Changes Announced for the Temporary Foreign Worker Program

New rules to strengthen Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program came into effect on April 1, 2011. Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) and Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) will be making significant changes to the current procedures impacting both foreign workers and Canadian employers.

As a general rule, the Temporary Foreign Worker Program allows employers to hire foreign workers when sufficient numbers of Canadian workers are not readily available. A Canadian employer who wants to hire a foreign worker may be required to apply to HRSDC for a Labour Market Opinion (LMO). An LMO is a document that HRSDC issues to employers confirming that hiring a foreign worker for a particular job will have a positive or neutral impact on Canadian workers. Employers must usually prove that they made reasonable efforts to hire a Canadian citizen or Permanent Resident before they offer the job to the foreign worker. In addition, Canadian employers must offer wages and working conditions to foreign workers that are consistent with standards for Canadian workers in their region.

With a genuine job offer and a positive LMO, the temporary foreign worker can apply for a work permit. It is important to note that some work permits do not require an LMO, such as Intra-Company work permits and work permits obtained under international agreements (eg. NAFTA).

To ensure that temporary foreign workers are protected while they are in Canada, CIC and HRSDC will be making the following changes to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, which will affect those applying for LMO-based work permits and LMO-exempt work permits:

Genuineness of the Job Offer

To protect foreign workers and prospective immigrants from fraudulent job offers, CIC and HRSDC will be establishing additional criteria for determining whether a job offer is genuine, including job offers extended to Live-In Caregivers. They will be assessing:

• The terms of the job offer (including the wages offered) and if the employer can reasonably fulfill those terms;
• If the job offer is consistent with the employer’s labour needs;
• If the employer previously complied with provincial and federal laws regulating employment or recruiting of workers.

Ban for Non-Compliant Employers

If a Canadian employer is found to be in violation of the regulations, the employer will be banned from hiring any foreign workers for two years. Employers can also receive the two year ban if they fail to fulfill the conditions given in the LMO and in the job offer. These non-compliant employers will have their name and address published on a list available to the public.

According to Immigration Attorney David Cohen, “Employers will want to get this right as the government has indicated that the consequences of non-compliance will be severe. Misinterpreting the new regulations may result in the employer being banned from hiring foreign workers for two years which can negatively impact a company’s brand and ability to meet staffing needs. The risks inherent in these consequences underscore the need for companies to secure professional legal representation to make sure that they comply with the new regulations.”

Maximum of Four Years for Canadian Work Permits

CIC will be limiting the number of years a foreign worker is permitted to hold a Canadian temporary work permit. A foreign worker will only be permitted to work in Canada for a total of four years. Once the four years has ended, the foreign worker will be required to wait at least four years before reapplying for a work permit. Certain workers will be exempt from this new rule:

• Foreign workers who are working in Canada on a study permit;
• Foreign workers who are working under an international agreement with Canada (eg. NAFTA, GATS, etc.); and
• Foreign workers who are working in a Canadian job that creates or maintains significant cultural, economic, or social benefits for Canadian citizens or permanent residents.

Foreign workers also have the option of applying for Canadian Permanent Residency before or after their four years of Canadian employment have ended.

Source:Canada Immigration Newsletter.

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Peter Schiff puts his money on Canadian resource sector

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Iconoclastic U.S. investor, author and commentator Peter Schiff has long been fairly bullish on Canada, its resources and its prospects. The chief executive officer of Euro Pacific Capital Inc. of Westport, Conn., came to Toronto this week to publicize the launch of his first Canadian venture, Euro Pacific Canada, in which he holds a 20-per-cent stake, and to expound on his philosophy, which underpins the firm’s investment choices.

Q. What makes Canada so attractive to you?

A. I’m already investing in Canada. I personally have more money invested in Canada than I do in the U.S. Part of that is my interest in owning resources. There are a lot of resource names up here. Pretty much all the stocks I own in Canada are resource stocks.

Q. Precious metals?

A. Energy as well, and agriculture.

Q. Your outlook on the U.S. economy is rather dark. What about the Canadian economy?

A. I’m not nearly as pessimistic about Canada. … I like Canada for the resources. [Canadians] are certainly going to be impacted by the problems in the U.S., maybe more so than other countries. So that’s a negative. A lot of it depends on how Canada reacts.

