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Omar Yaqub

Is Canada's Innovation Performance Really So Bad? - Joshua Gans - The Conversation - Ha... - 0 views

blogs.hbr.org/...nadas_innovation_performa.html

canada competitiveness

shared by Omar Yaqub on 07 Jun 11 - No Cached
  • Canada lags behind in R&D spending and also possibly in patents secured by businesses. But in my research on this topic, I had long regarded Canada as a solid performer, especially compared with Australia. My research was based on an econometric methodology (initially design by Michael Porter and Scott Stern, but refined by myself and Richard Hayes) designed to forecast a country's innovative capacity — that is, not what innovation is taking place but instead what innovation is likely to occur in the future.
  • Rather than focus on a specific result, such as patent performance, this research derives an index from broader fundamentals. When the experience of many nations is pooled, it becomes clear that certain factors play a robust and persistent role in innovation. These include inputs into R&D (including capital and labor) and, more surprisingly, the public share of education in gross domestic product expenditure (rather than overall education), the level of intellectual property protection (stronger is better), R&D funded by industry (as opposed to government) but performed within universities, and the degree of specialization.
  • Indeed, compared to other OECD countries, Canada's innovation index puts it at the very top of second tier innovators and at number seven in the world. (The top ten comprises the U.S., Finland, Japan, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Canada, Germany, Iceland, and Norway.) While this does not suggest that Canada should be complacent, it does suggest that the gap emphasized in Canada's Institute for Competitiveness and Prosperity report is not as worrying as it might appear. Canada has innovation challenges but they are not at the level faced by Australia.
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  • If I had to speculate — I have not yet examined the underlying numbers for Canada — I would posit that the gap is related to trade and to Canada's proximity to the U.S.. Canadian businesses, especially innovative ones, focus on the U.S. market; further, it is likely that the best innovations get snapped up by U.S. firms. To be sure, this is a perfectly legitimate commercialization strategy — selling out to established firms — but it is the sort of thing that shows up poorly in aggregate statistics. If that is the case, the issue may not be Canada's encouraging more innovation but ensuring that Canadian policies are consistent with facilitating export in ideas as much as export in physical products.
Omar Yaqub

Reports || EEDC 2008 annual report - 0 views

www.edmonton.com/...Annual_Report_2008.pdf

shared by Omar Yaqub on 01 Dec 10 - No Cached
  • Omar Yaqub on 01 Dec 10
     
    Workforce DevelopmentThe shortage of skilled workers was unquestionably the mostimportant challenge faced by Edmonton industry in 2008. Inits third year, EEDC's Edmonton Workforce Connection (EWC)program continued in conjunction with industry and governmentto address regional labour challenges. EWC worked with industrystakeholders, immigrant-serving agencies, the City of Edmonton,educational institutions and Alberta Employment and Immigrationto launch the Edmonton Region Immigrant Employment Council.This organization was created to help address the underemploymentof skilled immigrants in the region.EWC also provided new opportunities for businesses and workersto connect. These included developing the Employers of Choicewebsite to highlight local employers, creating a link to WOWJobs that enabled companies to advertise job opportunities, andconnecting Edmonton employers to university career centresacross Canada.EWC has a new name - EEDC's Workforce Development Program- and new challenges. The focus of the program will be optimizingthe labour force to address a growing skills shortage that isdriven by an aging population, competition, innovation and newtechnologies. Alberta employers are reassessing their needs andthe future of their businesses in light of the economic slowdown.EEDC will continue to need blue and white-collar workers who areemployed to their maximum capacity to rebuild the economy. Productivity & InnovationIn 2008, EEDC made a strategic decision to be a leader inpromoting greater productivity through innovation in the Edmontonregion.In collaboration with the province and cities across Alberta, EEDChosted Innovative Manufacturing Works tours in Edmontonin October 2008. Thirty industry representatives visited threeEdmonton-area manufacturers, which are focused on continuallyrefining their processes to achieve peak efficiency. Events such asthese improve public awareness of the capability of local industryand encourage other firms to adopt be
Omar Yaqub

