Working in Canada Just Got Tougher: Changes to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program Coming
As I’ve mentioned in the past, if you want to immigrate to Canada and you qualify, you should begin the process immediately, as rules seem to change often these days, and it seems increasingly more difficult to qualify.
Following the public outcry after the Royal Bank hired foreign workers from India to replace Canadians. Some of those workers were in Canada to train for jobs that would be outsourced to India. Canadians lost their jobs at the Royal Bank and the public backlash was fierce.
The government has moved quickly and today announced a series of reforms that will be introduced through legislation, regulation and through practise and administrative process directives.
So how exactly will it be more difficult to work Canada? The government is taking aim at both employers and temporary workers. The new provisions include:
Requiring employers to pay foreign workers at the prevailing wage
This replaces the wage flexibility employers used to enjoy in hiring foreign workers. The loss of this flexibility may make it more difficult for employers to justify hiring someone from abroad.
Suspending the Accelerated Labour Market Opinion Process
This program allowed employers who had previously issued a positive Labour Market Opinion (“LMO”) and who complied with all requirements to obtain a new LMO is just over a week. This program is no longer available so employers will have to go through the entire LMO process which can be lengthy. It also means they can’t hire foreign workers as quickly as before.
Government authority to suspend and revoke work permits
The government now has discretion to intervene where the foreign worker program is being “misused”. We don’t have a definition of “misused” yet, but I suspect this provision was aimed at the RBC scenario described above.
Adding questions to the LMO application to ensure outsourcing is not on the table
Employers will have to confirm that they are not using foreign workers to outsource jobs to a foreign country by training them in Canada. Again, this is aimed squarely at the RBC case above.
Ensuring there is a transition plan to hire Canadian workers
Employers will have to provide a plan on how they will transition from using foreign workers to Canadian workers over time. This is an administrative burden that some employers may not be able to address fully. For example, if there is a chronic shortage of Canadians with certain specialized skills, it is going to be tough to make a plan to transition to Canadian workers.
Fees for LMO’s and increasing fees for workers
In past, applying for an LMO was free. Not any longer. It’s going to cost employers to apply for an LMO with no guarantee it will be accepted. This could be a big disincentive. Work permit fees will also increase.
English and French as the only languages used as a job requirement
In my view, this will be one of the biggest challenges to overcome. In past, employers could state that a worker required a foreign language (such as Spanish or Mandarin or whatever), because that employer did business in those parts of the world, and needed a worker with those language skills. As a result, finding a fluent Canadian with those language skills was difficult, and often a positive LMO was issued and a foreign worker hired.
No longer. With only English and French as language requirements for a job, a great number of employers simply won’t be able to hire foreign workers for their language skills (among other technical skills of course). In a global economy, I simply can not understand this requirement – this will hurt our employers who do significant business overseas in different languages and who can’t find Canadians with the right technical and language skills to do the job.
So there you have it – the new changes in a nutshell.
I’ll post further details as we get them.
About the author
Gianpaolo Panusa is a Canadian immigration lawyer, writer, and founder of the PanCanadian Immigration Law Group based in Vancouver, Canada.Google+ Profile
List of Priority Occupations and Organizations Designated to Conduct Educational Credential Assessments for Federal Skilled Worker Program Released
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| English: Langevin Block, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Ottawa, April 18, 2013 —The list of 24 occupations that are eligible under the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) when it re-opens on May 4, 2013 was released today.
In addition, four organizations have been designated to provide the now-required independent third party assessments of foreign educational credentials for applicants who studied outside of Canada. These assessments, which must be completed before an application is submitted, are aimed at helping newcomers through the FSWP to get off to a better start and into the Canadian labour force more quickly when they arrive.
“
The government’s focus remains on jobs, economic growth, and long-term prosperity,” said Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Kenney. “
Under the new Federal Skilled Worker Program, Canada will be able to attract the skilled immigrants our economy requires, who are the most likely to succeed and contribute their full skill set to the Canadian economy.”
With the re-opening date approaching, future applicants should be aware of several key elements that will have an effect on the application process:
- A new eligible occupations list, with a total of 24 occupations;
- An overall cap of 5,000 new applications for all eligible occupations, including a sub-cap of 300 new applications for each eligible occupation;
- Four organizations have been designated to conduct educational credential assessments (mandatory for applicants submitting foreign educational credentials); and
- Applicants must show proof that they meet the minimum threshold of Canadian Language Benchmark 7 in all four language skill areas: speaking, reading, writing and oral comprehension.