Q. In fact, you argue that Canada needs higher interest rates right now.

A. Canada’s interest rates are still much too low. But they [authorities] feel that they can’t raise them, because they don’t want to see their currency rise too rapidly against the dollar. That’s a mistake. The longer they follow our lead, the more problems they’ll create for their own economy. We’re going to take a lot of countries down that have tethered their currency to the [U.S.] dollar.

Q. But we fear that a stronger loonie will cripple our already weakened manufacturers. Why is that not a legitimate concern?

A. Ultimately, they won’t get creamed, because if the Canadian dollar is strong, then that means capital costs for Canadian businesses will be lower. There will be confidence in the future purchasing power of the Canadian dollar. Higher interest rates will mean more Canadians are saving, which will bring down the cost of capital for businesses to invest in labour-saving devices to make them more competitive. Also, when your currency goes up, the cost of raw materials goes down. … In general, manufacturers are helped by a strong currency.

The policies that produce a strong currency are sound. The policies that produce a weak currency are bad. If you’re running up big deficits on social spending and cranking out money, that’s destroying your economy.

Q. How does this figure into your bond strategy?

A. As an investor, the most important thing for me is the strength of the currency where my yields are coming from. We have Canadian bonds in my bond fund. If I’m a bond investor, it’s the only thing that matters really. I’m not worried about Canada defaulting. But I would be worried about Canada inflating. When you’re a bond investor, you want purchasing power. … I have to make sure the currency that I own [for clients] is going to deliver that purchasing power in the future. So the currency value is paramount.

Q. Obviously, you’re no fan of the U.S. currency.

A. The dollar is losing value. Right now it’s losing value more slowly than the euro. If two people jump off of a building, and one is falling at 40 miles an hour and the other is falling at 30, the one that’s falling at 30 isn’t flying. He’s still going to hit the pavement.

Q. Yet money is still pouring into U.S. Treasuries.

A. Not my money. You’re seeing the Federal Reserve buy Treasuries. But none of my clients are buying. I can’t imagine the person dumb enough. I want to find that person.

Q. I guess you’re not rushing into European sovereign debt either.

A. The maturity on my bond fund … is two-point-something years. I don’t want long-term bonds, because the rates are too low. But a lot of people are being suckered into making that tradeoff, because you can’t get any yield on the short-term bonds. So some people are buying 10- and 20-year bonds, because they need the income. They don’t realize how much risk they’re taking. As an investment adviser, I’d rather tell my client: “Look, if you really want bonds, then just buy the short-term bonds and spend some of your principal now. Because you’ll lose a lot less of it that way.”

Q. What’s your own recommendation?

A. I still try to get my clients to go away from the fixed income [sector]. If you need income, buy stocks. There are stocks that are paying 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 per cent. So you can get all the income you need.

Related articles

• Peter Schiff: Government Counterfeiting and Economic Terrorism (valorfreedom.wordpress.com)
• PETER SCHIFF: If People Think Prices Are High Now Just Wait, They Will Soon Be In The Stratosphere (businessinsider.com)
• Rising loonie great for travellers, hard for businesses (ctv.ca)
• Canada's Economy is Booming -- Here Are The Northern Equities You Should Invest In (businessinsider.com)
• CANADA FX DEBT-C$ eases after hitting 3-year high (reuters.com)

Canadian dollar reaches three-year high

The Canadian dollar was at a fresh three-and-a-half-year high above 104 cents US Wednesday amid record high gold prices while oil approached the US$109 mark.

Topics : 

Canadian FIC Strategy , RBC Dominion Securities , Nymex , U.S. , Cushing, Oklahoma ,Libya

The currency was off early lows, but still up 0.5 of a cent to 104.25 cents US. It earlier surged as high as 104.5 cents US, its highest level since November, 2007.

"To be fair, a large part of it is U.S. dollar-driven," said Mark Chandler, head of Canadian FIC Strategy at RBC Dominion Securities, who noted that most of the major currencies were up significantly against the U.S. greenback.

Investors looking for a safe haven sent the June bullion contract on the Nymex up $6.60 from Tuesday's record close to US$1,459.10 an ounce after going as high as US$1,462.10 earlier in the morning.

