Canada-US border deal sparks worry in north

Canadians fought off the US once. But are the Americans making incursions again?

Sandro ContentaOctober 12, 2011 23:29

TORONTO, Canada — The Canadian government will spend $28 million to remind Canadians that their national identity was forged in a largely forgotten war against the United States.

“Without the War of 1812, Canada as we know it would not exist,” Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore said Tuesday, while announcing a three-year-long commemoration of the conflict.

“Not enough Canadians know about the importance of the War of 1812. It was the fight for Canada,” Moore told reporters.

American historian Alan Taylor described the war as Canada’s David-versus-Goliath victory in repelling a U.S. invasion. The battle has instilled a lasting suspicion of American intentions toward Canada’s sovereignty.

Flag-waving events begin the year of the war’s 200th anniversary, including battle re-enactments, films, concerts and the building of a permanent memorial in Ottawa to the War of 1812.

But some see this planned outpouring of Canadian patriotism with suspicion.

More from GlobalPost: IRS pursues Americans up north

News of the war’s commemoration broke at about the time that Canada and the U.S. were poised to announce a deal on security and trade along the 49th parallel.

That focused concerns that had been building during the past year, as both countries negotiated the border deal in secret.

Wayne Easter, international trade critic for the opposition Liberal Party, accused the government last week of wanting Canadians to “buy a pig in a poke.”“Canadians need to know how much is our personal privacy going to be affected by this perimeter security proposal, and is there going to be any impact on Canadian sovereignty,” Easter asked the government during a sitting of the House of Commons.The United States’ primary objective in the talks is to tighten security along a border that many American politicians, since the 9/11 attacks, consider too porous. Canadians see some of that concern as uninformed paranoia.

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The most astounding examples came in 2009, when both Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Senator John McCain wrongly claimed the 9/11 hijackers entered the U.S. through Canada.

Canadians have already seen a “thickening” of the border: Passports, instead of drivers’ licences, are now needed to cross, inspections of people and cargo have increased, and communities bissected by the border — like Derby Line, Vermont, and Stanstead, Quebec — have seen generations of interaction impeded by the growing apparatus of security. 

The Canadian government’s priority is to ease trade congestion along the almost 4,000 mile boundary. An estimated $1.6 billion worth of trade crosses the perimeter each day, a flow crucial to keeping Canada’s economy humming.

In exchange for smoother trade flow, critics fear Prime Minister Stephen Harper will allow the U.S. to impose security standards on Canada, and give U.S. authorities access to the private information of Canadian travellers.

Their nightmare scenario has the U.S. gaining some control over Canadian immigration and refugee policy by getting a say in who enters Canada.

Recent American actions haven’t helped ease anxieties. Some Canadian politicians reacted angrily earlier this month to news of a draft report by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency, proposing the use of “fencing and other barriers” along the Canadian border to manage “trouble spots where passage of cross-border violators is difficult to control.”

More troubling is U.S. President Barack Obama’s proposed job creation plan, which contains a protectionist “Buy American” clause that would prevent Canadian companies from bidding on $100 billion worth of U.S. infrastructure contracts.

Bob Rae, leader of the Liberal Party, urged the government to walk away from talks on a border deal until Obama dropped that clause.

“All I’m saying is it’s completely nuts to sign a deal when we’re getting hit every day of the week from the other side,” Rae said.

Harper has repeatedly insisted that Canada’s sovereignty isn’t up for grabs.

But as he and Obama prepare for a joint announcement on the border deal, there are fears that the patriotic breast-beating about the War of 1812 is camouflage for the U.S. getting through talks what it once couldn’t get with guns.

Increasingly lower rates of admission for parent and grandparent sponsorships

• Canada
• October 11 2011
• 

Author page »

During a recent parliamentary session opposition MPs expressed dismay that Canada is has barely reached the low end of its target admission rate for sponsored parents and grandparents last year. At this time, there is a backlog of 150,000 applications.      

