Quebec growth slows, but the outlook is brightening

BY JAY BRYAN, THE GAZETTE JULY 7, 2011

 

 

Quebec's economic growth will slow this year, but it's expected to remain healthy enough to keep unemployment edging down and to lay the foundation for more robust expansion next year.

That's the latest forecast from Scotia Capital, where economist Alex Koustas sees a number of strengths that will help to soften the negative impact of tax increases, slowing consumer spending and the province's long-standing difficulty in attracting skilled immigrants.

The rising tax burden, however, is "really going to cause a bit of a drag" on growth, Koustas said yesterday. New taxes will pull $2.7 billion out of Quebecers' pockets this year in the form of health levies and increases in the provincial sales tax and gasoline tax.

All these will rise again next year, boosting the total cost to taxpayers in 2012 to $4.2 billion, according to provincial finance department estimates.

The dampening impact of these tax hikes on consumer spending, combined with a slowdown in Quebec's important U.S. export market, will leave the province with growth of just 2.3 per cent this year, the country's slowest outside Atlantic Canada.

Ontario, where the big auto-manufacturing sector is still rebounding from a disastrous slump during the recession, will do a little better than Quebec this year, growing by 2.5 per cent.

But the growth champions will be in Western Canada, where rising values for oil, potash and other resource products will help Alberta to expand by 4.2 per cent, Saskatchewan by 3.7 per cent and British Columbia by 2.9 per cent.

However, Quebec's performance still has a number of bright spots. A key one is the unemployment rate, which dipped below Ontario's in the recession year of 2009 for the first time in 30 years.

Back then, this looked as if it might be a temporary blip caused as much by the nearcollapse of Ontario's automakers as by Quebec's job creation.

on provincial economy

But the Quebec advantage has persisted, reinforced by the province's heavy spending on roads and power projects.

Unemployment in Quebec will fall to an average of 7.7 per cent this year from 8.0 per cent in 2010. This year's jobless rate will be higher than the national average of 7.5 per cent, but it remains below Ontario's forecast 8.1 per cent.

And now, a number of big Quebec industries are showing signs of strong expansion, suggesting that growth in the province will strengthen in 2012.

A key example is information technology, which accounts for more than five per cent of the provincial economy.

After hiring in this sector had stagnated during most of the past decade, it's been ramping up this year, Koustas said.

The prospects for further expansion are helped by a growing flow of venture capital, where Koustas said Quebec ranks among the top five or six destinations in North America.

Another keystone industry is aerospace manufacturing, whose turnaround is finally gaining momentum.

Orders for everything from business jets to components like flight simulators and landing gear have been rising.

This should be translated into actual shipments by late this year, bringing a positive contribution to economic growth in 2012.

Less visibly to those of us in Montreal, mining is becoming "one of the pacesetters for growth" in Quebec, said Koustas in his forecast:

"Multibillion-dollar investments are in play in the northern regions of the province, with gold and ironore mining set to make significant contributions to the economy. Mining investment and exploration have nearly doubled since 2005."

And finally, the cross-Canada cooling in home construction is being more than offset in Quebec by new projects in the industrial, mining and utility sectors, leaving the overall construction sector enjoying robust health.

Indeed, says the report, "the construction industry in Quebec finds itself in its best position since the 1970s, having grown by over 50 per cent since 2000," or faster than most of the province's other industries.

Over the longer run, though, Koustas noted that it remains "kind of worrisome" that Quebec still fails to attract many immigrants, leaving it vulnerable to stagnating growth as its workforce ages and begins drawing public pensions.

By far the largest chunk of Canada's international immigrants settle in Ontario, while in Quebec "the influx of talented workers is not exactly what you'd want it to be."

jbryan@ montrealgazette.com

© Copyright (c) The Montreal Gazette

Read more:http://www.montrealgazette.com/business/Quebec+growth+slows+outlook+brightening/5062246/story.html#ixzz1RSG4OafT

Near 50 per cent increase to online Sask. jobs

Global Saskatoon: Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Saskatchewan employers continue to create job opportunities in huge numbers, even on the web.

Photo Credit: -, Global Saskatoon

SaskJobs.ca website experiences its second straight month of over 13-thousand job posts. The website saw an approximate 50 per cent increase over June, 2010.