“
As a result of the actions taken by the Government to deal with the massive backlogs and unacceptably long wait times, FSW applications will be processed in approximately one year,” said Minister Kenney. “
We will not be able to remain competitive and attract the skilled immigrants we need if we allow backlogs and wait times to grow again. That’s why we are capping application intake and focusing on specific occupations that are experiencing labour shortages in Canada. This will also help us transition nicely into the just-in-time immigration system of the future.”
Applications under the new FSWP will be accepted starting May 4, 2013. Until then, however, the FSWP application process does not change – only individuals with qualifying job offers or those applying under the PhD stream are eligible for processing.
All applicants who are considering applying on or after May 4 are invited to consult the Backgrounder. It outlines some of the steps that can be taken now to prepare and includes the eligible occupations list and the organizations designated to conduct educational credential assessments.
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Top 10 jobs by projected demand in 2020
| Job | Median annual salary | Projected # of job seekers in 2020 | Projected job openings in 2020 | Projected job openings for every person looking in 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mining, oil & gas supervisor | $74,880 | 567 | 1,302 | 2.3 |
| Pilot | $69,846 | 832 | 1,298 | 1.56 |
| College instructor | $66,560 | 3,552 | 5,146 | 1.45 |
| Railway & transportation supervisor | $60,320 | 1,159 | 1,531 | 1.32 |
| Power systems operator | $70,720 | 834 | 1,075 | 1.29 |
| Health-care managers | $86,674 | 5,313 | 6,545 | 1.23 |
| Education administrator (all levels) | $90,002 | 5,313 | 6,545 | 1.23 |
| Head nurse | $74,880 | 13,325 | 16,388 | 1.23 |
| Railway conductor & brakemen/women | $61,214 | 339 | 416 | 1.23 |
| Dental hygienist | $69,992 | 1,021 | 1,224 | 1.2 |
Top 10 best jobs in Canada
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| KAIST Aerospace engineering (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
10. Aerospace engineer
Median Salary: $75,004
Change in salary (2006–2012): +11%
Total employees: 8,500
Don’t be fooled by the “space” part. Most aerospace engineers work with planes, not rocket ships. The field includes everything from airplanes to helicopters, missiles and satellites. In Canada, the aerospace sector is dominated by Quebec-based companies, like Bombardier, although Ontario and the West also have significant aerospace clusters.
Money: Aerospace engineering salaries vary heavily. Newcomers who haven’t yet earned their professional engineering certification can expect to start off earning somewhere between $45,000 and $60,000 a year. After 10 years in the field, though, six figure salaries are the norm.
How to qualify: To become an aerospace engineer, you need an engineering degree, full stop. There are no shortcuts. You can get specialist aerospace degrees from Carleton or Ryerson Universities, or try to break into the field with a mechanical engineering degree.
Opportunity: The cyclical aerospace sector is picking up again following a slow decade precipitated by Sept. 11, the rising Canadian dollar and a surge in global competition. Should the tide turn, it can be tricky finding a job in another field: some general engineering firms don’t understand what an aerospace engineer is qualified to do.
What it’s like: Navreet Saini, an associate technical specialist at Bell Helicopters, works in avionics, doing test plans for a new helicopter. The work itself can involve steady 40-hour weeks, but those ramp up when big orders are due. To give an idea of how hot the aerospace field is right now, consider this: Saini didn’t even apply for her current job. She was recruited based on her LinkedIn profile. “I didn’t believe it myself until I came in on my first day.”
Canada’s Best Jobs 2013
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| English: Welcome to Fort McMurray sign in Fort McMurray, Alberta. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
The latest Canadian labour-force report landed with a thud on the first Friday of April. Fifty-five thousand Canadians found themselves out of work in March, pushing the national unemployment rate up 0.2 percentage points to 7.2%. That’s more than one million able-bodied Canadians looking for work. Numbers like these are enough to make anyone simply thankful for having a job, any job, let alone one that pays a decent wage.