In 2010, the department’s immigration levels plan had a target admission rate of 15,000 -18,000 in the parental sponsorship category, with Canada eventually accepting 15,324 applicants. By the end of 2010, 150,965 applications were waiting to be processed in parental sponsorship category. That backlog was 165,000 by March 2011. In 2011, the government lowered the bar for admission to 13,000 – 17,500. The progressively lower admission rates coupled with longer processing times suggest that the ministry is seriously considering either placing a moratorium on the parental sponsorship program or halting it altogether. A similar progress of lengthening processing times and low admission rates was seen in the Immigrant Entrepreneur program before the ministry announced that the program would be halted indefinitely – that announcement was made early this year. It remains to be seen whether this is the beginning of the end for the parent and grandparent sponsorship program.

Sweden’s big immigration idea: the ‘Canada model’Post title

DOUG SAUNDERS

London— Globe and Mail Update

Published Thursday, Oct. 13, 2011 2:36PM EDT

Last updated Thursday, Oct. 13, 2011 3:19PM EDT

For decades, Canadians have looked to the Swedes for inspiration. There was Ottawa’s campaign to get lumpy 30-year-old Canadians to be as fit as “the 60-year-old Swede.” There are frequent calls to imitate Stockholm’s environmental policies. And, of course, there’s hockey.

But in recent months, the tables have turned. Policy circles in Stockholm have been dominated with talk of adopting “the Canada model.” That, in fact, is the title of a widely discussed new Swedish book titledKanadamodellen – “The Canada Model,” which urges Sweden’s governments to start making things look more like their Nordic fellow on the other side of the Atlantic.

“We looked at Canada, and we saw that it worked – even though Canadians don’t always say this, from a Swedish perspective we felt that Canada is a model that should be followed,” said Martin Adahl, one of the book’s editors and a fellow with the Stockholm think tank FORES, as he visited London to discuss his ideas with a bemused group of British and Canadian scholars.

Specifically, the book’s editors are part of a growing group of Swedes that wants its government to adopt Canada’s immigration system – including its high numbers, its points-based recruitment scheme and its ethnic networks of support in major cities that help new immigrants find employment.

Its subtitle is, tellingly, “How immigration leads to work,” which explains the obsession with Canada: In Sweden, immigrants – the largest group of whom are refugees – are typically unemployed, marginalized and far poorer than the native-born population. This has led to alarming political tensions over immigration in this formerly very placid nation.

In Canada, by contrast, the employment rate among the foreign-born (about 70 per cent) is higher than that among native-born Canadians, most immigrants are economic (refugees make up a negligibly small slice of Canadian immigration), and the majority of Canadians say they aresatisfied both with the ethnic mix and the levels of immigration.

So from the shores of the Baltic, the Great White North looks like an immigration paradise. Mr. Adahl and his colleague Petter Hojem drew upon leading Canadian academics to produce studies and essays for their book – and here, they ran into difficulties.

“It was hard to convince Canadian academics to write about their own country as a positive example,” Mr. Adahl said. “They’re used to writing critically of it, and thinking of its failings, but I had to persuade them to write about Canada as a positive example – it wasn’t easy.”

Canada, Mr. Adahl says, does a couple things that European countries don’t do. First, it grants immediate access to employment, home and business ownership to new immigrants and refugee claimants. Second, it has a network of charities and non-governmental organizations that help settle and employ new arrivals. And third, it has a relatively open labour market, in which employers can easily hire and fire people, which makes it easier for immigrants to enter the work force.

In much of Europe, including Sweden, many full-time jobs are guaranteed for life, which creates a closed, privileged white-skinned elite and an excluded brown-skinned minority who are stuck in informal jobs and unemployment.