Rob Norris, Advanced Education, Employment and Immigration Minister, said “employers in every corner of the province continue to open the doors of opportunity for Saskatchewan people.”

Employers from 327 Saskatchewan communities posted over 67-thousand job opportunities on the Saskatchewan website between January and June. This shows an increase of over 13-thousand over the same period last year.

“We already have the lowest unemployment rate in the country, and with a growing number of job prospects, people from across Canada and around the world are looking at Saskatchewan as a great place to live, work and raise a family.”

The trades and primary industry categories accounted for more than a third of the overall total for June.

SaskJobs.ca is Saskatchewan’s largest job-matching website. The site provides job posting services free of charge for employers across the province and free resume posting for job seekers from around the world.

© Copyright (c) Shaw Media Inc.

Newcomer program proves popular

SUMMERSIDE - Immigration numbers to Summerside appear to be on the rise and the P.E.I. Association for Newcomers to Canada is working with the city to integrate and retain these people.

The city is prepared to launch its new economic development strategy that will set the direction Summerside will take over the next five years. One of the major components of that strategy is immigration.

Getting skilled immigrants to the community is one thing. Keeping them here is another.

The city has partnered with the P.E.I Association for Newcomers to Canada's Retention Integration Committee for Health (RICH) and the provincial Health Department for a pilot project to attract health professionals to the area.

Belinda Wood is the integration and retention officer for the Summerside program. She said it has already expanded to more that just the health field.

"It's growing amazingly," Wood said. "My main mandate was to work with health professionals, but it's more immigration and citizenship and getting their sponsorships for bringing family members over. That's really taking off. That's taking up a lot of the time right now. We're getting more immigrants coming into Summerside and I guess they expect there's going to be a lot more coming."

Wood said she still works with the health professions, too. She said if they come here and have a job to go they don't really need a lot.

"It's mostly working with their families to help them get settled because if the families aren't happy the doctors aren't going to stay," she said. "One of the challenges is they're so polite and they agree to everything and then you find out that they didn't have this and they didn't have that. Its just basic things like where do I get my hydro? Where do I get my cable, phone, all of those kinds of things. Then there are activities, schools."

She said through the Charlottetown office of the P.E.I. Association of Newcomers to Canada, staff travel to Summerside to put on presentations to help with diversity and to educate the people who are here now to assist and understand.

"A lot of times there are misconceptions with what people think they know and what they find out when they actually talk to people from other countries. There are lots of judgments made sometimes so once they've had opportunities to talk with different people they have a different outlook. That's kind of what our job is - to bring that education (immigrants have) here as well as help them out."

Wood said there is a misconception out there that immigrants are coming to this country to take jobs away from Canadians.

"That's not true," she said. "They're bringing talents that are not here. They're also filling jobs that we don't want. So, they're filling the void and they wouldn't be able to come here if they couldn't do that."

She said government requires that immigrants who are coming to Canada have a job or will be able to fill an existing need in the labour market.

Wood has only been on the job for two months and it's a part-time two-day-a-week position at the present time. Federal funding is being sought to make it full time. But already she has 30 cases on the go in the Summerside area.

"Every week my calendar is filled with appointments to meet with people. Sometimes I'm three weeks ahead booking people

Quebec City, Montreal 'most livable'; Vancouver highest cost of living: survey

Image by Michael McDonough via Flickr

Vancouver may be the "nicest" city, according to a new survey, but when it comes to livability, major cities in la belle province take top marks.

The recent study commissioned by the Montreal-based Association for Canadian Studies found Quebec City and Montreal outrank other cities in Canada when it comes to cost of living, culture, shopping and meeting people.

According to the survey, a quarter of Quebec City residents said the cost of living in their city was excellent, while another 70 per cent described it as good.

Montreal came second in the category with 16 per cent describing it as excellent and 65 per cent saying it was good.

While an earlier Postmedia News report indicated that a quarter of all Canadians had chosen Vancouver as the overall "nicest city in Canada," association executive director Jack Jedwab said it ranked dead last when it came to cost of living, with 57 per cent of respondents describing it as poor.

"There's a funny phenomenon in Vancouver, there's not a lot of people in the middle," he said, noting few Vancouverites described the lost of living as good, let along excellent.

"It's as though there's a big income split in that city. That's what I would think explains that discrepancy."

The Greater Toronto Area, Edmonton and Calgary rounded out the list of least affordable cities to live.