In these sectors, employers are hiring, workers are treated well and the pay is getting higher and higher. These are the jobs you’ll find listed in this, our 2013 edition of Canada’s Top 50 Jobs.But before you shy away from asking for that raise or taking a leap of faith to pursue that dream job, consider this: most of the jobs lost in March were a few specific sectors: accommodations and food services, public administration and manufacturing. All but public administration are sectors that have been shedding jobs for the past decade. Employment in all other industries was relatively unchanged, and in some sectors, there is still plenty of growth.
To create this year’s list, we started by combing through data provided by Statistics Canada on more than 600 job categories. Jobs earning less than $60,000 a year are dropped off our list. From there, we look for the top-paying jobs that have had steady growth in both the number of people employed, and in wages, since 2006. After all, a high-paying job is only useful if you can actually land it.
With that in mind, we also account for how much competition there will be for these jobs in the future using data from Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, which projects future labour supply and demand to 2020. Not surprisingly, several of the top jobs on our list are in Alberta’s oilpatch, where the gap between openings and eligible candidates has already begun driving up salaries. Unemployment sits at less than 5% in the province and below 4% the closer you get to the oil-rich areas near Fort McMurray, which are experiencing huge demand for three of our 10 best jobs: oil & gas supervisors, petroleum engineers and chemical engineers. What’s more, each of these jobs carries a median annual salary of $75,000 and up. And the best news for job-seekers is that demand for these positions isn’t expected to drop off anytime soon.
Still, the oilpatch isn’t the only place to find a good job. In fact, the highest-paying jobs aren’t even in the private sector. They’re in government. Almost all of the public-sector jobs on our list have median salaries of $95,000 and higher. A recent study out of the Fraser Institute backs this up. The authors of the study found public-sector employees on average enjoy a 12% wage premium over their private-sector counterparts. And while you could argue that the public sector is a risky place to hold down a job, in terms of size it’s been relatively unchanged since the late 1990s, and accounts for about 20% of all employment in Canada.
If a career that’s always threatening cutsdoesn’t appeal to you but you still want a job that offers increasingly better pay, then prepare to get your hands dirty. Construction workers’ earnings jumped 6% over the past year, which is nearly double the national average pay increase. Construction managers, pipefitters and electricians are some of the top jobs on our list that offer great salaries, so long as you have the skills and you’re willing to put in a little elbow grease.
An aging population will certainly open up space for jobs in all categories in the years to come, but that change will have a double impact on the health-care sector. By 2020, nearly 9,000 nurses with a median wage of $72,000 will be retiring annually, as the demands of an aging population become more acute. It’s one of the main reasons health-care jobs feature prominently in our list.
Click column headers to sort by category
| Overall Rank | Job | Growth in # of employees (2006-2012) |
Change in salary (2006-2012) | Projected job openings for every person looking in 2020 | Median annual salary (2012) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oil & gas drilling supervisor | 44% | 39% | 2.3 | $74,880 |
| 2 | Head nurse & heath-care manager | 58% | 24% | 1.23 | $74,880 |
| 3 | Petroleum engineer | 75% | 17% | 1.02 | $93,517 |
| 4 | Electrical & telecommunications contractor | 87% | 28% | 1.09 | $72,800 |
| 5 | School principal & administrator | 9% | 25% | 1.23 | $90,002 |
| 6 | Lawyer | 33% | 14% | 1.19 | $79,997 |
| 7 | Real estate & financial manager | 47% | 15% | 1.07 | $79,872 |
