Potpourri: Speaking, Conferences, and Media

I have a few updates to share regarding some recent media appearances, potpourri, upcoming speaking events I'm doing.

First off, let's go to the University of Toronto's Varsity newspaper. Iris Robin, the Varsity's Associate News Editor, recently interviewed me about internships in Ontario. You can read the entirety of the interview here; additionally, she penned a great article where she spoke to students about the realities of their experiences doing internships. Finally,  I'm quoted extensively in an article by Devika Desai about some of the issues that international students face looking for work in Canada. All the articles are worth a read and quite insightful.

Next up is the fallout from a new study from the Conference Board of Canada, entitled "The Bucks Stop Here" on the generational income gap and the growing disparities in earning, income, and wealth between older and younger workers. I've long held that there's a growing problem related to intergenerational equity in Canada's labour markets and it's nice to see my assertions proven to be correct. I'm quoted in the Canadian Press article covering the study and have a zinger of a line at the end: "I really wonder who the boomers expect are going to buy their pretty houses". The report caused quite a stir and here's some additional commentary from the Toronto Star, the CBC, Paul Kershaw, and Linda McQuaig.

Outmigration, rampant un(der)employment, and the abject lack of intergenerational equity loom large over young people in Atlantic Canada. Students Nova Scotia has started a website entitled "Farewell to Nova Scotia" after releasing a report highlighting the ongoing inaction from MacNeil government in Nova Scotia on youth labour market issues. This was all in response to the MacNeil government ending the Graduate Retention Rebate, which was a critical policy in stemming the outmigration of young people. ICYMI, I gave a keynote speech out in Halifax in March which traced some of the deep problems facing Nova Scotia and how engaging young people is critical to creating a strong economy.

A couple interesting community events are happening in the next week or so. The YIMBY (Yes In My Back Yard) Festival is happening this coming Saturday from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm at the University of Toronto Schools and I'll be there for part of it promoting Generation Squeeze. The Good Jobs Summit is happening from October 3rd to 5th and is focused on "finding solutions and new approaches to jobs and the economy". This summit is being put on by Unifor and has a great line-up of speakers, it's free as well so you should totally go to all or part of it.

Finally, I'm going to be speaking at a couple of events around the GTA in the upcoming weeks. First, I'm going to be discussing some research I'm doing on work-integrated learning, occupational health and safety, and workers' compensation at the "Dissent and Resistance in the Workplace" conference happening on October 3rd and 4th in Hamilton. The conference is free and the line-up of presenters looks excellent, so if you're into wonkish labour market stuff do attend. Then on October 15, 2014, I'm going to speaking at an event called "Capitalism and Good Jobs" put on by the Institute of Public Administration in Canada and York University. I'll be speaking with Jim Stanford of Unifor, Professor Leah Vosko of York University, and Dawn Desjardins of RBC. I highly recommend that you attend (register here) as that's a pretty great line-up of speakers, both Jim Stanford and Leah Vosko are among the top minds in Canada when it comes to labour market issues.