When it came to cultural activities, more than 95 per cent of Montreal and Quebec City residents rated theirs as excellent or good and they were also the most likely to describe their cities as excellent places to meet people and make friends.

Meanwhile, a fifth of Ottawa residents said their city was a bad place to meet people and make friends.

Montreal also earned top marks for shopping with 67 per cent describing it as excellent, followed by Edmonton at 62 per cent, Calgary at 51 per cent and Quebec City at 49 per cent.

People in Toronto (15 per cent), Calgary (14 per cent) and Edmonton (13 per cent) were among the most likely to describe their cities as lousy places to take in cultural activities.

On the subject of job opportunities, Calgarians were most satisfied, with half describing them as excellent and more than a third describing them as good. Quebec City came a close second with 47.6 per cent saying excellent but another 42.9 per cent describing them as good.

A whopping 36 per cent of Torontonians rated job opportunities in their city as poor, followed by 29 per cent of Ottawa residents and 25 per cent of Vancouver residents.

While all Quebec City residents described their city as either excellent or good for raising children — taking the top spot among seven cities — Jedwab was surprised to find Montreal at the bottom of the list in this category.

Despite the province's much touted $7-a-day child care program and overall commitment to children and youth, just 23 per cent of Montreal residents said their city was an excellent place to raise kids.

Some 61 per cent said it was good but more than 16 per cent described it as poor — the largest number of any city.

Quebec City, Vancouver, Ottawa and Montreal earned top marks for recreation and outdoor activity, while Toronto, Quebec City and Vancouver did well for climate.

"I think overall, Toronto is not a big winner on this thing if we're going to look for some big winner," Jedwab concluded.

"Montreal, I think, comes across fairly strong in this. Vancouver still does reasonably well, it is just clearly a very pricey place to live. Beauty comes at a cost."

The survey of 1,513 Canadians was conducted last month via web panel by Leger Marketing. An equivalent telephone survey would have a margin of error of 2.9 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

tcohen@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/tobicohen

© Copyright (c) Postmedia News

Read more: http://www.canada.com/business/Quebec+City+Montreal+most+livable+Vancouver+highest+cost+living+survey/5047483/story.html#ixzz1RKVsYydC

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Canada offers hope for undocumented workers in USA.

by Ivy Guevara, ABS-CBN News North America

Posted at 07/04/2011 3:03 PM | Updated as of 07/04/2011 3:03 PM

LOS ANGELES, California – Filipino nurses in the United States are now having trouble getting jobs and attaining legal status. But Canada is offering new hope for undocumented workers in the US.
One registered nurse in the US has lived in the country for almost 10 years. He has kept his status legal through a working visa and has earned a nursing degree.
But he was denied a permanent residency and is now worrying about his undocumented status.
“There’s this anxiety looming above me, that if I get caught, there’s a possibility of me going back home and losing everything I’ve worked for,” he said.
He lost his high-paying hospital job since losing his legal status last year. But he is still able to work for a company where his skills weigh more than anything else.
But his top priority is still to get his legal status back and once again work as a nurse.
He has other options – get married or apply for permanent residency in Canada.
Canadian immigration law says that undocumented status in the US will not affect one’s immigration in Canada. An applicant also does not need a relative or an employer in Canada to qualify as an immigrant.
But giving up on an American dream is not easy.
“I do hope that somewhere along the way, they would come up with a system that will grant legal status to this people. I think I worked hard enough to deserve my right to be here,” he added.
More hope for the undocumented immigrants will now come in the form of the recently introduced Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2011.

For more information visit www,nexuscanadaimmigration.com

Chinese immigrants transforming P.E.I.’s cultural landscape

Kathryn Blaze Carlson  Jul 3, 2011 – 8:00 AM ET | Last Updated: Jul 2, 2011 10:58 AM ET

When a Chinese immigrant visits Brown’s Volkswagen in Charlottetown, general manager Skip Rudderham is prepared: He has interpreters on speed-dial and bilingual business cards. Prince Edward Island, with its reputation of homogeneity and conservatism, may not seem the likeliest province to require such measures, but require them it does: Chinese immigration is transforming the island both culturally and economically.

“We would quite literally hire every qualified [Chinese] person we could get our hands on,” said Mr. Rudderham. “Our Chinese clientele is large enough that we could keep this person busy basically dealing with that clientele alone.”