The May crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange gained 41 cents to a two-and-a-half-year high of US$108.75 a barrel despite a report from the American Petroleum Institute showing that crude inventories fell a greater than expected 2.8 million barrels last week. Analysts had forecast an increase of 1.3 million barrels.

However, inventories of gasoline rose unexpectedly by 568,000 barrels and crude supplies at the key U.S. storage facility in Cushing, Oklahoma rose 120,000 barrels, the API said.

Crude prices are still up more than 27 per cent from mid-February because of fears the fighting in Libya could spread and interrupt supplies from the big producers in the Persian Gulf, such as Saudi Arabia. Higher demand resulting from an improving global economy has also pushed prices higher.

Copper prices also advanced with the May contract in New York ahead 11 cents to US$4.37 a pound.

The U.S. dollar also weakened against the euro a day before the European Central Bank is expected to make its first rate hike in nearly three years to deal with inflation. A quarter percentage point increase in the main rate to 1.25 per cent is fully priced in by the markets so investors will be more interested in what the central bank's president Jean-Claude Trichet says in his press conference.

Traders are also looking ahead to a solid Canadian employment report at the end of the week. Statistics Canada is expected to report Friday that the economy added about 30,000 jobs in March and that data could further strengthen the currency.

"The story for (the Canadian dollar) is quite supportive," said Chandler.

"The reason Canada does well in the risk appetite movement is it's a small, open economy, very leveraged on trade. We've been having good news generally in growth."

Related articles

• Canadian dollar little changed as oil prices rise (ctv.ca)
• Canadian dollar hits 3-year high (globaltvbc.com)
• Loonie hits three-year high amid record bullion prices (ctv.ca)

Canada's Ukrainian heartland

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A Drive from Winnipeg to Saskatoon,with visits to magnificent old churches peppered along the back roads, allows visitors to appreciate the triumphs and hardships of eastern European immigrants on the Prairies

BY BRYAN DEMCHINSKY, THE GAZETTE APRIL 9, 2011

Because we live in such a big country and mostly in cities, a lot of Canada is as unfamiliar to us as somewhere on the other side of the world. But if you look closely into out-of-the-way corners, there's so much to see.

Manitoba and Saskatchewan are two big, flat empties as far as many easterners are concerned. But not so. Follow this route between Winnipeg and Saskatoon, and little-known pieces of our culture and history come into view at every turn.

It might be called the Ukrainian heritage trail. It cuts through the central part of a much broader area, extending from southern Manitoba to northwestern Alberta, that became home to tens of thousands of Ukrainian and other eastern European immigrants at the turn of the 20th century.

Now, after a little more than 100 years of solitude, the borscht belt, as it is affectionately known by the locals, is fading away. That's yet another reason to see it while you can.

The journey begins by driving westward from Winnipeg on the Trans-Canada Highway. You are crossing the bed of ancient Lake Agassi, a stretch of real estate that has given the Prairies its reputation for being flat. Here, it's intensely flat.

The landscape begins to change after you turn north, 10 kilometres west of Portage la Prairie, onto Highway 16, called the Yellowhead route. You might stop at Gladstone long enough to say hello to the Happy Rock, the village mascot, a boulder decked out in a top hat. It's not as famous as Vegreville's Easter egg, but for delightful silliness it deserves to be. It's also an indication that people in this part of the world don't take themselves too seriously.

Onward to Neepawa, a pleasant little town built on the side of a hill. It's worth a pit stop if for no other reason than to see the Margaret Laurence Home. Neepawa, doubling as the fictional Manawaka, was the author's hometown and setting for five of her novels.

At Minnedosa, turn north on Highway 10, which takes the traveller through Riding Mountain National Park. "Mountain" is a relative designation or another example of Prairie humour; the park makes the Laurentians look like the Andes.

Still, this densely forested upland is a good place to spend a day or two hiking, swimming and checking out the herd of wood buffalo. If a tent is roughing it more than you like, you can reserve a furnished yurt at the park's main settlement, in Wasagaming - a big step up from sleeping on the ground.

The park is a gateway to the Ukrainian heritage area. To the west, along Highway 45, villages feature fine examples of homegrown church architecture. Tiny Sandy Lake, for example, has two magnificent churches, one Orthodox, the other Ukrainian Catholic.

