Next Steps of Government's Plan to Build a Stronger Middle Class Receive Royal Assent

December 14, 2017 – Ottawa, Ontario – Department of Finance Canada

When you have an economy that works for the middle class, you have a country that works for everyone. The investments the Government of Canada has made in Canadians and their families, in communities and in the economy are working. Almost 600,000 new jobs have been created since 2015 and the unemployment rate is the lowest it has been in nearly a decade. Canada now has the fastest-growing economy in the G7, giving the Government the ability to reinvest the benefits of that growth back into the people who contributed most to that success.

Today, Finance Minister Bill Morneau welcomed the Royal Assent of Bill C-63, which builds on the Government’s commitment to the middle class and puts into place the remaining measures from Budget 2017.

Bill C-63 includes measures that discontinue unpaid internships in federally regulated sectors that are not part of an educational program, and provide labour standard protections to unpaid interns who are part of a formal educational program. The legislation also allows federally regulated workers to ask for adaptable work arrangements from their employers—providing greater flexibility for families, particularly for women, who continue to do the majority of unpaid work in the home.