The Brown’s Volkswagen experience is echoed elsewhere on P.E.I. — a small province once notorious for its “strong cultural norm of sameness” and better known as the rural home of the white, carrot-haired Anne of Green Gables.

When Kate Middleton, who reportedly adores the Lucy Maud Montgomery series, descends upon the province for “something of a sentimental journey” during her Royal visit to Canada this weekend, she will see a remarkably different P.E.I. than the one she has read about.

“You go through some of our schools now, and I joke that you think you’re in downtown Toronto,” said Premier Robert Ghiz, the son of Lebanese-Canadian Joe Ghiz, himself Canada’s first non-European premier. “You’re seeing cultural diversity in our hallways.”

Since the province started recruiting skilled and affluent immigrants through its Provincial Nominee Program in 2001, upward of 10,000 newcomers have called P.E.I. home. But while the province of just 143,200 is undergoing a metamorphosis at the behest of immigration generally, it is immigration from a land of nearly 1,337,000,000 in particular that is driving the novel shift.

China has been the chief source of immigration to P.E.I. for the past five years, with nearly 2,400 newcomers arriving between 2006 and 2009 alone, according to the province’s Population Secretariat. Most of those newcomers at least initially settled in Charlottetown, where the population was just 32,000 at the time of the census in 2006.

NP

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There is some discomfort — “I think there are mixed feelings on the island; some people are welcoming, but the older generation is maybe a bit less so,” long-time Charlottetown resident Florence McInnis says — but most community leaders say Islanders have adjusted. There has been no spike in race-based complaints to the province’s human rights commission, and the head of the Prince Edward Island Association for Newcomers struggled to recall any clashes between clients and Islanders.

“The acceptance has been remarkably smooth,” said Craig Mackie, executive director of the association. “People get it — they get that we need immigrants, that the Boomers are getting old and retiring and we need new people in here with new skills.”

That fact has not been lost on the government, which is looking to counter a natural-population-growth rate that has shrunk to almost zero. Provincial spending on resettlement programs doubled to more than $4.2-million between 2008 and 2009, and it has paid off: P.E.I’s population rose by nearly 400 in the first quarter of this year, making it the only Atlantic Canada province to see an increase.

Provincial education officials have established an intake team to assess students’ language proficiency before registering them at the appropriate grade level. The team, which also contracts tutors to teach the children, got so busy after it was struck in 2007 that the staff grew from six to 29 people in just three years.

The influx has meant adjustments elsewhere, too. The Bank of Montreal last year added Mandarin to its automatic teller machines in Charlottetown, and a spokesperson said the bank has seen “dramatic growth” in its Chinese clientele since hiring two Chinese employees in May 2010. A realtor who saw a surge in Chinese clients launched the province’s first English-Mandarin newspaper last month, and Charlottetown recently gleaned its first Asian tea house.

“People think we’re a little old-fashioned — we’re the birthplace of Confederation, we’re still fishing and farming, we’re the last province to bring in Sunday shopping,” Mr. Ghiz said. “But I say the opposite.”

In March, the city hosted its inaugural Chinese Islanders Business Summit, which was co-sponsored by Brown’s Volkswagen and attracted more than 250 Chinese immigrants eager to invest in island companies.

“The only way to make [these Chinese immigrants] stay in the province is to show them the business opportunities here,” said summit host and entrepreneur Frank Zhou, 32, who immigrated to P.E.I. from Beijing through the federal-provincial nominee program seven years ago.

Like thousands of others who arrived before the program was amended this year, Mr. Zhou and his wife, Sherry, had their visa application expedited after proving they were willing and capable of investing $200,000 in a P.E.I. business. Nominees were also required to pay a $25,000 good faith deposit, which is returned after a year of living in the province.

While Mr. Rudderham said the economic impact of the province’s strategic immigration policy “cannot be understated” — new car sales at his dealership have doubled since 2008, he said — the program has not been without its controversy. Before the first round of the federal-provincial nominee program expired on Sept. 2, 2008, the province rushed through nearly 2,000 applicants. Questions later arose about the quality of companies approved for investment, and there were allegations that companies owned by MLAs and senior civil servants were favoured.

An online petition calling for a public inquiry was launched in 2009, and it has since gleaned nearly 200 signatures, including one from a woman who said “people on this island face many challenges with food prices rising, the cost of living on P.E.I. is getting out of hand.”

