Canadians have always been enthusiastic about the Olympics as both participants and hosts.  In 1976, Montreal was the first Canadian city to host an Olympics when it hosted the Summer Olympics.  Calgary then hosted the Winter Olympics in 1988 and Vancouver hosted them in 2010.  This summer, Team Canada’s athletes will, of course, be among the 10,500 athletes from more than 200 countries competing in the 2024 Olympics Games in Paris. 

The impact of the “gig economy” on Canada’s workforce is among the most significant Canada has seen in decades. In fact, since the last time Canada hosted an Olympics, it has become an international leader in creating laws governing gig worker jobs for services relating to, among other things, food delivery, ride sharing, grocery shopping and delivery, dog walking and sitting, short-term rentals, and the performance of handyman jobs. 

It was in 2009, the year just prior to the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, that the world first began to hear references to the “gig economy.”  Technology-enabled applications had begun to make gig work easier to offer and obtain, and many gig worker digital platforms quickly became household names.  That same year, the Ontario Court of Appeal (OCA) affirmed the existence of an intermediate dependent contractor worker classification, holding that such workers must exhibit a certain minimum economic dependency demonstrated by complete or near-complete exclusivity.  In 2015, class action lawsuits by gig-economy workers alleging misclassification of employees as independent contractors and claiming significant monetary liability began to emerge, mostly in Ontario. They included claims for employee entitlements under the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA). In 2019, the OCA reinforced that exclusivity and economic dependency are the hallmarks of the dependent contractor classification analysis and clarified that “near-complete exclusivity” requires substantially more than 50% of billings. Although the concept of “dependent workers” is not currently recognized throughout Canada, in addition to Ontario, it is now recognized in Alberta, British Columbia and Nova Scotia; however, the recognition of the “dependent worker” classification throughout Canada seems to be only a matter of time. 

In 2020, the Supreme Court of Canada decided that drivers for a food delivery service did not have to use an unaffordable, foreign arbitration process in the Netherlands to resolve labour issues and could resolve them instead through the courts of Ontario.  It remains to be seen whether this less-costly process will enable gig drivers to seek recognition as “employees” under the ESA, and be afforded the protections conferred on them.

In the meantime, legislators in several Canadian jurisdictions have responded to gig worker complaints about their lack of protection as self-employed workers, e.g., their lack of a right to be paid when they are sick or on holiday, their inability to participate in Canada’s social security system, and their lack of entitlement to reasonable notice of dismissal.  On April 11, 2022, Ontario’s Bill 88, Working for Workers Act, 2022 received Royal Assent and became law. Among other things, Bill 88 enacted the Digital Platform Workers’ Rights Act, 2022 (DPWRA), which is not yet in force and will come into force on a day to be proclaimed by the Lieutenant Governor. When in force, the DPWRA will establish foundational rights and protections for gig workers, including but not limited to, the right to be provided certain information in writing; the right to a recurring pay period and pay day, and to be paid all amounts earned, including tips or other gratuities collected during each pay period; the right to be paid at least the general minimum wage (now $16.55 per hour but increasing to $17.20 per hour, commencing October 1, 2024); and the right to be free from intimidation and penalization in specified circumstances.  The DPWRA will also impose recordkeeping requirements on digital platform operators, as well as a requirement to make specified information regarding each worker readily available for inspection by a compliance officer.

On November 30, 2023, British Columbia’s Bill 48 – 2023: Labour Statutes Amendment Act, 2023 (Bill 48), a statute pertaining to minimum employment standards for app-based ride-hailing and food-delivery gig workers, received Royal Assent. Its provisions that relate to gig workers will come into force by regulation of the Lieutenant Governor in Council on a date to be determined.  At such time, they will, among other things, add the following definition of "online platform worker" to the definitions sections of the province’s Employment Standards Act (ESA) and Workers’ Compensation Act (WCA): “a person who performs prescribed work that the person accepts through an online platform.” In addition, these two acts will provide that for the purposes of the ESA and the WCA, an online platform worker is to be considered an employee, and the operator of the online platform through which an online platform worker accepts prescribed work is to be considered the online platform worker’s employer, and will amend the province’s ESA and WCA to provide that the Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations “respecting online platforms and work accepted through online platforms.”

On June 20, 2024, Canada’s Bill C-69, Budget Implementation Act, 2024, No. 1 received Royal Assent and came into force.  Among other things, Bill 69 protects gig workers’ access to the rights, protections and entitlements of employees under the Canada Labour Code by strengthening the prohibition against misclassification, including by presuming that that a person who is paid remuneration by an employer is their employee unless the employer proves otherwise; providing that if, in any proceeding other than a prosecution, an employer alleges that a person is not their employee, the burden of proof is on the employer; prohibiting employers from treating an employee as if they were not their employee; and allowing employees to file complaints when these new provisions are contravened.

Although the “gig economy” now exists worldwide and lawmakers in many countries are responding to this new reality, since it last hosted the Winter Olympics in Vancouver in 2010, Canada has been at the forefront in this area.