Cities of Migration » Immigrants as Innovators: Boosting Canada's Global Comp... - 0 views

citiesofmigration.ca/...en

immigrants innovation canada

shared by Omar Yaqub on 02 Feb 11 - No Cached
  • Omar Yaqub on 02 Feb 11
     
    Immigrants as Innovators: Boosting Canada's Global Competitiveness / Michelle Downie.  Toronto: Conference Board of Canada, 2010. The report is designed to help Canadian government officials and business leaders, as well as cities and communities, recognize the potential value of immigration to innovation performance. The report also provides Canadian leaders with insight into how they can better foster and capitalize on the innovative 1potential of new Canadians.
Omar Yaqub

Today's innovation, tomorrow's prosperity - Institute for Competitiveness and Prosperity - 0 views

www.competeprosper.ca/...nnovation_tomorrows_prosperity

work canada demographics innovation

shared by Omar Yaqub on 29 Nov 10 - No Cached
  • As the economy slowly recovers from the recession, we need to do what is necessary to achieve a solid recovery in the short term and to begin repairing our provincial fiscal situation. But our long-term challenge remains – raising our productivity, which is synonymous with improving our innovation capabilities and performance. Robust innovation results can be achieved through more key business investments and by the right government policies and strategies for innovation. The Report concludes that businesses need to step up their investments in technology – from R&D to patents to adapting existing technology to their businesses. Equally important is the ongoing need to develop stronger management capabilities in our businesses. The Task Force also recommends that governments improve their innovation polices by shifting their efforts from new-to-the-world inventions to relevant-to-the market innovations. These are the key conclusions of the Ninth Annual Report, Today’s innovation, tomorrow’s prosperity, released today by the Task Force on Competitiveness, Productivity and Economic Progress.
  • Omar Yaqub on 29 Nov 10
     
     (PDF) 
Omar Yaqub

THE INNOVATION DRIVEN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT MODEL A PRACTICAL GUIDE FOR THE REGIONAL INN... - 0 views

www.innovatecalifornia.net/...n%20Economic%20Development.pdf

innovation

shared by Omar Yaqub on 02 Feb 11 - No Cached
  • Omar Yaqub on 02 Feb 11
     
    THE INNOVATION DRIVEN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT MODELA PRACTICAL GUIDE FOR THE REGIONAL INNOVATION BROKER
Omar Yaqub

Big Rethink 2011: Economically Driven Innovation - Core77 - 0 views

www.core77.com/...ly_driven_innovation_18692.asp

innovation competitiveness green

shared by Omar Yaqub on 04 Mar 11 - No Cached
  • Omar Yaqub on 04 Mar 11
     
    This notion of economically driven innovation was apparent throughout the conference and it was encouraging to hear was that there would be a green upside. According to Bew, the past ten years have been responsible for half of the price increases the world's commodities have experienced over the last 150 years. This economic situation will drive governments to encourage innovation in environmentally friendly alternatives in the same way necessity drives innovation in businesses and entrepreneurs.
Omar Yaqub

http://premier.alberta.ca/PlansInitiatives/economic/RPCES_ShapingABFuture_Report_web2.pdf - 0 views

premier.alberta.ca/...hapingABFuture_Report_web2.pdf

alberta trends work immigrants government

shared by Omar Yaqub on 09 May 11 - No Cached
    • Omar Yaqub
      Omar Yaqub on 09 May 11
       
