Paid family leave with pay non-existent for most in BC

Lately, I have been asking Jean-Louis whether or not his work has any kind of family leave policy, in case he is needed at home. If I'm sick and unable to care for Tristan, I would feel better if he could stay home. Apparently, he can but they will be unpaid days. There is legislation stating this for BC.

British Columbia’s Employment Standards Act stipulates that "An employee is entitled to up to 5 days of unpaid leave each year, to meet responsibilities related to the care, health, or education of a child in the employee’s care or the care or health of any other member of the employee’s immediate family." (s. 52) Notice that this provision, in contrast to Quebec’s legislation, includes both responsibilities for a child and care for immediate family members1.

Apparently, paid family leave is a hot topic, in the US too. It's kind of crazy really that this doesn't exist for families with pay from all employers. Things are different these days with parents getting much less help from their families. None of our families live near us and we don't have very close friends to turn to. I guess in the event we really need help, I would have to hire a babysitter at the last minute. There must be an emergency babysitter directory somewhere for on call purposes. Is there?

Family leave should be like sick leave, with pay. This should be the case, at least for parents with children under 3. Small children get sick often and parents have to deal with so many extra expenses as is. It would just be a perk for being a parent. Shouldn't we be encouraging people to have more children? There certainly are many reasons for not having children these days that we just don't need another. I say, help the parents as much as possible!