In Quebec, typically one large Catholic church spire will dominate a community's profile. In this part of the Prairies in almost every village, there are two sets of cupolas, recalling an intense rivalry for adherents between the Orthodox and Ukrainian Catholic churches that began in the 1920s.

The surrounding back roads are also peppered with churches large and small, a reminder of the time before automobiles when the places of worship had to be within bellringing and walking distance of their congregations.

Now, many have disappeared. When their congregations are entirely gone, the churches are closed. Some have been burned or razed by the church, a tradition among the Orthodox Ukrainians. Others were destroyed in acts of vandalism, while still others crumbled into ruin.

Yet the memories of the families who built them and their hardships persist. Proof is found near Patterson Lake, at the end of Highway 577, a lonely country road that runs north from Oakburn. A monument and small park recall the deaths of dozens of children buried there in a mass grave. In 1899, a group of Ukrainian immigrants, having trekked to the spot in ox carts and on foot, were forced to camp in the open while their homesteads were allocated. Struck by scarlet fever, their children died en masse. There was no church and no time for a proper burial. Today the names of the children and their families are poignantly recorded on a marker erected by the descendants of their parents.

On the other side of Riding Mountain is Dauphin, home of the annual Ukrainian Festival, this year taking place July 29 to 31. The event attracts thousands of people from across the country who come for the perogies, singing, dancing and storytelling. If you want to be a part of it, look for a room early or plan to stay in the nearby national park.

Passing through Dauphin, it's worth making a side trip to Trembowla, a lovely spot for a picnic. Here a Ukrainian settlement has been recreated with original buildings - including an 1896 church - gathered from nearby. Along a remote country road, Trembowla feels far away, but is easy to find. It's about 20 kilometres northwest of Dauphin, and signs along Highway 362 and Highway 20 will direct you there.

Westward from Dauphin, Highway 5 passes through scenic parts of Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Around appropriately named Grandview, the land slopes to a faraway horizon. A bit farther on, as you enter Saskatchewan, it dips steeply into a valley as it crosses the Lake of Prairies, a part of the Assiniboine River that has been dammed to create a recreation area.

Manitoba Highway 5 ends at the border, but a Saskatchewan No. 5 resumes a few kilometres north at Togo. It's worth going this way, as the winding road follows the Assiniboine Valley. It belies the idea that the province is flat and featureless.

The road also takes you near Duck Mountain Provincial Park and Madge Lake, another good place to spend the night. The park has condo and hotel accommodation next to the beach.

Another bit of history is on view at the village of Verigin a few kilometres west. It's named for Peter Verigin who led the Doukhobor sect out of Russia at the end of the 19th century with the help of Leo Tolstoy. The author of War and Peace championed the Doukhobors' pacifist and communal lifestyle. Verigin built a mansion in the village. It is now a museum.

This part of Saskatchewan is known as the parkland, and it's easy to see why. With its boundless fields and copses, sloughs and meadows, the land indeed sometimes seems like one vast park.

Highway 5 continues through a series of towns and villages as it rushes on to Saskatoon. By now you will have noticed the unusual names of some of these places: Togo, Mikado, Kuroki. All derive from names in the news during the Russo-Japanese war of 1905-06. Townsites were being created so rapidly at the time that surveyors turned to newspaper headlines for inspiration, favouring Japanese admirals and generals because Japan was an ally of Britain. There's also a Kandahar a few kilometres off the highway, near Big Quill Lake, recalling Britain's involvement in Afghanistan.

Where Highway 5 makes a T with Highway 2, it's worth diverting north to visit the Batoche National Historic Site. The countryside nearby, dotted with villages and Ukrainian churches, has a bucolic aspect now, but in 1885, Batoche was the scene of Louis Riel's last stand during the Northwest Rebellion. Bullet holes from the battle can still be seen in the church where the Métis rebels held out against 800 government troops.

From Batoche, Saskatoon is less than an hour away. This pleasant university town on the banks of the Saskatchewan River is a worthy place to rest up after the long drive.

- IF YOU GO

Both Air Canada and WestJet have direct flights from Montreal to Winnipeg. Beginning in July, the cheapest one-way flight to the Manitoba capital from Montreal, before taxes and fees, is $229 on Air Canada and $209 on WestJet.