      work with the federal government to change the immigration system - to help address critical shortages of workers at all skill levelsIt is in the interests of all Canadians that the Alberta economy remains strong. To realize the full potential of the oil sands and broaden the economic base, the province will need people from outside the country as well as migrants from other parts of Canada. The provincial government and industry must collaborate in demonstrating to the federal government the critical need to at least double the caps on the provincial immigrant nominee program. Advocate for immediate changes that allow temporary foreign workers with solid records to apply for permanent resident status while they are still in the country. Continue to work with the federal government to institute longer-term changes to better align the national immigration program with strategies for economic growth, making it more responsive to changing economic conditions and industry's workforce needs.Determine what is getting in the way of swift assessment of foreign trades and professional credentials related to these scarce skills, and remove barriers to full recognition of qualifications that meet Alberta standards. Pre-certify credentials from selected offshore institutions, and create a mechanism that allows all immigrants to determine their credential status before moving here. Expand initiatives such as the Immigrant Access Fund to help immigrants achieve credential recognition.
  • Omar Yaqub on 09 May 11
     
    Give a new alberta water authority the mandate to innovate in water stewardship, and realize the full benefit of our precious water assets Alberta needs all its citizens to develop the mindset and skills to thrive in today's world and drive economic growth - to be resilient, lifelong learners, healthy and productive, eager to achieve and perform, globally connected and informed seeking talent around the globe Like other countries with aging populations, Alberta in 2040 will be competing to attract the brightest and the best talent to the province's workforce to fill critical gaps. As early as 2030, demographers predict that domestic workforce growth in Alberta and Canada will have stalled, although higher birth rates in our Aboriginal population could indicate potential for some domestic population growth. Encouraging seniors who wish to stay in the workforce longer to do so could mitigate (but not solve) the problem. Employers could abolish their mandatory retirement age and other policies that discriminate on the basis of age.Employers in this province are already concerned about shortages of people to fill jobs at all skill levels, well aware that energy booms create huge demands for workers in service sectors as well as in construction and labour-intensive oil sands production. The very specialized skills and knowledge essential to success in broadening the economic base are in short supply in the province now because there have not historically been good opportunities in these areas. One key requirement is more people experienced in founding and growing technologybased businesses. While productivity improvements and the application of innovative business models may slow growth in the labour supply gap or change the mix of skills required over the  next three decades, we still expect to see an increasing  need to attract immigrants to the province to fill key gaps  at all skill levels.The number of immigrants to Alberta fr
Omar Yaqub

Reports || EEDC 2007 annual report - 0 views

www.edmonton.com/...Annual_Report_2007.pdf

eedc work trends

shared by Omar Yaqub on 01 Dec 10 - No Cached
  • Omar Yaqub on 01 Dec 10
     
    Workforce Expansion and ImprovementThe shortage of skilled workers is unquestionably one of themost important challenges faced by Edmonton industry. Moreover,demographic forecasts indicate that today's acute labour shortageswill only become worse without strategic initiatives to grow ourworkforce through immigration and increased participation ratesfrom under-employed segments of society. Increased productivityand innovation within organizations are also part of the long-termsolution.EEDC's Edmonton Workforce Connection program continues tostrategically implement practical initiatives, in conjunction withindustry and other levels of government, to address regionallabour challenges. These initiatives will continue to be focused onbusiness development (primarily through improved productivityand innovation), labour retention and labour attraction.
Omar Yaqub