| 8 | Senior government manager | 4% | 23% | 1.15 | $95,992 |
| 9 | Chemical engineer | 46% | 20% | 0.82 | $78,000 |
| 10 | Aerospace engineer | 49% | 11% | 1.02 | $75,005 |
| 11 | Audiologist & speech-language pathologist | 29% | 21% | 0.93 | $77,813 |
| 12 | Natural & applied science researcher | 73% | 25% | 0.8 | $73,590 |
| 13 | Construction manager | 39% | 21% | 0.94 | $72,800 |
| 14 | Police officer | 25% | 21% | 1.05 | $72,800 |
| 15 | Financial administrator | 13% | 22% | 0.92 | $79,997 |
| 16 | Registered nurse | 10% | 24% | 1.23 | $72,072 |
| 17 | Sales & marketing manager | –4% | 20% | 1.15 | $75,005 |
| 18 | Dental hygienist | 30% | 12% | 1.2 | $69,992 |
| 19 | Civil engineer | 38% | 13% | 0.82 | $76,960 |
| 20 | Industrial technician | 13% | 28% | 1.02 | $74,381 |
| 21 | Metal-forming contractor & supervisor | 41% | 32% | 1.09 | $65,874 |
| 22 | Transportation manager | 31% | 17% | 0.94 | $72,800 |
| 23 | Pipefitting contractor & supervisor | 46% | 19% | 1.09 | $66,560 |
| 24 | Utilities manager | 3% | 17% | 0.91 | $100,006 |
| 25 | Software engineer | 34% | 8% | 0.77 | $79,997 |
| 26 | Occupational therapist | 34% | 21% | 0.93 | $72,738 |
| 27 | Pharmacist | 12% | 21% | 0.71 | $95,680 |
| 28 | Computer engineer | 19% | 14% | 1.02 | $75,005 |
| 29 | Psychologist | –9% | 25% | 1.04 | $77,709 |
| 30 | School and guidance counsellor | 29% | 32% | 1.04 | $69,326 |
| 31 | Electrician | 100% | 22% | 0.91 | $69,493 |
| 32 | Economic analyst (government) | –15% | 16% | 0.96 | $100,277 |
| 33 | Geologist, geochemist & geophysicist | 9% | 34% | 0.7 | $89,440 |
| 34 | Petroleum, gas & chemical process operator | 5% | 28% | 1.16 | $69,992 |
| 35 | Health & occupation inspector | 37% | 15% | 1.09 | $66,560 |
| 36 | Human-resources manager | 9% | 14% | 0.92 | $79,997 |
| 37 | Mechanical engineer | 33% | 17% | 0.82 | $72,800 |
| 38 | University professor | 22% | 19% | 0.54 | $81,994 |
| 39 | Pilot | 0% | 25% | 1.56 | $69,846 |
| 40 | Engineering manager | –20% | 9% | 1.06 | $87,131 |
| 41 | Secondary school teacher | 3% | 24% | 1.04 | $74,152 |
| 42 | Railway & transportation supervisor | 34% | 38% | 1.32 | $60,320 |
| 43 | Mining supervisor | 18% | 23% | 2.3 | $64,480 |
| 44 | College instructor | 21% | 12% | 1.45 | $66,560 |
| 45 | Urban planner | 26% | 16% | 0.91 | $72,530 |
| 46 | Banking & credit manager | 10% | 13% | 1.07 | $72,530 |
| 47 | Health-policy researcher | 124% | 19% | 0.8 | $67,205 |
| 48 | Construction inspector | 42% | 13% | 0.91 | $62,400 |
| 49 | Power system operator | –6% | 11% | 0.78 | $70,720 |
| 50 | Probation & parole officer | 11% | 13% | 0.96 | $71,094 |
Methodology
By Mark Brown, Sarah Barmak, Jeff Beer, Joe Castaldo, John Lorinc, Alexandra Posadzki, Tim Shufelt and Richard Warnica. Photo in header by David Jones/Getty.
How mainland Chinese immigrants are transforming Vancouver
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| English: This is currently the Vancouver School of Theology in the Vancouver campus of UBC in Canada. It was formerly known as the “United Church of Canada: Union College of B.C.” This stone building was initially constructed in 1927 and additions to its wings were made in the 1930s. It is located at 6000 Iona Drive in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Ian Young in Vancouver
Life is good for Wei Fuqiang and Chen Qianhong.
Sitting on their 10-metre cruiser in Vancouver’s exclusive Coal Harbour marina, the married mechanical engineers recount an unlikely trajectory from wartime China, to Tsinghua University at the height of the Cultural Revolution, to elite careers building particle accelerators in Europe at a time when few of their countrymen were even allowed to leave China.
Little about this remarkable couple is typical – yet as mainlanders they now typify a vast wave of immigration that is rapidly transforming Vancouver.
Wei, 70, and Chen, 68, retired to the west Canadian city from their most recent home, Switzerland, in 2010. Chen said: “They are very different, Europe and Canada. Canada has opened its arms to all people. It’s very multicultural. But in Europe, they are always pushing you, they try to integrate you into their culture.