Ms. McInnis, a single mother on a budget, said she, too, has noticed food prices climbing, especially when it comes to the basics.

“A few years ago, a loaf of bread used to be $1.99, but now it’s more like $2.49,” she said. “[The immigration surge] is not the only factor, but it might contribute.”

In February, the province and Citizenship and Immigration Canada announced a revamped nominee program, which will cap nominations at 400 for this year. Under the new rules, immigrants will also have the choice of buying a one-third ownership in a company or investing $1-million for five years as a loan.

The immigrants arriving to the island through the nominee program are for the most part different from the majority of those who arrived to cities such as Toronto and Vancouver in the late 1990s: The latter influx of predominantly Cantonese-speaking newcomers came from Hong Kong on the heels of China’s repatriation of the island, while this latest surge of predominantly Mandarin-speaking newcomers to P.E.I. comes amid economic growth in mainland China.

“Once the economy got better, and once people’s pockets got deeper, they wanted to explore opportunities outside China,” said Mr. Zhou, president of Sunrise Group, a software development and consulting firm with offices on P.E.I. and in Shanghai and Beijing.

The majority of principal applicants to the nominee program are well-educated, boast extensive business backgrounds and have a genuine interest in learning English, said Mr. Mackie, of the P.E.I. Association for Newcomers, which recently hosted its first mah-jong tournament in Charlottetown. He said he does not foresee a Chinatown emerging in the capital city soon — or ever.

“If you look at the history of the country, people who are economically challenged have tended to move into neighbourhoods where the cost of living is lower,” he said. “But we’re talking about people who can afford to buy good homes and choose where they want to live.”

Hamish Redpath, a realtor who recently launched a monthly bilingual publication called Ni Hao PEI (Mandarin for “Hello P.E.I.”), said he regularly shows homes to Chinese newcomers at prices ranging between $400,000 to $1.5-million. He said the Chinese community is peppered throughout Charlottetown and across the bridges in communities such as Stratford and Cornwall.

“They’re interested in beautiful homes, with water views or right on the waterfront,” Mr. Redpath said, adding that he serves Chinese families looking for more modest abodes, too. “I have also shown Chinese families some rural homesteads outside of Charlottetown. They have lived in Beijing all their lives and they talked to me about the pollution and the crazy traffic, so to come here and have five acres and a little farmhouse for a couple hundred thousand bucks is a dream come true.”

National Post 
kcarlson@nationalpost.com

New law will regulate immigration industry

BY DAVE BATTAGELLO, THE WINDSOR STAR JUNE 29, 2011

 

 

Ottawa's move to get toughwith "crooked" immigration consultants who falsely promise victims easy entry into the country at a steep price is being applauded by a local lawyer who often helps immigrants who get scammed.

Immigration lawyer Andrew Porter talks of unscrupulous consultants who travel overseas with Power Point presentations that feature Calgary with mountains in the background, vows of automatic medical care, plus cheaper gas and housing prices.

"They paint a real attractive picture," Porter said. "They entice people to sign over money, from $10,000 to $50,000. These consultants give the impression there is a way to jump the queue. They advise people to lie and manipulate.

"But what they are doing is taking people's money - often from those Joe Comartin in desperate circumstances - and give promises that can't be kept. It happens again and again and there is no one to hold them accountable or they disappear."

The new legislation, to regulate the industry in a similar fashion as the legal and medical profession, goes into effect Thursday, Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney announced Tuesday in Mississauga.

"The Government of Canada has promised to crack down on crooked immigration consultants and their shady practices, and with Bill C-35, we now have the tools," said Kenney.

MP Joe Comartin (NDP - Windsor-Tecumseh) applauded the new federal law, saying it will clean up a system that has been "a total disaster," ripe with abuse and self-interest.

Oversight will now fall under the newly created Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council. It will be on the same level of regulatory enforcement as the law society or college of physicians, Comartin said.

Bill C-35 also strengthens rules for those who provide immigration advice and make it an offence for anyone besides an accredited representative or anyone not in good standing to conduct business.

"You have consultants doing a good job, but the previous (regulatory) agency was not doing anything to patrol and enforce the proper standards," Comartin said. "The new legislation puts into effect a new governing body with teeth and clear mandate to regulate.