If you fly out of Saskatoon, a oneway flight to Montreal, before taxes and fees, is $229 on WestJet and $269 on Air Canada. Flying into or out of Saskatoon requires stopovers in either Toronto or Calgary.

Riding Mountain: www.pc.gc.ca/ pn-np/mb/riding/visit.aspx

Dauphin Ukrainian Festival: www.cnuf.ca/

Duck Mountain Provincial Park: www.tpcs.gov.sk.ca/DuckMountain

Batoche National Historic Site: www.pc.gc.ca/lhn-nhs/sk/batoche/ index.aspx

Manitoba Tourism: www.travelmanitoba.com/

Saskatchewan Tourism: www.sasktourism.com/

© Copyright (c) The Montreal Gazette

Hunt is on to fill positions in oil and gas industry

Image via WikipediaThe beginnings of a recovery in Alberta's oil and gas industry are combining with other powerful forces to create shortages in a range of job skills.
From engineers to derrick hands, the industry is looking for talent for work in Canada and overseas.
And demand is likely to grow substantially in the months and years ahead, says the latest study by the Petroleum Human Resources Council of Canada.
"Over 30 per cent of the industry's core workforce -including engineers, geoscience professionals, trades and (equipment) operators -are expected to retire within the next decade," says the 2010 third-and fourthquarter labour market study by the PHRC.
Cheryl Knight, executive director of the PHRC says the industry will need 105,000 new recruits in this decade; some 30,000 to fill newly created positions, and 75,000 to cover retirements and other attrition.
As retirements loom, experts say, immediate job growth is being driven by:
 Firming oil prices ($85 to $95/bbl), responding to steady demand from emerging economies, such as China and India;
 Horizontal drilling and other technologies that are opening up major new reserves within the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin;
 Alberta's recently revised royalty formula and increased pace of land leasing; and,
 Reactivation of several major oilsands projects.
The PHRC survey shows immediate skills requirements across the oil patch include:
 Experienced engineers in the fields of exploitation, completions, production and mining;
 Plant operators, steam engineers and power engineers;
 Maintenance trades;
 Production accountants;
 Field operators;
 Rig crews; and,
 Environmental and regulatory specialists.
Intensified work in unconventional gas and oil and in situ oil recovery are also creating demands for:
 Software developers;
 Surface and subsurface engineers;
 Steam engineers;
 Geologists and engineers with shale reservoir and well stimulation experience;
 Measurement-while-drilling specialists;
 Formation fracturing specialists;
 Completions specialists;
 Class 1 drivers;
 Water and environmental management technicians; and,
 Logistics specialists. "Our industry's challenge, coming out of a downturn is making people aware that we're hiring," says Knight.
The industry needs people across three broad sectors. Exploration and production companies need engineers, geoscientists and business professionals; drilling and service companies need specialists willing to travel to remote drilling locations; and construction contractors need trades people to build major projects, particularly in the oil sands.
Knight concedes the volatility of oil and gas prices poses a constant staffing challenge to the industry, especially to the drilling and services sector.
"It's a fact that we're in a commodity-based industry, and that drives jobs."
But she says that during the latest downturn -when oil prices plunged from highs above $130 per barrel in June 2008 to $36 by December of that year -many companies made greater efforts to keep their talent. Drilling and service companies, in particular, sent some of their key people to subsidiaries in the United States in order to keep them on the payroll.
"It keeps people working, but you can't necessarily get them back when you need them," she says. So now the hunt is on for people to fill positions on rigs in Canada.
Nancy Malone, of the Canadian Association of Oilwell Drilling Contractors, says last year was a fairly solid recovery year for the sector, and this year is on a similar pace.
After the downturn, Malone says" re-attracting those (experienced) people is proving to be difficult. Currently, we are very, very short-staffed."
She says some of those experienced people have gone to international drilling companies, while others have been hired by Calgary companies with international operations.
Knight says advancing technologies and the constant push for improved safety performance mean there's a rising demand for drilling and service sector people with Canadian experience.
But she says there's also a greater willingness in all three sectors to recruit people with industry experience from around the world.
She adds there's a growing conviction that, while lack of English can be a safety hazard, an accent should not be a bar to employment.
So great was the need for thousands of tradespeople to work on oilsands projects between 2000 and 2007 that contractors imported construction workers from wherever they could be found. They brought in some 15,000 people under the federal Temporary Foreign Workers Program, and operated fly-in, fly-out programs for tradespeople from the Maritimes.
This time, Knight says, things may be different.
"Alberta is at risk with our heavy reliance on Maritime workers" because of the impending construction starts on the $6.2-billion Lower Churchill (Muskrat Falls) Power Project and the $5-billion Hebron offshore oil platform, both in Newfoundland. Nearly simultaneous starts on those projects could leave very few Maritime tradespeople looking to commute to Alberta, she says.
But the industry, and particularly the oilsands players, are working on various ways to manage their people requirements, she says. For some years, oilsands operators have tried to stagger construction starts to enable the flow of construction trades from one project to the next.
And Knight says operators in the oilsands have been very creative in finding ways to bring more women and Aboriginals into their permanent workforces.
In addition, she says, the Alberta government is working with the federal government on ways to enable temporary foreign workers to obtain landed immigrant status, rather than having to return home at the end of a contract.
"If you're looking at chronic labour shortages in the future, and we are, why wouldn't you do this?" asks Knight.
Meanwhile, Canadian companies aren't the only ones looking for Canadian oil workers, Knight says. Several foreign companies have advertised in Calgary newspapers for various skills in recent weeks, including Qatargas and mighty Saudi Aramco, the work's largest oil producer.
"The skill and training of Canadian workers is highly regarded," she says, and several foreign companies recruit on a more or less constant basis in Calgary. Aramco held a job fair in Calgary for three days in early February to interview people who had applied for a wide variety of jobs.
Knight says while foreign companies are a constant presence in the Canadian job market, they don't appear to be hiring large numbers of people. She says PHRC has no numbers on Canadians working abroad, but adds that many Canadian companies also send workers to their operations in various parts of the world, from South America to Africa and the North Sea.
Calgary-based oil companies with big foreign operations include Nexen Inc., Talisman Energy and Vermilion Energy.
Many of the Canadian subsidiaries of multinational oil companies also send expats abroad.
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