“In Canada, they respect your background, you feel you are the padrone,” she said, lapsing into Italian for “master of the house”. “You are not anymore a guest. This is really your home.”
The scale and impact of the mainland Chinese influx to Vancouver was laid bare this month in a report for Canada’s immigration department, titled “A New Residential Order?”
Author Daniel Hiebert, a social geographer with the University of British Columbia (UBC), projected how mainland migration would fuel the creation of “a social geography entirely new to Canada”. Ethnic Chinese numbers in the city of 2.2 million were set to double to 800,000 by 2031, about a quarter of the projected total population, with the city increasingly divided into racial enclaves, and white residents becoming a minority group.
In Richmond, a city of 200,000 in greater Vancouver, mainland Chinese migration has already helped create what is probably the first majority-Chinese city outside Asia.
The mainland Chinese wave has fuelled a property boom that makes Vancouver the second least affordable city in the world – behind only Hong Kong.
There have also been major social shifts, with families divided between a wife and children in Vancouver and a husband working in China. The phenomenon of returnees and part-time residents means thousands of houses and flats are vacant.
Hiebert said there had been relatively little focus on the issue, given the scale of the city’s unfolding Chinese transformation. “Are we fully reflective on these changes? No, I don’t think we are,” he said “But I think Canadians, more maybe than anyone else, have decided to trust the government and immigration policy to decide immigration issues. In Vancouver, we have come to a consensus that a global cosmopolitan society is what we are going to be.”
There are both similarities and contrasts to the pre-handover wave of Hong Kong migration to Vancouver in the 1980s and 1990s, Hiebert said.
According to immigration data, mainland Chinese arrivals in Vancouver outstripped those from Hong Kong by 7,872 to 286 in 2012. But even this 27-to-one disparity does not adequately portray the scale of the demographic shift that is taking place, because while the mainlander population is soaring in Vancouver, the number of Hong Kong immigrants actually present in the city has been falling sharply.
Mainlander numbers in Vancouver increased 88 per cent to 137,245 between 1996 and 2006, according to the most recent full census data. But Hong Kong immigrants present in the city fell 12 per cent, to 75,780, with nearly all of those losses occurring in the latter five years.
Although 18,890 new Hong Kong immigrants arrived in Vancouver in the decade to 2006, the fall in the number of such immigrants present in the city suggests that 29,325 left Vancouver in the same period. Overall, Hongkongers seem to be leaving Vancouver by the thousands, just as mainlanders are arriving by the tens of thousands.
Real estate agent Julia Lau was part of the Hong Kong wave who stayed, and she now estimates that 80 per cent of her buyers are mainlanders. “I’ve been a real estate agent for eight years. In the beginning we had a lot of buyers from Hong Kong and Taiwan, but I think maybe they all went home. Now, they are all from [mainland] China,” said Lau, at an open house for a home in the Oakridge neighbourhood, where potential buyers whispered in Putonghua as they inspected the luxury fittings.
Canada does not keep records on foreign ownership, but a Landcor Data analysis of all 164 homes sold for more than C$3 million (HK$23 million) in Vancouver’s core Westside neighbourhood in 2010 showed that 74 per cent were sold to buyers whose names were mainland Chinese spelling variants and who did not have any Western legal name.
At C$3.58 million, Lau considered the new 4,458 sq ft home she was showing on a nondescript suburban street to be “quite affordable”. “Right now, a lot of mainland buyers just want brand new homes or they want land so they can build … Usually, in Shaughnessy, or South Granville, or Point Grey, a house like this will be four or five million,” said Lau, reeling off suburbs favoured by Chinese buyers. Lau sold a string of homes worth eight figures to mainland buyers last year.
With the benchmark price for a detached home on the Westside now more than C$2 million, why would a mainlander choose Vancouver? “They like the fresh air, it’s a very beautiful environment, and the education system for their children,” said Lau, of Homeland Realty. “Lots of buyers, the wife and children will stay in Vancouver, but the husband will still live and work in China.”
That common scenario reflects the difference between Hong Kong and mainland government attitudes towards Canadian citizenship.
David Ley, author of the book Millionaire Migrants about modern East Asian migration patterns, said China’s prohibition on dual citizenship made it less attractive for a mainland Chinese migrant than for a Hongkonger to go “all the way” and seek Canadian citizenship, a process he termed “passport insurance”.
