As the province scrambles to come up with what Doug Ford promises will be the best paid sick leave program in North America, that didn’t stop the opposition, including Andrea Horwath, from bringing it up in the legislature during question period.

”In the situation we have now, when people literally are dying by the dozens every day, will we see the government pass legislation today to bring paid sick days to Ontario,” the NDP leader asked.

However, the Conservatives ending up defeating a Liberal private members bill that would have given 10-paid sick-days to essential workers.

Labour Minister Monte McNaughton repeated the government cannot do it alone.

”We know that we have to have a federal partner when it comes to paid sick-days to ensure that the payments get out to workers across the province.   And Mr. Speaker we were disappointed by the federal budget,” he added.

According to the Liberals, this is the 21st time that the Tories have voted against provincial paid leave since 2016.

The Conservatives then scrapped the two guaranteed paid sick days after defeating the Wynne Liberals in the 2018 election.