Human Resources committee  It's a great question. As an economist, I would love to have a definition that's internationally comparable, because it would allow someone like me to look across countries and say how Canada ranks up. That would be great. I think the challenge for aligning with the ILO is that,

Human Resources committee  I'll point to the data that Monique has shared already and add that the aggregate data doesn't necessarily show it. What I'll point to is that it might mask some underlying trends. I already pointed to the part-time data. The share of part-time employment has not moved since 1993

Human Resources committee  There certainly has to be some portion of that. As part of our proposed definition, we want to start collecting data on that as well. Any definition of precarious work can't just be about money. It's not just a certain level of income and then volatile income and then we're good.

Human Resources committee  Mr. Chair, may I add to that?

Human Resources committee  One point I want to make on that is that we may never be able to get rid of these types of jobs. We're always going to need people to work at McDonald's or Tim Hortons, so it is incumbent on us as policy-makers to make sure that the people in those jobs are taken care of.

Human Resources committee  I think that's an excellent question. I'll note first some of the remarks that my colleague, Monique, made about trying to balance how we define precarious work with, ultimately, what we decide are our policies to address it and what cost that imposes on business. If I look at h

Human Resources committee  I think that's a very tough question. It's a very philosophical question, in my opinion. I mean, I would lean towards yes in that regard; you are absolutely right. But, ultimately, it's going to be a challenge to convince that the economic force that is driving the workplace towa

Human Resources committee  That's an excellent question. I can maybe change the question to say, is precarious work becoming more prevalent among accountants, for example, or the accounting profession or what have you, or any regulated profession? I think the answer, at least from our perspective, is th

Human Resources committee  I think it's a really good question. To me, this is something that's been around for quite some time and yet we're only identifying it now as a problem. If we go back to seasonal work, with many of the work characteristics for people in fisheries, for example, it might seem lik

Human Resources committee  You kind of stole my answer. I think that's where it starts. When I talk about precarious work, it starts with what we think the problem is that we need to solve here. For me, I point to someone like Allyson, whose personal lived experience is exactly the problem we want to solve

Human Resources committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair and committee members. My name is Francis Fong, and I am the chief economist at the Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada, or CPA Canada. Our organization is one of the largest national accounting organizations in the world, representing more than 210