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No way around labour shortage

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Oilpatch companies already struggling to meet their labour needs have received an ominous warning from the Petroleum Human Resources Council of Canada: they ain’t seen nothing yet.

The council is projecting that the domestic petroleum industry could require as many as 130,000 additional workers by 2020, including 102,000 in Alberta. Even under its most pessimistic of forecasts — with low oil and gas prices and very little capital investment — the council anticipates that another 39,000 workers will be needed, with 33,000 of these Alberta-based.
These conclusions are contained in a Petroleum Human Resources Council of Canada report entitled The Decade Ahead: Labour Market Projections and Analysis for Canada’s Oil and Gas Industry to 2020.
“There’s no way around it, Canada’s petroleum industry will struggle to find the workers it needs over the next 10 years,” said Cheryl Knight, the council’s executive director and CEO, in a release.
“Not only will we need to replace thousands of our most skilled and experienced workers, but (we’ll need to) prepare for future growth as well.”
Workers leaving the industry will account for much of the job growth, said the report, with age-related attrition expected to open up 45,800 to 54,000 positions.
Bruce Thiessen, CEO of High Arctic Energy Services Inc., told the Advocate last month that manpower was his Red Deer-based company’s biggest challenge.
“We’ve got equipment sitting at the fence right now that I could have utilized throughout this year, but just couldn’t get to because of the people situation.”
And earlier this year, Essential Energy Services Ltd. CEO Garnet Amundson said labour constraints were holding his company to an equipment utilization rate of about 65 per cent.
“Our industry, with the types of services we provide, should be able to operate up to about an 85 per cent utilization. So there’s about a 20 per cent utilization gap that we would like to fill, but can’t find enough good people.”
Charles Strachey, regional communications manager for Alberta Employment and Immigration, said energy companies are becoming more aggressive in their hunt for workers. One third of the employers booked for an April 6 job fair at his department’s Red Deer office are from that sector.
The Petroleum Human Resources Council of Canada report said that approximately 171,000 people worked in the petroleum sector in 2009. Services accounted for more than 80,000 of these, with exploration and production employing 66,000, and the oilsands another 12,000. Workers in the pipeline and offshore sectors made up the balance.
The council’s report anticipates that available jobs in the services sector will increase by between 18,100 and 72,000 by 2020, with exploration and production needs jumping between 7,400 and 36,700, and oilsands positions between 9,000 and 14,900.
The need will be greatest in Alberta, said the report, which ironically could deter prospective workers from moving here.
“History has shown that significant growth in industry activity and resulting labour demand drives up inflation and the cost of living, which in turn can be a deterrent to attracting workers.”
Workers of all types will be needed, said the report, but some vocations will be in greater demand than others. These include oil and gas drilling and services field workers and supervisors; heavy-duty equipment mechanics, industrial electricians, instrumentation technicians and millwrights and machinists; engineers; steam-ticketed operators; geologists and geophysicists; production accountants; drilling co-ordinators and production managers; and landmen and purchasing agents.
The report recommends a number of measures be minimize the impact of the labour crunch. These include the industry communicating its labour needs to government and post-secondary and training institutions; sourcing workers from diverse labour pools; increasing the emphasis on employee retention and training; seeking innovation and technological advancement; and collaborating within the industry.
“Labour supply to ensure sustainable expansion of Canada’s petroleum industry will take diversification, development and collaboration.”
hrichards@reddeeradvocate.com

