotes connection with health care workers, that reinforces, not erodes, the relationship between individuals and their health care provider. We all know we are facing a profound challenge in our health care system. Here are some solutions that I wish the government, in the last eight years, would have thought of. They needed to act boldly, and they never did, to train and retain doctors, to expand primary care networks, to rebuild access in rural communities, to restore trust in a crumbling system. All that has eroded in the last eight years. Instead, what do we get? We get a band-aid — a band-aid that covers up the wound but does nothing to stop the bleeding. What British Columbians need is not less paperwork. They need more care. They need more access, more time with professionals who can help them stay healthy, not just justify their absences. They deserve a government that sees the crisis for what it is and has the courage to confront it. Bill 11 doesn’t confront anything. It sidesteps responsibility, and it lowers expectations. For that reason, despite the glossy presentation, it is difficult to support this, because British Columbians deserve better. They deserve a health care system that is actually functioning. Doctors know it. Patients know it. A government that leads and laws that heal rather than hide the truth. When being sick doesn’t mean facing a system that’s just as broken as your own body…. Bill 11 does not solve these problems. It sidesteps it. And as the members on our side of the aisle said: “You know what? We’re going to hold our nose, and we’re going to vote for this, but we want the public to know that we’re completely aware of what the real issue is.” Our health care system is broken, and that’s why the doctors are supporting this. They’re not supporting this because they don’t want to see their patients more often. They’re overwhelmed. There are just not enough of them and too many patients and too much need. That’s why this bill is here. And this government is sidestepping the real need in our province. That is about all I’ve got to say about this.

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Bruce Banman

Conservative Party of British Columbia

5/7/2025

I want to thank the good doctor from North Island for her very insightful words. Now, she and I are a couple of rare individuals in this House that actually had the privilege of being able to write a note for our patients to excuse them from work. It is a privilege, and it’s an honour. I think when the good doctor speaks, that this side, the opposite side of the House, should listen loud and clear. I, too, will begrudgingly hold my nose and vote in favour of this particular bill, Bill 11, the Employment Standards Amendment Act, which really, in my opinion, should be called the health care failure act. This government has had eight years to fix the problem, and sadly, the problem has not only not been fixed, but it’s actually getting worse. Members have heard me talk about my own family’s personal stories, one of which was on the day I was sworn in. My wife tripped and actually fractured her arm and was bounced between two emergency rooms in two different hospitals and spent over 12 hours waiting to be seen. On about hour ten, she asked for a glass of water, and she told me: “No, no, you go. I’m going to be fine. You go, get sworn in.” I said: “No, I can come back any time and be sworn.” She said: “I am not having this. You are going.” For those of you that know my wife, when she puts her foot down…. I may not do as you tell me, Mr. Speaker, I may put up a fight for that, but when my wife puts her foot down, I do as I’m told. [Interjection.]