"It's a significant improvement. I'm cautiously optimistic after several years of enforcement that with people who take advantage of victims we will force them out of business."

The most noteworthy case locally of alleged immigrant abuse revolves around former Windsor consultant Francesco Salvatore (Sam) Burgio, facing 28 criminal charges after allegedly bilking more than $1 million from immigrants hoping to become Canadians.

The RCMP, which investigated with Citizenship and Immigration Canada, have been in contact with at least 25 alleged victims. The amounts Burgio is accused of defrauding from his clients start at $1,300 and escalate to $394,080, according to court documents. The allegations haven't been proven in court.

Victims allege Burgio and Associates agreed to submit applications and accompanying fees on their behalf to Citizenship and Immigration Canada to help them gain status in this country. Burgio told the victims he had submitted the applications, but they eventually learned he had done no such thing, police said.

Burgio has maintained his innocence and is next scheduled to appear for a court preliminary hearing starting March 5.

But the largest amount of abuse is said to happen in the Toronto area, where consultants often operate in tandem with others inside the countries of origin.

Despite the good intentions of the new legislation, Comartin said it can't address the unscrupulous consultants based in other countries.

He indicated the next step is diplomatic agreements with nations overseas to allow enforcement.

© Copyright (c) The Windsor Star

Read more:http://www.windsorstar.com/news/Crooked+consultants+targeted/5021458/story.html#ixzz1Qp7CZ5zu

Alberta launches tool to evaluate foreign credentials

The province of Alberta has launched a free online tool, the Education Overview Guide, to help employers better understand the educational credentials of immigrants seeking to work in Alberta.

"This particular tool will allow an employer to look at a diploma or certificate, go on the website, look up that country and see where this diploma fits within the educational hierarchy ... and be able to draw a comparison to what this would mean in Canada," says Employment and Immigration Minister Thomas Lukaszuk.

So far, the guide includes 10 countries that have the most immigrants moving to Alberta, including India, Nigeria, and the Philippines. Lukaszuk noted that more countries will continue to be added to the list as necessary. With the expected labour shortage in Alberta, employers will be seeking to hire qualified individuals, especially foreign workers.

New online resource helps employers and human resources professionals understand foreign-earned education

A new tool will help employers and human resources professionals better understand academic credentials earned abroad. The online tool will improve the attraction and retention of newcomers which is an important part of addressing the province’s future labour shortage. News Release A short video takes you on a tour of the new Education Overview Guides website Fact Sheet – International Education Overview Guides Audio Clip #1: Minister outlines the purpose of the new online resource: International Education Overview Guides (...slash education guides.) 43 seconds Audio Clip #2: Minister discusses labour shortages in Alberta, the global economy and the advantages of hiring local workers (...by recognizing their foreign earned credentials.) 56 seconds Photos

The Education Overview Guides are an online resource that explains how international education credentials compare to Alberta education credentials and standards. Employers, Human Resource professionals, potential immigrants, and recent newcomers can all benefit from understanding how foreign education credentials compare to Alberta standards.

Global competition for labour is a reality in many industries. There are talented, skilled individuals in Alberta, Canada and around the world, and this new tool can help employers interpret the international academic credentials of job applicants.

Whether you are an employer looking at a resume or an immigrant preparing to work in Alberta, the Education Overview Guides can help you. The Education Overview Guides are based on extensive research and well-documented standards and criteria. These recommendations are advisory in nature and indicate the general level of a credential in Albertan terms. Education Overview Guides are available for countries with the highest levels of immigration to Alberta:

• Federal Republic of Nigeria
• Islamic Republic of Pakistan
• People's Republic of China
• Republic of Colombia
• Republic of India
• Republic of Korea
• Republic of the Philippines
• Russian Federation
• The Former USSR
• United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

The guides provide an overview of the country and the educational system within the country. The information contained in these brief summaries is an important first step toward understanding the educational patterns in each country.

The guides do not cover all credentials. International credentials not explicitly covered should be referred to International Qualifications Assessment Service (IQAS) for evaluation.

When using the Education Overview Guides, we recommend that you check the title of the award in the original language, as well as the translation, as English translations can sometimes be misleading. If the title of the award does not appear in either language, referring to the chart for an overview of the education system might help you locate the level of the credential or alternative titles.