 

 

Related articles

• Severe labour shortages expected for oilpatch (calgaryherald.com)
• Alberta labour costs set to rise (calgaryherald.com)
• Sunny outlook for Alberta economic growth (calgaryherald.com)
• Labour shortages loom for apparel industry (financialpost.com)
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• Canada faces 'alarming' IT labour gap (business.financialpost.com)

Twelve tips and observations for employers whose employees travel to Canada on business

• McCarthy Tétrault LLP
• Naseem Malik
• Canada
• April 1 2011
• 

Author page »

Employers will be interested in these 12 key observations and tips for when employees travel to Canada on business. Indeed, for employers who require employees to engage in international business travel to Canada, the border is an important venue for making applications for entry on a temporary basis in situations where a work permit is required, and for consideration under a work permit exempt category. Understanding the dynamics of border or port-of-entry processing is therefore critical.    

Tip #1 – Preparing Employees for Travel

Help your foreign national employees or service providers understand the Canadian immigration system prior to travel to Canada.

For example: The first government officials you will encounter when you arrive in Canada are Canada customs officers. Their job is to decide who goes into "Immigration Secondary" for further questioning/processing.

Tip #2 - Work Permit Determination

It is important to make a decision in advance of travel to Canada about whether your employees require a work permit or not.

Whether you are consulting with in-house or external legal counsel, or seeking advice from human resource professionals inside or outside of your company, get a definitive opinion on what possible immigration documents your foreign national employees may require that will allow them to lawfully carry out their activities in Canada.

If a work permit is required, your foreign national employees may be able to pick it up at the border when they arrive in Canada, or they may be required to file that application through a Canadian consulate or embassy abroad.

Tip #3 - Criminality Issues

Advise your employees that any past criminal charges or convictions may result in issues with their admittance to Canada.

In some cases, previous criminality can be overcome and admittance can be achieved through special temporary immigration pardons called Temporary Resident Permits.

Addressing these issues in advance by filing the appropriate paperwork for a Temporary Resident Permit gives the application a much better chance of success than simply relying on the discretion of an immigration officer to allow entry based on the person’s verbal account.

Tip #4 - Temporary Resident Visas

Nationals of certain prescribed countries require special entry visas called Temporary Resident Visas for even a two-hour meeting in Canada, even if they have lawful temporary status in the United States.

These visas can only be applied for at a Canadian Embassy or Consulate outside Canada and can take days/weeks to obtain.

If your employee shows up at the border and does not have the requisite Temporary Resident Visa, he or she will be denied entry to Canada even if he or she did qualify for a work permit or entry under a specific work permit exempt category.

Tip #5 - Medicals

In some cases, an immigration medical is required in advance of travel to Canada — typically if a person has been residing in a designated country such as China or Russia.

Immigration medicals are required if the person has spent six consecutive months living in one of those countries, and intends to spend six months or more in Canada.