Reports || EEDC 2009 annual report - 0 views

www.edmonton.com/...EEDC_AR_Web2.pdf

eedc work trends

shared by Omar Yaqub on 01 Dec 10 - No Cached
  • Omar Yaqub on 01 Dec 10
     
    WorkforceEEDC's workforce development program continued forits fourth year in 2009. With industry, education andgovernment partners, EEDC addressed regional labourchallenges and helped to plan for anticipated increases in thedemand for skilled labour in 2010. The program supportedthe Edmonton Region Immigrant Employment Council, whichhelps immigrants gain experience working in Canada andprovides tools to help them find meaningful employment.Workforce development created opportunities for businessesand workers to connect through its enhanced web presenceat edmonton.com. The site informs employees aboutliving, working and educational opportunities in Edmonton.Employers were connected with programs designed toassist under-employed and unemployed segments of thelocal workforce. To address higher rates of unemployment,information was provided on how to access employmentopportunities in the Edmonton region. Productivity & Innovation Productivity improvements within the Edmonton regioncontinue to be a major focus for EEDC. Manufacturersand producers are experiencing increased internationalcompetition. With partners including the Government ofAlberta, we offer industry the opportunity to reviewbusiness processes, product improvements, evaluatenew markets, reinvent business models and explore newtechnological innovations.EEDC was actively involved in producing Reaching NewMarkets, a seminar that provided insights into new waysof growing business during challenging times. As part of aleadership development series, EEDC sponsored At the Speedof Trust by Stephen M.R. Covey at the Shaw ConferenceCentre in June. EEDC co-ordinated two best practicesmissions to Ontario in which corporate participants wereexposed to world-class manufacturers that have made greatstrides in productivity improvements.EEDC supported the heavy oil industry's National Buyer/SellerForum, which attracted 650 delegates from around the world,providing local companies the opportunity to sell into thein
Omar Yaqub

Productivity key to increased personal - and national - luxuries - thestar.com - 0 views

www.thestar.com/...personal-and-national-luxuries

productivity competitiveness

shared by Omar Yaqub on 28 Feb 11 - No Cached
  • What if, however, you were told most of your mortgage or all of your rent could be paid off instantly, or you could send your kids to a national daycare program? Still bored? Yet that’s exactly what could have happened if Canada didn’t have a productivity gap with the U.S., according to Roger Martin, dean of the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management.
  • Canada trails the U.S. in GDP per capita by $9,300. In 1981 that gap was only $2,600. If we got back to the 1981 gap, the average family would see their disposable, after-tax income go up by $8,800, according to the institute, which is the research arm for the task force chaired by Martin.
  • That would be like having almost all the mortgages and rental payments disappear. It would be like having enough money to pay for a national child-care program and still have enough left over for the biggest tax cut in history
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  • Lest you assume productivity gains are more a concern of free marketers and other pro business forces, that extra income would generate another $76 billion in tax revenue for various levels of government, according to the institute. That would be enough to pay for a national daycare program, fund the healthcare recommendations by the Romanow Commission, cover the cost of Canada’s commitments under the Kyoto Accord, and pay for a $55 billion tax cut.
  • what’s behind the gap?
  • Canada’s resource boom, a lack of innovation by Canada’s businesses, and a lack of investment in new, more efficient equipment are the three biggest causes
  • resources are hard to find. . . . By becoming more focused on resources, we’ve hurt our productivity numbers
  • tar sands are particularly bad for productivity numbers because of the sheer amount of time and effort of extracting the oil,
  • lack of innovation can also partly be blamed on the size of Canada’s resource sector,
  • Because it’s easy to make big amounts of money extracting and exporting resources; businesses haven’t had to innovate. Our abundance of natural resources is actually something of a curse,
  • In business sector spending on R&D, Canada ranks a disappointing 17th among OECD countries, and when it comes to innovation, the World Economic Forum rates us 19th, far behind the United States, Germany and Japan,” Macklem told a Calgary audience. Macklem also pointed out Canadian companies don’t spend much on new, efficient equipment. That means it takes a Canadian longer to make whatever’s being produced, whether it’s clothes, widgets or iron ore. That pushes down productivity.
  • “It will take a lot more than just freeing our private sector. … None of that works. In fact, it takes a deliberate state strategy,” argued Stanford, pointing to countries such as Finland.
  • “Economists, policy makers and corporations have been too focused on the denominator, and not enough on the numerator. … People always say ‘gee, it’s too bad that auto plant closed, even though it was really efficient and made things quickly.’ Well guess what? If the price of the car gets cut to $10,000 because it’s something nobody wants to buy, that affects productivity numbers too.”
Omar Yaqub