Canadian visa post located in the US are second last in the world in processing skilled worker applications

• Canada
• October 11 2011
• 

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Its glory days they are not: the rankings of the Buffalo-NY visa post responsible for processing Canadian immigration applications have plummeted from being near the top  -in terms of processing times globally - to near last. The Canadian Consulate General in Buffalo-NY, the main office responsible for the processing of Canadian Permanent Residence and temporary visa applications for persons in the USA intending to immigrate to Canada, was known as one of the fastest, most reliable processing centers for Canadian immigration applications globally – until recently. Only the visa posts in Trinidad & Tobago and Pakistan process applications slower than the Buffalo visa post at the moment. This cannot be good news for the many American nationals and persons living in the US who are considering immigrating permanently to Canada. With the highest rate of American immigration into Canada in the past 30 years, it may be the backlog, it may be the management, but something is certainly slowing down the processing of applications at this visa post. Applicants who submitted their documents when the Buffalo visa post had published processing standards of 6-12 months in past years, are dismayed to find out that processing times have grown to 21 months. For Federal Skilled Worker applicants, this delay is compounded by the fact that these applications must first pass a preliminary assessment stage at the Case Processing Centre, which itself takes an additional 5 months at this time. In all, waiting for 26 months may not be such an attractive deal to many highly qualified nationals. The solution? May applicants are instructing their Canadian immigration lawyers to submit their applications at the visa post responsible for their country of nationality. With processing times like 18 months in Damascus-Syria, 15 months for New Delhi – India, and 15 months for Mexico City – Mexico, many applicants, even those who may be working or living in the US, are asking their Canadian immigration lawyers to file their applications at the visa offices responsible for their home countries.    

Colombia FTA gives Canadian firms a big boost

The Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement came into force on August 15, 2011—a key boost for Canadian companies in five important sectors: agriculture, information and communications technologies, mining, oil and gas, and services.

The agreement gives Canadians access to new markets, customers and partnerships, creating stronger supply and production chains. The FTA will:

• Improve market access
• Remove or reduce trade barriers
• Make Canadian goods more competitive
• Reduce or eliminate tariffs on Canadian exports
• Allow free transfer of investment capital
• Provide investor protection and assurances
• Protect against unlawful expropriation
• Assure access to binding international arbitration

A separate double taxation agreement will also ensure people or businesses from one country are not double-taxed for doing business in the other.
The Canadian pork industry, for instance, will likely see its exports double to around $12 million within the next three years, starting immediately, says Jacques Pomerleau, President of Canada Pork International, the industry association that represents Canada’s pork producers.
“We really needed to level the playing field,” says Pomerleau. According to Pomerleau, Canadian pork exporters had to contend with difficult market conditions before this FTA was negotiated. “It used to be very difficult to calculate import tariffs,” he says. “Tariffs would vary constantly. One day we would pay a 25% tariff, the next it would be 5% and you never really knew why. Now, we have transparent and stable access to a very important market and that is great news for Canadian companies.”
Canada’s interest in Colombia is growing strongly, and the market is attracting Canadian businesses—oil and gas, mining and manufacturing in particular. The country has undergone important economic and legal reforms, spurring democracy and global direct investment. The business climate is now stable and predictable, making Colombia a secure business partner and a solid investment destination. Colombia also offers attractive investment incentives. There are more than 40 free trade zones where the corporate tax rate is 15 percent. Also, imported materials are exempt from customs duties and VAT.
For more information, visit The Canadian Trade Commissioner Service.

Opportunities in Colombia
Agriculture

• Exports: Reduced tariffs will offer greater opportunities for Canadian agricultural and food producers. Consumer demand for processed foods and high-value food products is rising steadily.
• Investment: Colombia has 34.5 million hectares available for agricultural land development and a climate that supports efficient production.

Information and communications technologies

• Exports: Colombia needs computer hardware and software, along with networking solutions and telecommunications equipment from foreign sources. The government procurement market is well worth exploring. Specialized software and e-services solutions are also in demand.
• Investment: Opportunities exist for mobile telecommunications, broadband and Internet service providers.

Mining

• Exports: Demand for transportation, early prospecting and drilling equipment is strong. Exploration companies also need geophysical, land surveying, mapping, engineering and environmental planning services.
• Investment: Investors are needed to expand coal and nickel mining production. International firms are also securing rights to explore Colombia’s gold and copper deposits.