If a person needs an immigration medical prior to entry to Canada, they are required to do all of their immigration processing through a Canadian Embassy or Consulate as opposed to the border/port. This can delay entry for weeks or months.

Tip #6 – Supporting Documentation

It is a very good idea to equip your employees (even for short stays) with some type of supporting documentation, such as a support letter that clearly explains the nature and purpose for the visit to Canada and asks for admission based on a specific work permit exempt or work permit category.

Coach your employees to read their support letters carefully in advance so that they can provide consistent answers to questions posed by Customs and Immigration Officials.

Tip #7 – Additional Supporting Materials

Certain work permit categories require additional documentation such as proof of existing business relationships with a company in Canada or a certain level of educational achievement/work experience.

If your employee is making an application in one of those categories, make sure he or she is travelling with all necessary paperwork. Failing to do so may result in the denial of the application.

Tip #8 – Canada Customs

Coach your employees to be clear and specific at the Canada Customs booth when they first arrive so that they stand the best chance of getting a correct referral into Immigration Secondary if a work permit is required, or, if they do not require a work permit, of getting referred directly into the country without a secondary examination.

For example: When asked by Customs, "What is the purpose of your trip?" The employee should truthfully state, "I am going to internal meetings with our Canadian subsidiary for two days." This gives the person a much better chance of avoiding the Immigration Secondary area than saying, "I am here for business."

It is a good idea to have, and read, the supporting documentation well in advance and to encourage employees to ask about the application and the process at port of entry. This will alleviate possible apprehension about the event, and will allow for a more credible presentation. It also places employees in a better position to advocate on their own behalf if they get an officer who doubts the validity of some or all of the submissions in the support letter after assessing the verbal responses of the applicant to see if there are any inconsistencies between what the employee states are his or her reasons for coming to Canada and what the letter purports. Understanding the process itself allows employees to avoid making mistakes like trying to apply for the permit at the primary inspection line (PIL), or being content to be erroneously admitted into the country at PIL, which eliminates their immediate ability to apply for a work permit without re-presenting themselves at the port of entry. This is particularly problematic if they are arriving via aircraft, and/or are far away from a land border.

Tip #9 – Having a Backup Plan

If a person is determined by Canada Immigration to require a work permit, and has unsuccessfully tried to argue for admission in a work permit exempt category, they might be denied entry to Canada.

It is always sensible to canvass off multiple options with your legal advisor in advance.

For example: Based on the facts, you think that the person should be able to come into Canada as a business visitor, which is a work permit exempt category, but the officer processing the case disagrees. If there is a specific work permit category that the person also fits into, the officer may entertain that and allow entry.

Tip #10 – Misrepresentation

Making any type of misrepresentation at the border, however innocent, can result in denial of entry into Canada, and in some cases, a two-year ban from the country.

There is a misconception among some that not being truthful at the border is not a big deal, but actually, this is equivalent in severity to presenting false evidence before a federal government enforcement officer and lying to a police officer.

No matter how inconvenient, always advise employees to respond to questions posed by customs and immigration officials in a completely honest manner.

Tip #11 – Port of Entry

Use the appropriate port of entry and understand the particulars of each office culture just like Visa Posts.

While this skill is primarily honed by trial and error, it is always a good idea to assess where the best places are to have your employees make their application for entry. Certain ports of entry have a more facilitative culture, or have more experience with business travellers so are more adept at processing those types of cases.

Tip #12 – Entry Refusal

Do not "venue shop" after a negative decision.

If your employee is refused entry at a particular port of entry, a good rule of thumb is not to try the same application again at another location. There are exceptions to this general rule, but usually a negative decision will be entered into the Immigration Computer in the Field Operations Support System (FOSS), and another port of entry will not look kindly on your employee trying to "sneak" into Canada by attempting to circumvent the decision of the first office. It is best to try and resolve things with the first port by discussing the case with the officer concerned, or the supervisor.

The Bottom Line

Port-of-entry processing can be a seamless facilitative venture when an application goes smoothly, but an extremely frustrating, stressful and negative experience if the application goes badly. It can result in your employee being denied entry to the country, or unduly delayed in being issued the appropriate documentation by the Canadian Border Services Agency. We hope that the practical tips advice we’ve provided will assist you in advising your employees on how to make an application and what to expect when that application is handled at the border.