If you are an internationally-educated individual looking to work in Alberta, there are resources to help you prepare:

• Information on Working in Alberta – information on how to research job opportunities in your occupation in Alberta, as well as tips for job seekers and important details about workplace rights and responsibilities, employment standards and work-related resources.
   
• International Qualifications Assessment Service (IQAS) – information about how IQAS assesses international educational credentials and compares them to educational credentials in Canada, as well as how to apply for an assessment.

Canada: The greatest country in the world

BY GEORGIALEE LANG, POSTMEDIA NEWS

Canada is the greatest country in the world. Of course, statistically, we know that’s true. The United Nations' Human Development Index, based on life expectancy, education, standards of living, and child welfare, has told us so for years.

But Canada’s greatness is not just about the “good life." Canada is the land of opportunity, where milk and honey flows, not just for the wealthy, but for anyone who dreams a dream and works hard.

There is no better example of this than my legal assistant, Justine Karungyi. Justine arrived in British Columbia from Uganda in 2006. She was 24 years old. She began her life in Africa while civil war raged and her family, including four siblings, became fractured. Her father was a local Chairman of the Uganda People’s Congress, which had governed Uganda for many years. He fled his home in Jinja, moving to his ancestral home in Mbarara with Justine and her sister.

The genocide of war kept Justine, her father and her sister in exile for over three years. Justine’s mother believed her husband and two girls were dead. After all, thousands of children were turned into soldiers and others were abducted, raped and murdered. Justine’s mother had moved on with her life with a new partner and more children. Losing her mother was as profound as the devastation of war.

As was the norm in Uganda, Justine’s father took his five children and settled in Masaka. Custody was not an issue. Children belonged with their fathers. No questions asked. In Masaka, Justine attended primary school and later, secondary school, at a private Catholic girls' boarding school. Her father paid the fees, but nothing else. Justine’s stepmother resented Justine and her siblings. They cost too much money and they interfered in her relationship with their father.

The school fed Justine a corn-flour and hot-water paste, called “posho,” and beans twice a day. She and her sister ended up on the streets begging for money to buy basics, including sugar, toilet paper and hygiene products.

Once she finished high school she enrolled in a two-year program to obtain an advanced certificate of education.

Justine’s Literature teacher talked about corruption, about standing up for people who could not speak for themselves, and about the law and what lawyers could do for their country and its citizens. At 15 years old Justine decided she would become a lawyer. But a legal education in Uganda was well beyond her reach.

She began working for KPMG as an administrative assistant and enrolled in Makara University Business School, attaining a bachelor’s degree in Human Resources Management. But she never abandoned her dream.

One of Justine’s brothers had married a Canadian citizen and was raising a family in British Columbia. He invited Justine to come to Canada to assist with the care of his two children under a new immigration program for live-in caregivers. When she completed her caregiving stint, began working in my law office.

She told me her dream of becoming a lawyer. I told her she could do anything she wanted in Canada if she was prepared to work for it. She was.

Justine will start law school in two months at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon. She still has no money, but Canada’s student loan program will see her through, just like it did for me 25 years ago. She is well on her way to living her dream. She is living proof that Canada is the greatest country in the world.

Georgialee Lang is a Vancouver lawyer and arbitrator named in “Best Lawyers in Canada.” She blogs at lawdiva.wordpress.com. Her website is georgialeelang.com

Studying in Canada: A welcome to keep you warm through winter

Among British students, Canada hasn’t ranked highly as a destination for education. Perhaps it’s the distance that makes applicants think twice. Perhaps it’s the cold winters. But it certainly isn’t the quality of education, cost of studying or standard of living.

Canadian degrees, awarded at 90 universities nationwide, are internationally recognised and respected, according tointernationalgraduate.net. Their education system offers “strong student support services, small classes and active campus communities”. And, as Canada spends more per capita on its education system than any other country in the world, tuition rates are lower for international students than they are in many other countries.

As for quality of life, Canada was ranked eighth in the UN’s worldwide Human Development Index 2010. Brits are welcome, too. According to Rob Norris, the minister of advanced education, employment and immigration in the province of Saskatchewan, “There’s a spirit of welcome across Canada. We want to make sure that our campuses and communities are increasingly diverse, international and cosmopolitan,” he says.