Outsider report card on Alberta's workforce strategy « Global Leadership Asso... - 0 views

www.global-leadership.ca/...on-albertas-workforce-strategy

work edmonton

shared by Omar Yaqub on 11 Feb 11 - No Cached
  • vision statemen
  • 1. Unleashing innovation.2. Leading in learning.3. Competing in the global marketplace.4. Making Alberta the best place to live, work and visit.
  • top strategies:• A Learning Alberta – basing Alberta’s growth on the knowledge industry• Securing Tomorrow’s Prosperity: Sustaining the Alberta Advantage – transition to a knowledge-based and value-added economy• A Place to Grow – linking rural economic development with educational attainment levels• Strengthening Relationships – Working strategically to strengthen partnerships between First Nations, Metis and Aboriginal peoples.• Supporting Immigrants, Immigration to Alberta and Integrating Skilled Immigrants into the Alberta Economy – attraction, development and retention of immigrants into Alberta• Growing our Future – integrating life-sciences strategies into innovation and some value-added sectors
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  • emphasizing a high performance workforce and a high performance work environment.
  • Investment in innovation and skills upgrading are key tofinding employment in Alberta in the coming years.• Labour supply pressures will resurface for some occupationsin the medium and long term due to Alberta’s agingpopulation.• Medium to long term labour force planning should continueto ensure Alberta has the skilled labour force it requires inthe future.
  • people who are targeted for the BETW initiative are youth, women, people with disabilities, immigrants, Aboriginal populations and minorities
  • common complaint was the expense of upgrading, re-training or accessing professional association tests for immigrants who were struggling to have their credentials recognized.
  • job loss due to the recession has been hardest on men in male dominated professions, Aboriginal youth and in agriculture, finance, insurance, real estate, leasing, manufacturing, construction and retail industries. Job increases were observed in health care, social work, information, culture and recreation,
  • the reality of the situation is more troubling and complex than recent BETW evaluations would have us believe
  • From the Advanced Education labour market report, unemployment recession effects are felt strongly by those very groups targeted for benefit from the strategy
Omar Yaqub

Why US productivity can grow without killing jobs - McKinsey Quarterly - Economic Studi... - 0 views

www.mckinseyquarterly.com/...grow_without_killing_jobs_2748

productivity us work competitiveness

shared by Omar Yaqub on 17 Mar 11 - No Cached
  • Does higher productivity destroy jobs? Sometimes, but only in the very short term
  • We are optimistic about productivity because it isn’t only about efficiency; it is no less about expanding output through innovations that improve the performance, quality, or value of goods and services. What’s more, even productivity solely from efficiency gains can, in the aggregate, lead to higher employment if the cost savings are put back to work elsewhere in the economy. Companies can pass on those savings to their customers in the form of lower prices, leaving households and businesses with more money to spend elsewhere. They can also reinvest savings from more efficient operations in new job-creating activities.
  • The largest productivity gains since 2000 came from sectors that have seen substantial employment reductions (Exhibit 2). Computers and related electronics, the rest of manufacturing, and information sectors contributed around half of overall productivity growth since the turn of the century and reduced employment by almost 4.5 million jobs. More than 85 percent of them were lost even before the recession’s onset. The sectors that added the most employment during this period tended to be those with lower productivity—notably the health sector.
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  • The sprawling US health care sector, for example, has only begun to implement the lean-management principles that have revolutionized manufacturing. Today, nurses still spend less than 40 percent of their time with patients and the rest on paperwork. Even sectors such as retailing, where US businesses have had a strong productivity record, could do more. One way would be to take lean practices from the stockroom to the storefront through simple changes such as adjusting employee shifts to suit changing levels of customer traffic.
  • Businesses can also boost productivity by thinking innovatively about goods and services they provide to their customers—and how they provide them. An office supply company, for example, could offer comprehensive, value-adding procurement services. Innovations such as radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags, currently gaining steam in retailing, could improve supply chain productivity across a wide array of industries. Retail banks and payment companies can find new ways to serve the nearly one-quarter of Americans who are unbanked or underbanked.
  • The private sector can’t solve the productivity and growth challenge alone; targeted government policy changes are also critical. The federal government, with support from business, should act on economy-wide barriers that today limit growth. Policy makers should realign incentives in public and regulated sectors to expand services and should invest more resources in improving the US skill base and infrastructure.
  • Easing restrictions that keep older Americans out of the workforce and refining immigration rules could help reduce the growth drag that aging populations naturally impose. S
Omar Yaqub

