Group items tagged

There need to be changes to the permanent residency act in order to allow TFWs to gain permanent residency more easily.

Temporary Foreign Workers have outpaced permanent immigration.  There are more TFWs then new permanent immigrants arriving in Canada.

Temporary Foreign Workers have little or no advocacy available.

recommendations

Amend the Fair Trade Act and pressure the Federal Government to Tighten Legislation.

Move away from Temporary Foreign Work and toward Permanent Residency.

Human Rights Protection for Everyone

Immigration Programs must follow a human rights framework.

They're not always going to go up 100 per cent of the time. It's more key to look at that year-over-year reflection

Across Canada, employers project a hiring-intentions outlook of 13 per cent.

Western Canada is leading much of the optimism for job creation. Mining, services and transportation/public utilities were industries with the highest hiring intentions.

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.

With that in mind, even if raising the dropout age to 17 does lower the dropout rate in the 16 to 17 age group, its not much of an accomplishment if you’ve raised those statistics by simply forcing students to stay an extra year. I doubt that students will be convinced that taking that $25 an hour job on the oil sands instead of gaining a high school education may not be the best decision another year down the line because someone legislated they should

In Edmonton, high school graduation rates stood at almost 73 per cent for the 2005-06 school year, according to numbers provided to the district by the province.

While much attention has been given to the province's hot labour market, which can lure teenagers out of the classroom, Telfer said the province has also emphasized the importance of meeting students' emotional needs and re-evaluating programs to make them more relevant for students.

Crafting the accord took time. Edmonton drew from the lessons of an unsuccessful attempt in Winnipeg, ensuring its aboriginal community was driving the dialogue, not consulted after the fact. Edmonton had to show its native residents it was serious about developing a better and more inclusive relationship, Mr. Hayter said.

Statistically, it’s too early to tell whether the accord has helped improve the well-being of Edmonton’s aboriginals. Mayor Stephen Mandel knows more work remains to make the city a welcoming and prosperous home for aboriginal residents. More job opportunities and better housing are required, he said, as well as a deeper understanding of the challenges aboriginals face as result of historical abuses and systemic discrimination.

Mr. Mandel would also like to see greater funding support from Ottawa for municipalities with large aboriginal populations. “The accord was the start of it and only the start,” he said. “We have a long way to go, a heck of a long way to go.”

Investment training for economic development staff

Conducting business retention and expansion research

Identifying investment strengths and local assets

Developing a community profile to show potential investor

Developing and implementing a targeted strategy for encouraging foreign investment

Developing and implementing a targeted strategy for retaining and expanding existing foreign investments

Developing or substantially upgrading websites for foreign direct investment purposes

Implementing strategies to retain or expand the investment of foreign affiliates already located in Canada

Eligible Expenses

Research and studies: identification of target corporations, comparative competitive analyses, development of business cases, business retention and expansion studies, etc.

Economic data: collection of community and economic data for investment profiles, etc.

Strategic FDI planning: facilitators, consultant costs, community consultations, development of strategic plans.

Website development: development and/or major redesign, addition of significant architecture and functionality.

Translation: translation of documents or website content into either one of Canada’s official languages or foreign languages;

Promotional materials (print or electronic): design and layout only (printing costs and the pressing of CDs and DVDs are not eligible).

Advertising: design and layout.

Investment Training including EDAC annual conference: courses as part of the community’s investment attraction and retention strategy for employees of the Community.

Consultants/contractors.

Ineligible ExpensesResearch activities not associated with investment attraction, retention and expansion. Collection or purchase of statistical data not associated with investment attraction, retention or expansion activities. Development of training courses/modules. Consultants hired to facilitate a training session. Costs associated with hiring consultants to develop ICCI applications. Regular website maintenance and updating web content, site hosting, software licensing, Corporate logo design, costs of printing, pressing CDs, or DVDs, and recording videocassettes. All give-aways: gifts, events/shows/concerts tickets, logo items, cups, mugs, pens, etc. Design and layout of non-investment ads (promoting tourism, for example), cost of ad placement in any media.