Oil and gas

• Exports: Colombia needs equipment and services for all stages of oil and gas production.
• Investment: Opportunities to build and expand petrochemical production and ethanol-producing plants are promising.

Services

• Exports: Transportation infrastructure is needed, including urban transit, roads, ports and airports. Engineering and construction firms stand to benefit from opportunities in the power generation and transmission sector. Environmental services are also in high demand. The government is investing in waste management and water treatment services.
• Opportunities: There are excellent prospects in engineering, forestry, mining, oil and gas financial services, and education.

Canada new magnet for U.S. job hunters

TAVIA GRANT

From Thursday's Globe and Mail

Published Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2011 6:16PM EDT

Last updated Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2011 7:07PM EDT

Canada’s stronger economy is becoming a magnet for Americans hunting for work.

In a reversal of historical flows, immigration lawyers report a surge of calls from Americans who want to move north. Statistics bear out their observations: A record number of Americans applied for temporary work visas last year, Immigration Canada statistics show, spurred largely by the contrasting health of the two countries’ labour markets.

On one side of the border, 14 million Americans are out of work – the equivalent of more than 40 per cent of Canada’s population. On the other side, some employers – particularly in Alberta’s oil sector – say they can’t find enough skilled workers, prompting the country’s federal immigration minister to publicly muse last month on how to admit more skilled Americans.

The U.S. jobless rate is 9.1 per cent while Canada’s comparable rate – adjusted to U.S. concepts – is just 6.3 per cent, statistics released last week show.

“It’s reverse brain drain,” says Toronto-based immigration lawyer Sergio Karas. “There are a lot of disgruntled people who say ‘America is letting me down.’”

He sees several shifts – Canadians who married Americans and live in the U.S. are now returning to Canada because of better job prospects in professional areas like law and finance. And more Americans, from the Northeast and California in particular, are setting their sights on Canada for its work opportunities and other factors such as affordable health care, a stronger banking system and stable housing market.

Paul DeJoe is one of them. The 29-year-old tried for years to drum up interest in his business idea in Philadelphia to no avail. He moved to Vancouver this summer to participate in an incubator program that focuses on Internet startups. He says there’s a bigger flow of ideas, and more seed money, available to them now that they’re based in Canada.

“It looks like we will become a Canadian company – we have access to a bunch more opportunities. And it’s really nice here and we’ve had a great experience thus far,” says Mr. DeJoe, founder of Ecquire, which provides software that helps users eliminate data entry.

Canada’s stability is increasingly on the global radar. Last week, Forbes magazine named it as the best place in the world to do business. In the lead-up to every presidential election, “countless Americans threaten to move to Canada if their preferred candidate does not emerge victorious. Of course, few follow through with a move north,” it noted. “Maybe it is time to reconsider.”

Windsor, Ont.-based immigration lawyer Drew Porter is also seeing history reverse itself. He is fielding more calls from high-net-worth Americans who are worried their taxes are set to rise. “I’ve been doing this for 20 years now, and always the calls were from people that did well in Canada and wanted to move to the U.S. to increase their standard of living and minimize their income taxes,” he says. “It’s quite noteworthy to me that now I’m getting calls from the U.S. interested in Canada for the same reasons.”

A typical caller is from a rural setting, who is a higher earner and interested in preserving their net worth and concerned about potential tax hikes, he says. Still, he notes, many callers are misinformed about the ease of coming to Canada and are soon deterred by red tape.

Luring skilled American workers to Canada is on the federal government’s radar, as well. Immigration Minister Jason Kenney recently noted Canada could do more to tap into America’s skilled labour market.

“We are looking at ways … that we could do a better job of accessing unemployed American labour,” he told the Calgary Chamber of Commerce last month. “We think particularly in the energy industry, that might be a significant solution to some of the emerging labour market shortages.”