Institute releases Report on Canada 2011, Canada's innovation imperative - Institute fo... - 0 views

www.competeprosper.ca/..._canadas_innovation_imperative

competitiveness productivity

shared by Omar Yaqub on 01 Jun 11 - No Cached
  • Productivity in Canada’s cities lags city regions globally
  • The Institute reports that Canada’s GDP per capita – a measure of the value created by workers and firms in Canada from the human, physical, and natural resources in the country – trailed the US by $9,500 or 17 percent in 2010
  • Canada’s lower productivity as the key challenge in closing this prosperity gap. “Canadians are among the leaders in developed economies in work effort, hours worked per person, but we are laggards in creating economic value per hour worked
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  • recommends that governments improve their innovation policies by shifting their efforts from new-to-the-world inventions to relevant-to-the-market innovations
Omar Yaqub

THE WORKPLACE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME :: Articles :: Innovation Policy and Workplace Deve... - 0 views

www.mol.fi/...article08.html

innovation competitiveness work

shared by Omar Yaqub on 28 Mar 11 - No Cached
  • Innovation Policy and Workplace Development in Finland – A Short Look at the Current Situation and a Possible Future
Omar Yaqub

Alberta Competitiveness Initiative - Home Page - 0 views

www.finance.alberta.ca/...competitiveness

competitiveness alberta economics

shared by Omar Yaqub on 29 Nov 10 - No Cached
  • Omar Yaqub on 29 Nov 10
     
    he council will look at ways to improve Alberta's overall economic position and build on work already underway by government and industry. It will also look at the various factors that impact the province's economic growth such as regulation and fiscal policy, the availability of skilled workers, transportation and infrastructure, and productivity and innovation.
Omar Yaqub

Oilsands expansion ramps up demand for engineers - 0 views

www.edmontonjournal.com/...story.html

work immigrants alberta engineers

shared by Omar Yaqub on 09 Apr 12 - No Cached
  • The most in-demand engineering positions include civil, mechanical and electrical with expertise in areas such as pipe design, instrumentation and project management.
  • money is not the biggest factor when experienced engineers change employers
  • It is rarely money, the most recent poll found a pleasant work environment. That includes an innovative company the offers both challenges and job security, with a positive image where people are proud to work,” said Winterfield.
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  • “We have more than 450 employees who have had 30-plus year careers with us and who are still employed with us. Many of Syncrude’s senior employees are pioneers in the oilsands industry, and they have invaluable knowledge to share, and this helps attract young professionals who are starting out in their careers,” she said.
Omar Yaqub

Alberta Education - International Education - 0 views

www.education.alberta.ca/...internationaleducation.aspx

immigrants education

shared by Omar Yaqub on 10 May 12 - No Cached
  • Alberta's and Canada's ability to engage effectively with the international community and exert positive influence in world affairs requires knowledge about the culture, conditions and aspirations of citizens in other countries.
  • In 1999, the Conference Board of Canada released a study noting the positive correlation between international education and gross domestic product, innovation, international trade and foreign direct investment.
  • In 2001, the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) estimated that international students contributed $8 billion to the Canadian economy.
Omar Yaqub

