This short overview describes changes in work in Toronto, Canada already experienced by most consumers, national trends, and local initiatives of workers rallying for social protection.

1. The “Future of Work” in Toronto, Canada is already here!
“The times they are a’changin” – Bob Dylan
Food couriers &
Services
Ride-sharing and
accommodation
Short term Work
Gigs and Shared
Workspaces
flippFoodora
Skip the
Dishes jiffy
GreenP
Parking
Uber Airbnb lyft
TaskRabbit wework

2. Labour trends are changing, but are labour legislation and social
protection progressing in Toronto and in Canada?
• According to primary research conducted by the Bank of Canada, and released in early 2019, “Some 30 per cent of respondents
reported currently participating in some form of informal work (2018Q2–2018Q4). This includes those who work only a few hours a
week, while for others it reflected their main job. The highest rate of participation in informal work was among youth (58 per cent
of youth respondents).”
• BMO issued research in 2018 and reported: “According to Statistics Canada, 2.18 million Canadians were categorized as temporary
workers in September 2017. This is a group that includes people who take on term, contract or temporary employment, such as
freelancers.7 According to a report2 from one of Canada’s largest temp agencies, organizations are hiring a broad variety of such
workers already consisting between 20% and 30% of their workforce, and more than one in four employees are freelancers. Part-
time workers are less prevalent than contingent or freelance workers, averaging less than a quarter of the workforce. Employers
estimate almost a quarter of their workforce is working virtually or remotely. Eighty-five per cent of the companies surveyed in the
report foresee an increasing move to an “agile workforce” in the next few years.”
• “In 2016, the human resources consulting firm Randstad surveyed Canadian workers, finding that just over one in four of them
worked independently, with IT professionals and engineers like Pollock identified as those most likely to work this way. Based on a
recent survey conducted in the U.S., Randstad said most employers and workers anticipated that, by 2025, more than half of us
would be working in what it called an “agile” capacity—as contractors, consultants, temps or freelancers. The professional
networking site LinkedIn estimated that some 43 per cent of the American workforce now does at least some freelancing.” CPA
Ontario Lessons from the Gig Economy

3. Recent signs of activism and demand for social protection are
growing in the Toronto Area
• Lisa Stam of SpringLaw in Toronto, a Canadian virtual law firm advises employers and executives on workplace legal issues. In a
November 2018 issue of Canadian Lawyers magazine, she writes: “The gig economy . . . is also being driven by individuals who like
that freedom,” she adds. “It’s a generational change. Millennials are very open to it. We’ll see if that continues to be the case as
[Millennials] take on mortgages” and other financial responsibilities of mature adulthood. “Maybe that will change. But there’s a
confidence in the new generation that they can take care of their affairs [and] more of an openness to being in charge of their own
destiny.” With this shift, employment legislation and the law have had to likewise shift gears. “It’s art,” says Richard Charney, global
head of employment and labour for Norton Rose Fulbright LLP, based in Toronto. “Judges are evolving this jurisprudence” of who
constitutes an employee, dependent contractor or independent contractor and how each should be treated under the law.
• There are currently more than 90,000 Toronto drivers working for private transportation companies (including Uber and Lyft),
according to the city. That’s up from 30,000 in 2016 according to Huffington Post. Toronto Uber drivers recently joined their
counterparts across North America to fight for the ride-hailing platform to recognize them as employees with rights. June 26, 2019
• On Sept 10, 2019 the CBC issued the article: Battle between Foodora and couriers could define 'how we do work in this century‘.
The issue is whether people employed or working in the gig economy should be able to form a union. The company is pushing back
these efforts, claiming that delivery couriers are independent contracts and not employees. If successful, Foodora couriers could
become Canada's first unionized app-based workforce.

4. Thank you!
• Conversations welcome
• Debate welcome, but debate ideas with evidence
• This is a conversation about the greater public good, the future of our children and
grandchildren, and a more equitable society