“For a mainland Chinese, if they want to go back to China with a Canadian passport, they are at a disadvantage, unlike people from Hong Kong who are able to hold both [Canadian citizenship and Hong Kong permanent residency],” Ley said. “The stakes are much higher. If they … get a Canadian passport then they are taking a much bigger risk.”
Anecdotal evidence suggests mainland Chinese wives commonly stay in Vancouver to provide a citizenship toehold for their absentee husbands.
Ley, also of UBC, added: “Around 2000 there was an almost complete transition in migration, switching to the PRC instead of Hong Kong and Taiwan. In other words, everyone [from Hong Kong or Taiwan] who wanted a passport got one.”
Another key difference between the Hong Kong and mainland Chinese waves is their potential scale and duration. “We know for sure there is very deep wealth in the mainland, whose holders want to diversify. [A recent study suggests] that 20 per cent of those very rich wanted to come to Canada,” Ley said. “We are talking about a substantial body of wealth that won’t run out in the way that Hong Kong [migration] did. Over the years we are looking at an ongoing presence, depending on a variety of factors.”
Mainlanders outnumbered Hongkongers in Vancouver some time between the 1996 and 2001 censuses. In that period there were 85,756 mainland arrivals to the city. But that only reflected the speed with which Canada’s immigration authorities could process their applications. There is a vast backlog.
When asked whether she saw any downside to the mainland Chinese influx, real estate agent Lau agreed that local first-home buyers were struggling. But she added: “I see a lot of people here who bought in West Vancouver a long time ago. They can sell for a lot of money and move somewhere else. It’s very good for them.”
Hiebert said that when the Globe and Mail newspaper used the alarmist term “white flight” to describe what was happening in Vancouver’s suburbs “they got hammered for it”. “I’d use a different term to white flight,” Hiebert said with a laugh. “I’d call it ‘cashing in’.”
There have been some tensions, in addition to grumbling about property prices. In Richmond, where the proliferation of Chinese-only business signage has upset some long-time residents, the city council was presented with a 1,000-name petition demanding an English component to all signage. “It [Chinese-only signage] has got progressively more noticeable,” said Richmond resident Kerry Starchuk, who helped organise the petition. Richmond’s council rejected the petition’s demands.
Back in Coal Harbour, Wei said he saw no problem with the influx of his countrymen. “I’m happy if they come. These are not low-level people, they are very high-level in China, they are very educated.”
After almost 30 years in Europe, Wei, one of nine children, said he once hoped to retire in China. “I wanted to come back. In China we have many friends, many relatives, and the food is good too. With our money, China would be very comfortable.”
Chen shook her head: “He is crazy! Not many would agree with him.” Chen wants to apply for Canadian citizenship – “Chinese should involve themselves more in the community,” she said – although her husband, reluctant to give up Chinese citizenship, does not.
They agree, however, that their new city was the right choice. With their son, daughter-in-law and three-year-old granddaughter living nearby, Vancouver is their home. “Now, this is perfect,” said Wei, waving an arm over the marina. “I never want to have regrets.”
This article first appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition on Apr 14, 2013 as The maple leaf mainlanders
Canadian Investor Groups Ready and Eager to Drive Economic Growth through the new Start-Up Visa
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| English: Diagram of venture capital fund structure for Venture capital (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
The new start-up visa will link innovative entrepreneurs with private sector organizations in Canada that have experience working with start-ups and can provide entrepreneurs with essential resources. As a way to help these in-demand entrepreneurs fulfil their potential and maximize their impact on the Canadian labour market, they will require the support of a Canadian angel investor group or venture capital fund before they can apply for a start-up visa.
Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) worked with industry umbrella groups, namely Canada’s Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (CVCA) and the National Angel Capital Organization (NACO), to identify eligible private sector organizations to partner in this program.
The umbrella organizations relied on specific criteria to determine which of their members are eligible to participate in the Start-Up Visa Program.
To receive designation to participate in the Start-Up Visa Program, a venture capital (VC) fund had to be a full member in good standing of the CVCA. VC funds that met this criterion and manage over $40 million in capital were automatically eligible to participate. VC funds that manage less than $40 million had to apply to the CVCA to participate in the Start-Up Visa Program. A number of factors were considered, including referrals from current CVCA members and interviews that the CVCA conducted with the limited partners of the fund.