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Bill 11, the Employment Standards Amendment Act, 2025. This bill proposes to eliminate the need for a sick note when an employee needs to leave for medical reasons. It says that it frees up time for our health care practitioners by cutting down on paperwork. When I’m looking at this bill, superficially, it makes sense. Doctors are busy, and a doctor’s note is often for what seems to be just the flu. It’s a waste of time for both the doctor and the patient. But like everything else, every bill, you have to look a little bit deeper and what can sometimes be unintended consequences. The reason we might have unintended consequences is that we have a health care crisis in our midst. I’m just going to give context a little bit. When you’re old, and you’ve been a practising physician for many years, you’ve got memories of what it used to be like. What it used to be like…. I have practised in different provinces, but in B.C. for most of my career, spending 38 years. When I settled down, finally, in Campbell River, not only were 20 percent of the houses for sale, super cheap, but there were too many family doctors. They were competing against each other. What did that do? The level of competence, in a sense, came up, because that’s what happens. You’re trying to give your best to every patient. You saw walk-in clinics open up. The reason walk-in clinics opened up was because doctors were competing against each other: “Let’s extend our hours. Let’s provide better service.” Amazingly, if you didn’t like your doctor, you could just switch. If you didn’t like the second one, you could switch again until you found one that was compatible with you. It was a pleasure, as well, to practise. I’ll just go back to the doctor’s note, because it’s an important thing to talk about when we’re talking about this bill. Occasionally, people would come in for a doctor’s note. It was a way of sort of connecting with the patient. Sometimes it was just the flu, but sometimes it was something a little bit more serious. Coming back to practising…. Sometimes when people came in with a doctor’s note, it was something serious. I would just pick up the phone and call the specialists, if they were in town. We had quite a few specialists, different specialties like orthopedics, plastic surgery, urology a few or 50 kilometres away, internal medicine. They would answer the phone, and that patient would be seen shortly thereafter. If that patient was sick enough to be admitted, there was a bed waiting. Not a problem. I kind of always want to give context, because sometimes something becomes a new normal, and this is not normal, what we’re going through right now. The reason we’re actually bringing this bill forward is because there’s a health care crisis, and doctors are overworked, and we’re trying to free up time. I think it’s important to remember that. When we’re talking about a solution to this crisis, unfortunately…. There needs to be short-term and long-term planning. There’s been some improvement with bringing in some doctors, but when you look at the net connection, meaning people being attached to primary care providers, the net probably isn’t that high because people are still retiring. People are still losing their family doctor. So it would be interesting to talk…. Rather than how many have come in, how many are actually attached? The other thing, as well, is we have to remember that even the family doctors that we have now…. The doctor that used to work 80 hours a week and do it all is becoming a rarer breed for, potentially, the right reason. People want to have a life, you know, physicians as well. So they tend to sometimes work less hours because they have families, or they specialize and do just emergency, or sometimes people specialize in addiction medicine, or they even do just dermatology. The doctor that used to do it all isn’t as common. We have to remember that as well. As many as we bring some in, some will specialize in something different. They won’t be providing primary care. The other thing that’s happening is…. Even if you’re attached and you need a doctor’s note, if you phone your doctor, well, your doctor often is busy, and you can’t get seen for a couple weeks unless it’s a real emergency. Attachment doesn’t guarantee a note. What do you do when you don’t have a family doctor? Right now you can always go to emergency, right? We’ve all heard of what happens in emergency with a 12-, 14-, 18-hour wait. If you’re sitting at home going, “I need a doctor’s note; I’m not feeling very well,” are you going to take the time? That’s the question, right? Unfortunately, sometimes a flu is not just a flu. Sometimes a flu is not what it seems. These are just a few examples I’m going to give. These examples are not to scare people. They’re quite rare, but they’ve happened. Somebody who, for example, is a construction worker has a history of gout, and his toe gets all inflamed and red. Well, sometimes gout isn’t gout. Sometimes gout is what’s called necrotizing fasciitis. What is necrotizing fasciitis? Well, it’s flesh-eating disease, and that’s a medical emergency. Because you didn’t go see your doctor for your swollen toe, by the time you see your doctor, you need an amputation. Depending on how long you waited to go see your doctor, you might get a toe amputated, or you might get a below knee amputation. That’s how fast it progresses. A rare but real story. Another example. This is an example close to home. Somebody who, for example, has indigestion and really doesn’t feel well calls to work, and work says: “Stay home, but we don’t need a note anymore.” Okay, great. You don’t have a family doctor. You don’t want to go to emergency because you’ve got indigestion. You don’t want to bother anybody. It doesn’t quite feel like indigestion, but you just don’t feel good. Well, that indigestion could be pericarditis or angina. It can present as indigestion. Is that common, in terms of presenting that way? It can. Like a previous member sometimes said, sometimes people are tough, and they decide: “I can handle this at home.” You worked out the night before. Again, you’re a worker. You’re really sore. You’re allowed five sick days — five sick days you don’t need a note for. And because you’re a construction worker, your shoulder is super sore and even your neck is sore. Well, you could be having a heart attack, right? But you’re tough. You’re not going to go see your doctor. You don’t need that note. My point being…. I can go on and on. I will go on and on, because I want people to kind of understand how important it is to connect with your doctor and to have that easy accessibility, because when it’s hard, sometimes you don’t show up. That’s why in emergency right now, we’re diagnosing stage 4 cancers, because people couldn’t go see their family doctor. They couldn’t access primary care. By the time they show up in the emergency, they’ve got stage 4 cancer. Neck stiffness could be a meningitis. You fell at work the day before, and you call your employer, and you say: “Well, I’ve got a bit of a headache, and I think I’m starting a flu because my nose is runny.” Well, it could be cerebrospinal fluid leaking. It could be leaking from your brain down your nose. Rare? Yes, but possible. Pink eye. Who hasn’t gotten pink eye? You don’t notice a little rash beside it. Well, it’s shingles. Sometimes shingles around the eye can blind you. A bit of dizziness could be a cerebellar stroke. We all know about a cough that continues, right? Again, you don’t have a doctor. I mean, I’ve seen members here coughing. We’re talking about MLAs that cannot find a doctor in Victoria, and they’re coughing for two or three weeks. Well, two or three weeks — maybe you’ve got a pneumonia. Your sore throat is getting worse. You’re starting to have trouble swallowing. It could be a peritonsillar abscess. That’s a medical emergency. Real story. Bad headache. Temporal arteritis. You could go blind. My point with all this is that connection with your family doctor is important. When I was practising, I have to say, we used to like to have people come in for their flu, for the note they needed for work, because it was fast, and we got paid for it. That’s the reality of it. But now doctors are so busy, over-the-top busy, so that extra income means nothing to them. That extra income balanced that complex patient you saw that took 45 minutes…. You get paid the same. So that doctor’s note is great. Doctor’s note — compensate. Now no more, because they’re so busy. They say: “Most of what we see….” I want people to realize that all the kind of examples I gave are rare. But in a time of medical crisis, when you’re actually, like I said, diagnosing cancer in emergency, maybe it’s time to start looking at why. I’ll probably be supporting this bill, because the family doctors are supporting this bill. They need to free up time. But I want to support it with caution, because people that have issues…. Someone mentioned mental health issues. If you’ve had some bad weeks at work and you’re isolating and you decide to take a day off, but you’re actually pretty depressed, that doctor’s note can maybe prevent something worse from happening. I’m going to support it, but with caution. I think maybe when we re-address the health care crisis and it improves, we should maybe revisit this bill.

