The Federal Government Acts to Protect Interns...Maybe

Yesterday in the 2015 Federal budget there was language, in the "Modernizing the Canada Labour Code" section, that suggested that the Federal government would be moving to address the lack of protections for interns under the Canada Labour Code. The vast majority of employers in Canada are regulated by provincial laws, but the Federal government regulates employment in telecommunications, inter-provincial transportations, railways, airlines, and television and radio. There's evidence of a significant intern culture in telecommunications, television, and radio. 

The budget stated: "Internships can provide important workplace-based learning experiences and support youth in making a successful transition from school to work. However, many Canadians are concerned about the potential for abuse and lack of protections offered to unpaid interns. This is why Economic Action Plan 2015 also proposes to amend the Canada Labour Code to ensure that interns under federal jurisdiction, regardless of pay, receive occupational health and safety protections and are subject to basic safety standards, and to clarify the circumstances under which unpaid internships can be offered."

While on first blush the aforementioned language sounds encouraging, but the devil is in the details and it appears like the Federal government may be preparing to permit some form of unpaid labour. Depending on the specific reforms that get advanced, this may be a good step forward towards addressing unpaid internships at Federally-regulated employers, but there's also the potential that any reforms could make the situation worse for young workers. It's really impossible to pass judgment without more details. 

Federally-regulated employers have bad track record when it comes to exploiting interns. Astral Media (now owned by BCE Inc.) was linked to the harassment and death of Andy Ferguson, a student at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology who was doing a radio internship. Bell Mobility was using hundreds of interns every year in the Professional Management Program, which was shuttered last year after sustained media coverage and lawsuits. Rogers also made use of labour law loopholes to avoid paying young media workers the minimum wage. The question on my mind is why the Federal government would even consider giving hugely profitable companies a new way to avoid meeting basic labour standards, such as limits on hours of work and the minimum wage.

The background to these developments is interesting. NDP MPs, Andrew Cash and Laurin Liu, took the lead in tackling this issue and they both deserve a lot of credit for taking on this issue. Both of them brought forward Bill C-636 which would have strengthened protections for unpaid interns working at Federally-regulated companies. MP Scott Brison, the Liberal's Finance Critic, also has spoken out on the issue of unpaid internships and the deeper impacts on youth unemployment. Finally, unpaid internships attracted the attention of the Standing Committee on Finance last year and heard from a range of stakeholders last year on the topic in the context of a wider examination of youth unemployment. The resulting report, "Youth Employment in Canada: Challenges and Potential Solutions", contained numerous recommendations on internships from the Conservatives, the NDP, and Liberals.

So that's my take on the narrow intern aspect of the 2015 Federal budget. The rest of the budget is really horrific and overall it's terribly regressive with lots of handouts to wealthy boomers. I remarked on Twitter that this budget epitomizes intergenerational fracturing and it really needs to be seen in the lens of the Conservatives bribing older Canadians to vote for them in the upcoming election.