Angel investor groups seeking to participate in the Start-Up Visa Program applied to NACO, of which they had to be a member in good standing. They were then assessed according to a number of criteria which included the level of deal flow in the past year, evidence of a thorough due diligence process, and evidence that all members of the group are accredited investors.
Immigrant entrepreneurs will require investment commitments from a venture capital fund or an angel investor group in order to apply for permanent resident status through the Start-Up Visa Program. An applicant must secure a minimum investment of $200,000 if the investment comes from a designated Canadian venture capital fund or a minimum investment of $75,000 if the investment comes from a designated Canadian angel investor group. Applicants will also need to meet general program requirements, such as language proficiency and academic experience.
The following is a list of the venture capital funds and angel investor groups that will participate in the Start-Up Visa Program:
Venture Capital Funds
- BDC Venture Capital
- Blackberry Partners Fund II LP (doing business as Relay Ventures Fund II)
- Celtic House Venture Partners
- Celtic House Venture Partners Fund III L.P.
- Celtic House Venture Partners Fund IV LP
- DRI Capital Inc.
- Golden Opportunities Fund Inc.
- iNovia Capital Inc.
- New Brunswick Innovation Foundation Inc.
- Northwater Intellectual Property Fund
- OMERS Ventures Management Inc.
- Pangaea Ventures Fund III, LP
- PRIVEQ Capital Funds
- PRIVEQ III Limited Partnership
- PRIVEQ IV Limited Partnership
- Quorum Group
- Advantage Growth (No.2) L.P.
- Ontario SME Capital Corporation
- Quorum Investment Pool Limited Partnership
- Quorum Secured Equity Trust
- Rho Canada Ventures
- Summerhill Venture Partners Management Inc.
- Tandem Expansion Management Inc.
- Vanedge Capital Limited Partnership
- Version One Ventures
- Wellington Financial LP
- Westcap Mgt. Ltd.
- Yaletown Venture Partners Inc.
Angel Investor Groups
Top employers for Canadians over 40 for 2013
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| English: Tour CIBC in Montreal. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Special to The Globe and Mail
Published
Mediacorp awards acknowledge companies that offer innovative programs to assist older workers as they transition to life after work.
Agriculture Financial Services Corp. (AFSC), Lacombe, Alta. Credit intermediation; 550 employees. Actively seeks experienced adjusters for their knowledge, with the average age for adjusters being 55 years. Helps employees prepare for life after work with retirement planning courses tailored to employees under and over 45, phased-in retirement work options and contributions to a defined benefit pension plan.
Bank of Montreal (BMO), Toronto. Banking; 28,686 employees. Offers an enlightened sick-day policy through which employees can apply for personal days off, called People Care Days, that may be used for everything from moving to extended family responsibilities. Helps older workers with retirement planning assistance, phased-in retirement work options and health coverage that extends into retirement (with no age limit.)
Bombardier Inc., Montreal. Aircraft manufacturing; 24,147 employees. Offers retirement planning assistance services as well as phased-in retirement work options.
Business Development Bank of Canada, Montreal. Banking; 1,958 employees. In addition to three weeks of vacation to start, employees can purchase additional vacation days (up to five days) through the flexible health plan. Gives phased-in work options to older employees and contributes to a defined benefit pension plan.
Cameco Corp., Saskatoon. Uranium mining; 3,033 employees. Retiring employees enjoy a health benefits plan that extends into retirement with no age limit. Helps employees plan for retirement.
Canadian Security Intelligence Service, Ottawa. National security; 3,311 employees. Established the “intergenerational working group” on attraction and retention of employees to better understand expectations and needs across all generations in the workplace. Holds retirement planning workshops.
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC), Toronto. Banking; 33,965 employees. Helps ease the transition into retirement with phased-in work options. Supports a retiree advisory committee that represents the views and concerns of retired employees.
Dalhousie University, Halifax. Colleges and universities; 3,328 employees. Retired employees can stay active through the Association of Dalhousie Retirees and Pensioners, which organizes social events and represents retiree interests on the university’s pension and benefits committees.
EllisDon Corp., Mississauga, Ont. Building construction; 1,164 employees. Profit-sharing and share purchase plans are available to all employees. Offers retirement planning assistance, phased-in retirement work options and contributions to a defined benefit pension plan.