Global Talent for SMEs « ALLIES Canada - 0 views

alliescanada.ca/...sme-projects

Work immigrants sme

shared by Omar Yaqub on 17 Feb 12 - No Cached
  • Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have enormous potential as employers of skilled immigrants. At the same time, they can benefit from the skills, experience and innovation that skilled immigrants can bring to their organizations. ALLIES has undertaken research to better understand the programs and policies that can engage and influence the human resource practices of SMEs. Drawing on an examination of programs, policies and organizational efforts aimed at SMEs in ten provinces and 20 cities, and more than 50 interviews with key informants, this research proposes eight practical ideas for cities, governments and service providers.
  • A tailored strategy for SMEs is needed because SMEs are concentrated in different sectors than their larger counterparts. Recent immigrants are a large part of the workforce, and, overall, they have the skills, education and experience to contribute to Canada’s economy. Current programming does not focus on assisting SMEs to hire new workers. SMEs are motivated by immediate need and financial incentive. They want to mitigate the risk of hiring decisions, particularly when hiring outside of their personal networks. Because SMEs tend not to have formalized structures in place, they can easily and quickly adopt new practices. To be effective, programs for SMEs must be simple, straightforward, and available on demand. Hiring programs for SMEs should be targeted by sector or industry, or for growing businesses. SME programs need strong communications and marketing support to be successful.
  • Hiring Programs 1. Activity-focused internship – Positions for mid-level professional skilled immigrants will focus on a core business area (e.g. E-commerce, export activities, financial management). 2. One-stop shop for recruiting and HR support services – Gives SMEs a single point of access to a wealth of government and community programs, and provides screened, qualified candidates to employers ready to hire. 3. Online database of screened candidates – Provides on-demand access to qualified candidates in a particular industry or sector. 4. Wage and orientation subsidy – Encourages SMEs to hire a skilled immigrant, and enhances their capacity to provide orientation and training to new workers.
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  • Awareness and Education 5. HR Resources Online – This website will have customizeable tools on a wide range of human resource topics, and information about good practices for hiring immigrants. 6. Financial institutions provide information/education to business clients – Financial institutions will provide information to their small business clients at the time when they are most likely to be growing their business.
  • Communciations & Marketing 7. Corporate call – In these one-on-one visits, employer consultants can assess needs, recommend programs and services, and establish relationships with SMEs. 8. Business and industry associations – These organizations have established relationships and channels of communications with their SME members.
  • SMEs in our Cities Review a statistical snapshot of a local labour market and the skilled immigrant demographic in these fact sheets (PDF): Fast Facts | Calgary
  • Key Small Business Statistics – Find statistics about small businesses in Canada from Industry Canada.
  • Globe and Mail Coverage – Project connects immigrants with small businesses & An eight-point plan to get jobs for immigrants
Omar Yaqub

VI. Lessons for Ontario (and Others) - 0 views

www.lco-cdo.org/rable-workers-baxter-sectionVI

work immigrants

shared by Omar Yaqub on 15 Mar 12 - No Cached
  • Employer-driven recruitment and nominee selection processes place serious limitations on the opportunities to address foreign workers’ employment-related insecurities through the PNPs
  • PNPs act less as a “response” to the problems of temporary status and more as a extension of existing trends
  • Manitoba have innovated significant legislative reforms and promoted third-party participation in order to correct some of these imbalances, Ontario should also consider alternative models for provincial economic immigration, with the overarching goal being to reduce employers’ reliance on TFWPs and to put decision-making power back into the public hands.
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  • In jurisdictions where PNPs are likely to remain employer-driven, provincial and federal governments should work together to ensure strong regulatory standards and to take the lead in settlement service provision
Omar Yaqub