The U.S. has ranked first among homelands for temporary foreign workers in Canada since 2008. Last year, the number of American citizens applying for temporary work permits doubled to 4,024, from 1,974 applications in 2008.

Judith Jones is mulling the move. The New York resident is no stranger to Canada – she lived in Toronto before returning to work in the U.S. in 1995.

She held a variety of jobs in the financial sector until her job at Deutsche Bank’s compliance department evaporated in 2008. Since then, she has struggled to find work in the sector that matches her 23 years of experience, and has watched her salary dwindle.

“Most of us in the financial industry who did banking like I did, we never expected Wall Street to crash,” she says. “I’ve since found out Canada did not have the recession we did to nearly to the same extent, and has better regulations. Unlike the U.S., you didn’t play around with the mortgage industry. That’s why it’s so attractive.”

She’s still healthy at age 47, but said Canada’s health care is another attraction as she sets her sights north.

She’s not alone. Last month, a New York radio segment on Looking for Work in Canada on The Brian Lehrer Show was flooded with calls and featured comparisons of the two countries’ banking systems, employment situation and health-care systems.

New York’s office of the state comptroller forecast this week that the city could lose almost 10,000 additional jobs by the end of next year, which would bring total job losses in the securities sector to 32,000 since the start of 2008.

By contrast, total global employment by Canadian banks hit a record of more than 360,000 last year, while the lobby group the Toronto Financial Service Alliance is holding a career fair in New York this month to attract top American talent.

Philip Turner isn’t packing his bags yet – but he is gearing his business more towards Canada. The book publisher is based in New York, and has long brought Canadian books, by authors such as Margaret Atwood and Mordecai Richler, to the U.S. market. Now, he is making more business trips to Toronto to drum up business.

“I am trying to develop business in Canada with Canadians,” he says. “There is a little more buzz in Canada right now than is the case here.”

_____________________

LOOKING FOR WORK

It’s not just Americans who are looking with envy at Canada’s comparatively stable economy.

Greeks and Irish too are vying to move to Canada amid dim job prospects in their own countries, according to immigration lawyers.

“I don’t speak Greek, but I am getting phone calls right now, and I think it’s going to intensify as the situation is only going to get worse,” says Toronto-based lawyer Sergio Karas.

In Windsor, Ont., lawyer Drew Porter says he has had “an awful lot of calls from Ireland over the past year-and-a-half.”

The number of temporary work applicants from Ireland nearly doubled between 2007 and 2010 and more than doubled from Spain, according to Immigration Canada. It has dwindled from Greece – however the numbers don’t capture activity this year.

Moncton group seeks Korean immigrants

CBC News 

Posted: Oct 11, 2011 10:54 AM AT 

Last Updated: Oct 11, 2011 10:51 AM AT

Enterprise Greater Moncton is seeking to attract new Korean immigrants to move to southeastern New Brunswick by celebrating the benefits of life in the Maritimes.

In fact, the business organization is also trying to recruit immigrants who may have become disenchanted with life in Canada's most populated cities.

Chad Peters, director of communications and community relations at Enterprise Greater Moncton, said the city has attracted 400 families from Korea in the last four years.

Peters is preparing to leave for the Ontario Korean Businessmen's Association's trade show next week.

He is bundling up promotional materials that are written in Korean and he is ready to tell potential immigrants about two churches that cater to Koreans, a community centre and various businesses that have been established in the city by Korean immigrants.

Peters said that should make it easier to entice other Korean immigrants to call the Moncton area home.

“We've establish a very strong base of a Korean community here in greater Moncton. We have over 400 families now,” he said.

“And because we have this critical mass, we can start to build on it which is only going to make it stronger.”

Peters said he's hoping to attract people who have settled in southern Ontario but are tired of the noise, hectic lifestyle and long commutes.

He said it's also a lot easier attracting people already in Canada.

“It's really no different than Alberta coming here in order to get workers. We are going to Ontario to look for workers,” he said.

Peters said this appearance at the trade show is a first, but he's planning similar presentations to other ethnic communities.