Travel costs incurred by applicants, partners or consultants not related to training; travel costs incurred by potential investors. Taxes: GST, PST, HST, VAT or taxes applied by foreign governments. Hospitality: Cost of meals or alcohol; lodging; clothing and uniforms; and all give-aways. Trade show/conference participation:  registration fees at international trade shows or conferences  (in Canada and abroad), booth design / purchase / assembly and shipping, design of promotional material specifically for a trade show, overhead costs such as pre-show mailing, stationery and long distance phone calls, research to target companies at a trade show, consultant costs for organizing outgoing missions (including training participants); consultant costs to develop target business cases for follow up with potential investors after show; cost of developing an advertisement (design and layout) for show specific publications. Activities or projects  related to attracting infrastructure for tourism and motion picture industries, e.g: to develop ski resorts, theme parks and film production facilities.

Capital costs: infrastructure development, capital expenditures to acquire or enhance assets, software licenses, electronics (computers, fax, machines, digital cameras, etc.), demonstration aids. Capital costs include the direct costs of acquisition, construction, expansion, modification, conversion, transportation, installation and insurance (during construction) of fixed assets, as well as the cost of licensing and franchising fees. Overhead costs: Postage, including postage for direct mail campaigns; phone; office space rental; photocopying. Salaries and benefits of personnel. Miscellaneous: activities to attract investment from inside Canada; costs incurred before the application’s approval date; activities for which one or more partners expect to receive compensation in the form of a commission, finder’s fee, or other form of remuneration; promotion activities related to properties or business investment in which one or more partners receive a personal or corporation financial gain.

Manitoba lost 1,000 to other provinces, while Saskatchewan lost 600 people. It was the booming Prairie province’s first quarterly net outflow of people to other provinces since the third quarter of 2006.

there’s a danger in allowing employers, alone, to define Canada’s immigration policy: Employers are increasingly looking for average workers, not skilled labour.

Many of the Baby Boomer generation are retiring which will create a “massive exodus” of workers. That will create a void in not only numbers but experience in the workforce. The natural population growth is not replacing that exodus. And the retirees will force increased demand for various services from coffee to medical care.

Statistics Canada reported that the province’s unemployment rate dipped to 5.4 per cent for the month, down from 5.9 per cent in April. This rate was the third lowest in the country behind Saskatchewan’s 5.0 per cent and Manitoba’s 5.3 per cent. It was also down from 6.7 per cent in May 2010.

short-term employment forecast tool to identify potential imbalances in the labour market in the near future. Sixteen occupations were listed as having a significant likelihood of shortages in the next three years.

They include retail trade managers; restaurant and food service managers; mechanical engineers; petroleum engineers; computer programmers and interactive media developers; web designers and developers; general practitioners and family physicians; registered nurses; retail trade supervisors; food service supervisors; technical sales specialists, wholesale trade; hairstylists and barbers; estheticians, electrologists and related occupations; construction millwrights and individual mechanics (except textile); heavy-duty equipment mechanics; and motor vehicle body repairers.

In Alberta, full-time employment increased by 18,200 while part-time employment decreased by 9,600 from April to May 2011.

The following industries had the most employment increases in May from the previous month in the province: Construction, 8,600; Health Care and Social Assistance, 6,300; and Information, Culture and Recreation, 5,300.

Knightsbridge Human Capital Solutions has established an executive search Calgary-based practice in Alberta to help clients respond to the emerging talent crisis which some reports say will result in a labour shortfall of 77,000 workers over the next 10 years

“From a human capital perspective, this is a critical time for Alberta,” said Mark Hopkins, managing partner. “We believe that companies must effectively manage the leadership gap being created as an aging workforce retires in ever-increasing numbers. At the same time, we are seeing rapidly increasing activity levels, increased technical and commercial demands, and a significant shortage of specialist technical skills.”