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I rise to speak in complete support of Bill 11 today, the Employment Standards Amendment Act. I’m thankful this bill is before us and that I get the opportunity to share my support for it. I’m grateful to the Minister of Labour for keeping our promise to workers who, when sick, will now have the ability to stay home and rest when they need to, not run around on the day they are supposed to be resting, trying to get a hold of a sick note, which is not only expensive but adds unnecessary stress. It’s important to understand why we’re introducing this legislation. I heard the member speaking before me talk about the issue and the challenge with doctors, and the reality is…. Also, I should say, calling it a band-aid solution — I guess, pun intended — is interesting to me, because we have to meet the challenges of the moment while we work to address the issues systemically. We also know that there are ongoing administrative burdens and that these have been a concern for many health care providers in B.C. In fact, I think the member before me said that it sounds good on paper. Well, we met with the College of Family Physicians today. I spoke to Dr. Johnny Chang, who is from Creston, and one of the first things he mentioned to me is that workers are being forced to get return-to-work notes. Here we are talking about sick notes, but this is a doctor who is concerned about another piece and, by the way, expressed his deep gratitude and support for this bill. I would like to also mention that in Burnaby, there are three primary care networks supporting team-based health care, as well as a brand new Burnaby urgent and primary care centre. This work is being done across the province. The list is incredibly long, but I’m going to, of course, speak to my riding and to the city of the folks that I represent. I want to address a continuous comment I heard yesterday, as well as today, that leave should be legitimate and honest. I really want to ask the members to consider: is that somehow not an option now? For people who want to take advantage, as the other side keeps saying…. He also admitted himself that most people are honest; most people don’t take advantage of the system. As a worker from the labour movement, although I am elected here, I know firsthand that people are very hard-working, they are very honest, and they take leave or short-term absences when they need it. It’s also important to note that there was another comment made about there not being any doctors. Well, that’s really interesting because in 2024, over 250,000 people were matched with a doctor under this government. The Canadian Medical Association estimates that in 2024, doctors wrote approximately 1.6 million sick notes. That’s a lot of appointments and a lot of time taken away from people who may truly actually need an appointment at that very moment — not to force a sick worker to have to go and line up at a walk-in clinic or make an appointment with their family doctor to be able to get that sick note. There’s another piece that I think is so common sense, and I’m not sure why we’re missing this. Of course, with enabling legislation such as Bill 11, there will be regulatory measures that will need to be ironed out. That is standard practice. That’s not something new, and that’s not something different. Of course, we’re going to talk to folks, consult with everyone involved, all of the interest holders that would be impacted, about what constitutes a short-term leave. For many of us, we know that it’s usually between three to five sick days, and I can tell you from my own collective bargaining agreement. This legislation is going to apply to all employers under the B.C. Employment Standards Act in the public and private sector. This is really important because the private sector is the area where most folks don’t have a collective bargaining agreement. If I remember correctly, the last time I checked the statistics, I think only 12 percent of workers within the private sector are unionized. That’s a pretty low number. Whereas in the public sector, it’s much higher. That means that those people have those protections that they need. Sick notes are not only costly, this demand from an employer means that much of their time is not spent resting and recuperating but is spent under stress — first, booking an appointment with their family doctor or, as I mentioned, going to a walk-in clinic. But that also means that they stand in line and put others at risk. That’s not to mention: how are they getting there? If they’re privileged and they have access to a vehicle, that’s wonderful. They can keep themselves isolated. For most people…. This particular amendment act speaks to the most vulnerable workers, those who use transit as their main method of transportation, those who often work in the private sector and don’t have a collective bargaining agreement to outline the process for a short-term absence or a sick leave. For many workers who do have a collective bargaining agreement in the public sector, they have good sick leave and absence provisions that already don’t require a doctor’s note — as I mentioned, often between three and five days. And they have short-term disability and long-term disability provisions. For example, my mom worked as a care aide her entire life, proud member of the Hospital Employees Union — shout-out HEU — and has had access to sick leave and