Soon a new law on youth employment
Do you work in addition to going to school? If so, you may be affected by a new law that the Quebec government will soon adopt. Keep reading to find out more!
What will the law say?
According to the new law, it will no longer be possible for young people under the age of 14 to work. If you are 11, 12 or even 13, you will therefore have to stay in school and wait until you are 14e birthday before you can enter the job market!
In addition, for young people aged 14 to 16, a maximum of 17 hours of work per week will now be established, as well as a maximum of 10 hours on school days. This restriction will not apply to days off, lay weeks or during summer vacation.
Companies will be forced to take the new law into account, otherwise they will face penalties.
However, exceptions will be made for certain special cases. For example, young people under the age of 14 will still be able to work in certain sectors that offer a safe environment, such as babysitting, fruit picking, family businesses or recreational organizations.
Why prevent children from working?
It is the Minister of Labour, Jean Boulet, who will take care of having the law adopted in the National Assembly. According to him, it is urgent to better regulate the work of children, because it can affect their success in school.
Indeed, studies have shown that beyond a certain number of hours spent working each week, the risk of dropping out of school increases. By passing this law, the Minister therefore hopes to improve the high school graduation rate.
Also, due to the labor shortage in Quebec, companies have started hiring younger and younger children. However, the latter are less skilled, which can be dangerous: in 2021, work accidents among people aged 16 and under increased by 36%! Raising the minimum working age could therefore help keep young people safe.
When will this law come into effect?
In reality, it is a bill, that is to say that the deputies must still discuss it and vote to adopt it or not. However, Minister Jean Boulet believes he will be able to submit his project to the National Assembly at the beginning of next year, either in February or March. Then, if the law is adopted by elected officials, it will come into force from the next school year, in the fall of 2023.
What is the situation in Canada?
Quebec is the only province in Canada where there is no minimum age to work. In British Columbia, for example, you now have to be at least 16 years old to get a job. It would therefore be a historic event if the law were adopted in Quebec.
At war against… cheese pasta!
PHOTO ARCHIVES AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
An American is suing Kraft Heinz Foods for $5 million. She accuses him of having made false advertising about the cooking time of pasta with cheese.
Behind every lawsuit is a story. Sometimes it’s a sad story, such as when someone dies or their money is stolen. But in other cases, like the one we present to you in this article, it’s more of a comic story. Indeed, an American woman recently sued Kraft Heinz Foods for a story… of cooking time! We explain to you.
What does she blame him for?
Amanda Ramirez lives near the city of Miami, Florida. One fine day, when she wanted to make Kraft “Shells & Cheese” type pasta, she noticed a detail on the packaging. It is stated that it is possible to prepare the meal in three and a half minutes. Gold, M.me Ramirez determines that this is untrue, and that the pasta takes longer to be ready.
According to his calculations, three and a half minutes is enough for the pasta to cook in the microwave. However, this excludes the preparation steps that must be followed before cooking them, i.e. remove the lid and the bag for the sauce, add water, microwave it and stir.
Mme So Ramirez decided to take class action against Kraft Heinz Foods, the company that produces the pasta, for misleading advertising on its packaging. She claims no less than 5 million dollars in damages!
False advertising is no!
Obviously, it is illegal for a company to misrepresent. For example, lying about the ingredients a product contains or lying about its effects on the environment are two very serious acts. A company must be transparent with the consumer.
In the present case, however, it is not clear that Kraft Heinz Foods’ “lie” about the preparation time of its pasta is as serious as Mme Ramirez claims so. Indeed, maybe it takes more than three and a half minutes to prepare “Shells & Cheese”. But does that necessarily call for a lawsuit?
Collective action, a very useful tool
If the action of Mme Ramirez may seem absurd, you should know that in recent history, many other collective actions have borne fruit and brought justice to those who demanded it.
Indeed, collective action allows consumers to join forces. Thus, if a single person claims $100 from a company, it is likely that the latter will sweep the lawsuit out of hand. However, if 10,000 people claim 1 million dollars from this same company, their lawsuit risks having a completely different effect!
It remains to be seen whether that of Mme Ramirez will succeed!
Are students who homeschool less good?
PHOTO GETTY IMAGES
For the first time, students who are homeschooled had to pass the Ministry’s compulsory tests, in particular to check the quality of their learning.
Quebec students who are homeschooling were forced for the first time in June 2022 to take the Ministry of Education’s end-of-year exams. They performed generally lower than students who attend school, particularly in mathematics. But the difference remains rather small. Let’s see why!
Quebec has 7,892 children who have special permission to homeschool.
All these 4-year-oldse year of 6e year and 2e secondary have passed the Ministry’s compulsory tests. The objective was to check whether their education offered them the same opportunities as for children who attend traditional school.
Exams are stressful
This change has upset many families. Some have even decided to take the government to court to invalidate this new regulation.
According to them, half of the children who are homeschooled have been withdrawn from the school system because of learning disabilities. Forcing them to take end-of-year exams could therefore be very stressful for them! Some of these children left school because they had had traumatic experiences there. Others have simply never been there and this examination places them before a new situation.
Many parents also complained that they did not have access to resources to prepare their children for the tests.
Nevertheless, the results are far from catastrophic. While grades are on average lower for home-schooled students, in some cases they are slightly better than for school-aged students.
Researchers interested in homeschooling find the results consistent with studies on the issue. In general, we see a trend where the results are the same or better for children who learn in the family, except in mathematics where, generally, there is no advantage to being at home.
Different learning
The gap in mathematics is explained by the way exams are designed. Math exams are often similar and it is by dint of doing them that we end up understanding how they work.
In families who homeschool, it is often more concrete learning that is privileged, making a birdhouse for example. It’s a far cry from the usual math exams! Whereas reading exams are more like what children do at home.
But we must not forget that these exams are mainly used to check whether the teachers are giving the material, not to compare the students!
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