Saskatchewan puts its money where its mouth is. Norris explains: “We have made record investment of more than C$2.8bn (£1.8bn) in post-secondary education in the past three years. That includes a 3,000 per cent increase in funding for student housing, and new dollars in key areas where we want to be leading in innovation.” Namely, science and engineering, responding to the area’s wealth of natural resources, including arable land, uranium, oil and the mining industry.

Recession is not a word that appears in the Canadian dictionary. Within the province of Saskatchewan alone – an area the size of France – there are currently more than 9,000 job vacancies (saskjobs.ca). “We’re not shy about saying to international students there are career opportunities here,” says Norris. “In Saskatchewan, we’ve just made some improvements to our regional immigration system to allow [post] graduate students to stay for a couple of years [after completing their studies] to enable them to find career opportunities.”

There’s also the graduate retention programme, which enables graduates with honours degrees from Saskatchewan universities to qualify for up to C$20,000 (£12,800) back if they stay and work in the province for seven years.

But that’s jumping ahead. Students contemplating Canada as a destination should first consider fees, which vary greatly. British students pay around C$11,000 (£7,000) a year at the University of Winnipeg in Manitoba, C$18,000 (£11,500) at York University in Toronto, and $24,000 (£15,300) at the University of British Columbia, according to their websites. As for postgraduate study, costs range from $3,780 (£2,412) a year at Memorial University in Newfoundland to $17,500 (£11,039) at the University College of Cape Breton in Nova Scotia.

As for a visa, you shouldn’t need one. A study placement of up to six months is yours for the applying. For longer study, UK nationals need a permit, for which the Canadian High Commission requires you to have been accepted to a university in Canada, and have proof that you can pay for tuition fees and living expenses. It estimates the latter to be around $10,000 (£6,300) per year, plus CA$4,000 (£2,500) for the first dependant and CA$3,000 (£1,900) for each subsequent dependent. You need a clean criminal record and an equally clean bill of health. It takes eight to 10 weeks to process applications, and costs around £75, which is usually non-refundable, regardless of success.

For those applying to study in Quebec, things are a little different. You will need to get a certificate of acceptance from the Quebec government. Visit immigration-quebec.gouv.qc.ca/en/immigrate-settle/students/index.html for more information.

Overall, though, there are few immigration barriers to UK students. Dr George Maslany, from the University of Regina, confirms: “There’s not much red tape. It takes about two months, but usually anyone from Britain who applies for a permit gets it.”

Financial assistance may be available in scholarships and bursaries. These are numerous and most are competitive, awarded on academic merit rather than financial need. But at the Dr David Hannah, associate vice-president of student and enrolment services at the University of Saskatchewan, says: “We have a guaranteed entrance scholarship programme for undergraduate students, which gives them anywhere from C$500 (£320) to C$3,000 (£1,915) for their first year of study, depending on their academic qualifications. They don’t even have to apply for that, it’s automatic.”

Similarly, places on Canadian courses are almost exclusively awarded on academic qualifications. There are some exceptions, for example medicine often has an interview process. Hannah says: “It’s usually based on secondary school performance. With UK students, we typically look for three A-levels of at least D grades. In some courses it might be higher – for business courses, for example, we’re looking for B grades.”

With the strong and long-standing connections between Canada and the UK, students should have little trouble settling in. “We are very respectful of our traditions, including the monarchy and the Commonwealth, which plays a vital role within our culture and community,” explains Norris. “There’s an affinity here that, from the feedback we get from students and scholars from the UK, gives a tremendous feeling of being at home.”

Hannah agrees: “Because of our Commonwealth connections, our university system is derived from the English and Scottish systems. I think that would be a lot of comfort for students coming to any Canadian university.”

Another plus, for British linguists, may be Canada’s bilingualism: in parts of the country, it is possible to study in either French or English. Most, however, benefit from the lack of language barrier. Maslany jokes “British students don’t have any difficulty as Canadians are devoid of any accent, but UK students have a range of accents. It can take a little while for us to familiarise ourselves with those!”

And the big chill? “The first winter here can take some adjusting,” Hannah admits, “but all of our buildings at the University of Saskatchewan are connected through interior walkways, so you don’t have to spend too much time outside in the cold. In the summer, temperatures top 30C, and from the middle of April until mid October, it’s really very pleasant around here.”

Norris concludes: “The mood in Canada is one of real optimism. We are very student orientated, with universities that are held in high regard. This is a land that’s focused on the future.”