Enbridge Inc., Calgary. Natural gas distribution; 4,681 employees. Considers previous work experience when establishing vacation entitlements for experienced applicants. Helps older employees prepare for life after work, contributes to defined contribution or defined benefit pension plans (depending on the employee group) and offers a health benefits plan that extends into retirement (with no age limit.)
HP Advanced Solutions Inc., Victoria. Computer system design; 403 employees. Offers phased-in retirement work options, assistance with succession planning and a defined benefit pension plan.
Manitoba Hydro, Winnipeg. Hydroelectric power generation; 5,980 employees. Subsidizes a retiree social club called Hydro-X that operates across the province; helps prepare older workers for life after work with retirement planning workshops.
SaskTel, Regina. Telecommunications; 3,131 employees. Offers an academic scholarship program available to employees’ older children pursuing postsecondary education; helps employees prepare for life after work and is in the process of introducing a phased-in retirement work program for employees nearing retirement.
Union Gas Ltd., Chatham-Kent, Ont. Natural gas distribution; 2,192 employees. Financial rewards include signing bonuses for some, generous year-end bonuses and a share purchase plan available to all employees; helps older workers prepare for life after work with retirement planning assistance.
University of Toronto, Toronto. Colleges and universities; 8,485 employees. Maintains a family care office that provides resources and hosts workshops and discussion groups on a range of family issues; offers a variety of alternative work options including flexible hours, telecommuting and reduced summer hours and phased-in retirement work options.
Canada to spend $10M to woo foreign students.
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| University of British Columbia (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Read more:http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Canada+spend+foreign+students/8172021/story.html#ixzz2Pt7CD9NA
Helping Immigrants Integrate and Succeed
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| The Centre Block on Parliament Hill, containing the houses of the Canadian parliament (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Vancouver, April 2, 2013 — A new, more comprehensive guide and a new web tool to help newcomers settle and integrate in Canada were unveiled today by Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney.
CIC’s new flagship publication, Welcome to Canada, is intended to be the official handbook to assist immigrants in preparing to come to Canada and to help them navigate their way during their first months in Canada.
“Our Government is committed to ensuring newcomers to Canada integrate and succeed in the Canadian economy and society as soon as possible,”said Minister Kenney, speaking at the MOSAIC settlement service centre.
“The new edition of Welcome to Canada shows our commitment to helping the citizens of tomorrow experience a smoother transition into their new community and into the Canadian workforce.”
Twice as long as the previous edition, the new guide’s content has been built on the foundation of academic research, in consultation with several federal partners and experts in the field of integration, and has been reviewed by new immigrants. The guide features practical information on many different topics including how to access language classes, basic information about Canada’s education system, laws and the justice system, the labour market and much more.
For the first time, the Welcome to Canada guide includes examples of immigrants to Canada who have successfully integrated. The guide was enriched by advice and anecdotes from Nick Noorani, himself an immigrant and an expert who specializes in immigrant integration and career outcomes.
“It is a huge honor and privilege for me to have had a chance to work on this publication,”said Mr. Noorani.
“Canada has given me more than I could ever have dreamed of and through my experiences I can help future immigrants succeed in Canada and this guide is a big part of that.”
This is the first time the Welcome to Canada guide has been revamped since it was first introduced in 1997. Like ourDiscover Canada citizenship study guide, Welcome to Canada is available in PDF or E-book format at cic.gc.ca/publications.
In addition, following the resounding success of the Come to Canada Wizard, the online immigration assessment and application tool, Minister Kenney today launched another interactive tool, this time intended for newcomers who have recently arrived in Canada.
The Living in Canada Tool produces a semi-customized settlement plan filled with tips, next steps, and useful links based on user responses to the initial questionnaire. Users can also find local immigrant-serving organizations with the integrated Find Services map, and can bring with them their customized settlement plan for additional, personalized support.
“To help newcomers integrate, the Government has tripled settlement funding since 2005-06 and remains committed to ensuring the distribution of settlement funding is fair, that immigrants receive the same level of service, regardless of where they choose to settle,”said Minister Kenney.
“The new Living in Canada web tool helps newcomers find and access language and settlement services quickly upon arrival.”
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