short-term absences for a very long time. She hasn’t required a doctor’s note for short-term sickness in many years. For the worker who is not protected by a CBA and doesn’t have a union to support them, they are left to fulfil any and all requests of the employer. Many times the requests, particularly for a doctor’s note, unfairly impact their healing process, whether it be due to illness or injury. Prior to being elected, I was the director of organizing and campaigns at the B.C. Federation of Labour. I remember countless workers reaching out to me about doctors notes. These were not organized workers; these were unorganized workers. They just needed support and help, so they came to us to find out what their options were. One worker shared a particularly egregious story with me. He worked in a warehouse where they made furniture, and he got injured really badly one day. Something had happened to his hand as well as his shoulder. He went to the hospital, and he was told that he had to rest until he got better. Normal — we all know that. The hospital had provided him with a note, some paperwork. Unfortunately, within 24 hours, the employer said: “Get a doctor’s note.” The wild thing about that is the manager who asked for that doctor’s note was on site and actually saw the injury take place. Make that make sense. By the way, that hospital document was free. That was just documentation. But forcing that worker to then go and get a doctor’s note meant that not only did he not get to rest, but he had to also go and get that doctor’s note, which cost about $40. The manager who made the request tried to force the worker back to work. The worker was so injured but had no choice because he had to pay the bills, so he went back to work. But the way that it works, in that warehouse in particular, is you’re measured by speed. You’re supposed to complete furniture sets at a certain pace. He wasn’t able to keep up, of course. He had an injury. He got fired. What did that doctor’s note do for him, other than add stress and force him to go and get a doctor’s note when he was already in pain and injured? Then he was forced back to work anyway, and because he couldn’t keep up, he was fired. These are real stories of real workers in this province, people that I’ve spoken to firsthand. I remember the worker telling me: “I felt punished for getting injured in the workplace, and I felt punished to go and get a doctor’s note.” It was like a punishment. It reminds me about what Dr. Johnny Chang said earlier this morning: “Get a return-to-work letter.” He said that the patient had had a flu and was better for one week already and just wanted to return to work, and the employer wouldn’t let him. Another punishment simply for even taking sick leave when this worker was obviously sick and had the flu. It’s really rich when I hear the other side say: “Well, you know, of course an employer is going to say yes and let them stay home when they’re sick.” That’s just not true. That’s why government does the work that it does, because we have to support workers that need it. We’re here for the most vulnerable workers, the workers that slip through the cracks. That’s our job. There’s another reality. There are members on that side that say that they’re union members, but when it comes down to it, I’ve seen the focus be so much more on the employer and not the most vulnerable person in that power dynamic. One can fire; the other can’t. I mean, it’s not rocket science. We want fairness for both parties, of course, the employer and the workers, and we advocate for it. As union members, we have been blessed with many employers understanding the need to not worry about a doctor’s note, which is why the language in Bill 11 is worked into many of our collective agreements already, including mine. See, I’m a proud Steelworker, and a real Steelworker does not associate with CLAC. I encourage the members on the other side to read existing collective agreements from Steel — use my union as an example — and see what the sick leave provisions are and what short-term absences look like. They’re already worked in. We’re just bringing the standard up. That’s the reality. This bill is bringing the standard in line for all workers with what is already standard practice for union members. Yesterday the member mentioned the health care system, and yes, we should absolutely talk about that. I heard that many times from the member across from me before I spoke. Let’s talk about the pharmacists who are stepping in to support patients with basic testing for strep, RSV, influenza and COVID. Let’s talk about the doctors who are burned-out and have been working in overdrive because of a global pandemic, and they haven’t had time to rest three years later. It is very busy. The doctors I met with today, they are in complete support of Bill 11. Let’s talk about the aging population that deserves dignity and health care and support and the many youth who face complex issues. Is it fair to take up a doctor’s time with an appointment in the name of a doctor’s note for short-term sickness? Make that make sense. To conclude, I’d like to share my heartfelt gratitude to this government for standing up for worker rights and to the Minister of Labour for her work to advance and fulfil this important piece of fairness for the most vulnerable workers. I urge all members to support Bill 11. I know I will.

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