IV. Evaluating the Nominee Programs: Institutional Design and Practice - 0 views

www.lco-cdo.org/rable-workers-baxter-sectionIV

work immigrants

shared by Omar Yaqub on 15 Mar 12 - No Cached
  • Alberta’s “semi-skilled” nominee stream for lower-skilled workers – a hodgepodge of narrow, sector-specific pathways – currently makes temporary foreign workers in the food and beverage processing, hotel and lodging, manufacturing, trucking, and foodservice sectors eligible for nomination.[
  • Employers and workers in these sectors follow a relatively complex application process.[xcii] First, employers specify the number of nominations they intend to make, and outline the job description and requirements, settlement and retention plans, and any sector-specific requirements to the provincial government. This process allocates a specific number of nominations to each employer directly, limiting the maximum number of nominations according to sector.[xciii] Once allocations are made, employers are eligible to select foreign workers who meet the basic education and worker experience requirements for nomination.
  • In Alberta, lower-skilled foreign workers must be employed with the nominating employer for a minimum period of six months before they are eligible for nomination. Other requirements for education and experience in workers’ home countries vary across sectors. After nominated workers have been approved as nominees by the province, they apply CIC for permanent residency status.
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  • process of allocating nominations to employers before they select individual nominees disadvantages workers in at least two ways. First, it further discourages workers from accessing existing employment protections such as minimum employment standards in the face of employer abuses, by giving employers sole discretion to “reward” workers with nominations. Given that these nominations represent a direct path to permanent residence status in Canada, they are obviously extremely valuable to workers. As Yessy Byl, the Alberta Federation of Labour’s Temporary Foreign Worker Advocate, points out, some employers “use this program as a further excuse to exploit workers who desperately want to immigrate.
  • Many dangle the possibility of nomination in the AINP to ensure acquiescence to unreasonable requests such as unpaid work, additional work, etc.”[xcvi] Second, by limiting the number of allocations made to each employer, this system is likely to increase competition among workers for nominations and may even discourage employers from participating in the nominee program altogether because they regard it as arbitrary and unfair.
  • MPNP requires employers to notify temporary foreign workers, within their initial six months of work, that the employer intends to nominate them through the MPNP. This requirement has the advantage of minimizing worker uncertainty about their future status while they are still ineligible for nomination under provincial requirements.
  • further reform might be for the province to remove the six-month work requirement, making foreign workers eligible for nomination as soon as they begin work in Canada. This would at least provide the opportunity to do away with the temporary “trial period”, during which workers are arguably most vulnerable. Such a reform, however, may also serve to increase employer control ever further and calls into question the overall legitimacy of a program that gives private actors such broad scope to nominate immigrants without even basic requirements to prove their bona fides. Realistically, these challenges point to the inherent inadequacy of the TFWPs as an entry point for permanent economic immigration through an employer-driven nominee program. Palliative reforms that fail to recognize underlying problems of regulatory devolution and resulting institutional mismatch are unlikely to generate the kinds of outcomes for vulnerable foreign workers that fairness and sound economic policy-making are likely to demand.
  • employer beliefs that individuals from certain countries of origin are better able to perform this or that job create racialized profiles within particular sectors and industries.
  • Left to the sole discretion of employers, the effects of nominee selection processes in this area will likely be to ossify and entrench aspects of race and gender discrimination as part of Canada’s economic immigration system.
  • Employers in Manitoba, for example, have been active both in lobbying for an expanded nominee program and in developing surrounding institutions and services. 
  • developed a network of services for foreign workers that have been widely hailed as successful innovations – at least in those workplaces and urban environments where workers are able to take advantage of them.
  • Alberta’s nominee program requires employers to provide workers with in-house language training services or to arrange for provision by a third party. Likewise, the AINP obligates employers in most streams to design an accommodation and settlement plan for nominees that “demonstrate employer support and assistance toward successful integration of the workforce, community and society integration.”[cvi] While these seemingly modest requirements may appear to be positive developments in the direction of improving workers’ security and likelihood of successful settlement, the implied trend is clearly toward the devolution of support services away from the provincial government and toward private actors, the effects of which remain largely unevaluated.
  • There are two specific criticisms directed at this aspect of regulatory devolution. One is that obliging employers to provide essential settlement services further skews barging power to the disadvantage of workers by enmeshing their personal and family lives even more closely with authoritative decision-making processes undertaken by their employers. Jenna Hennebry has pointed out that:
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