Immigration Canada

Severe worker shortages’ forecast for Alberta

BY MARIO TONEGUZZI

CALGARY — A perfect demographic storm is developing in Alberta leading to severe worker shortages for many years to come.
Thomas Lukaszuk, Alberta’s Minister of Employment and Immigration, said the province is already starting to see labour shortages in some sectors such as the transportation and hospitality industries.
“There are companies that simply can’t find workers already,” he said. “There are sectors that are already showing inability to readily find employees at competitive price. And that will only escalate as time goes on.
“Overall, we will have severe worker shortages not only in this province but in Western Canada for many, many years to come.”
Lukaszuk said the province is heading into a perfect demographic storm.
“Very rarely do stars align like that,” he said.
Many economists have forecast Alberta’s economy to be a nation-leader in the next couple of years. Many of the Baby Boomer generation are retiring which will create a “massive exodus” of workers. That will create a void in not only numbers but experience in the workforce. The natural population growth is not replacing that exodus. And the retirees will force increased demand for various services from coffee to medical care.
On Friday, Statistics Canada reported that the province’s unemployment rate dipped to 5.4 per cent for the month, down from 5.9 per cent in April. This rate was the third lowest in the country behind Saskatchewan’s 5.0 per cent and Manitoba’s 5.3 per cent. It was also down from 6.7 per cent in May 2010.
Employment increased by 8,500 and over the previous 12 months, employment grew by 2.8 per cent, or 56,300 jobs, the fastest growth rate in the country.
In the Calgary census metropolitan area, the unemployment rate fell to 5.7 per cent in May from 5.9 per cent in April. Statistics Canada said 1,500 jobs were created in the Calgary CMA from the previous month and year-over-year employment grew by 19,200 or 2.7 per cent in the region.
Calgary’s unemployment rate was 7.6 per cent a year ago.
Danica Lelliott, 33, was hired in May to work as a server at the Wurst Restaurant and Beer Hall. As she was job hunting, Lelliott noticed the growing choices that were available to her.
“There are quite a few jobs available — especially in the service industry. People are always hiring if you’re the right kind of person — if you have the experience and have the personality,” she said.
“There’s definitely a demand for people. People are more than willing to hire.”
Michael Fotheringham, research manager at Calgary Economic Development, said the local labour numbers are a positive trend with a gain in full-time employment and a decline in part-time employment.
“I think it means that we’re possibly inching closer to possible labour shortages (and with) increased demand and shifting demographics we may not be too far off the pre-recession unemployment rate,” said Fotheringham.
He said CED is sensing a more positive mood in the business community with further capital spending and job growth in the future. He expects the unemployment rate over the summer months to hold steady but see a further reduction in the fall.

The provincial government has developed a short-term employment forecast tool to identify potential imbalances in the labour market in the near future. Sixteen occupations were listed as having a significant likelihood of shortages in the next three years.
They include retail trade managers; restaurant and food service managers; mechanical engineers; petroleum engineers; computer programmers and interactive media developers; web designers and developers; general practitioners and family physicians; registered nurses; retail trade supervisors; food service supervisors; technical sales specialists, wholesale trade; hairstylists and barbers; estheticians, electrologists and related occupations; construction millwrights and individual mechanics (except textile); heavy-duty equipment mechanics; and motor vehicle body repairers.
In Alberta, full-time employment increased by 18,200 while part-time employment decreased by 9,600 from April to May 2011.
The following industries had the most employment increases in May from the previous month in the province: Construction, 8,600; Health Care and Social Assistance, 6,300; and Information, Culture and Recreation, 5,300.
Knightsbridge Human Capital Solutions has established an executive search Calgary-based practice in Alberta to help clients respond to the emerging talent crisis which some reports say will result in a labour shortfall of 77,000 workers over the next 10 years.
“From a human capital perspective, this is a critical time for Alberta,” said Mark Hopkins, managing partner. “We believe that companies must effectively manage the leadership gap being created as an aging workforce retires in ever-increasing numbers. At the same time, we are seeing rapidly increasing activity levels, increased technical and commercial demands, and a significant shortage of specialist technical skills.”
Across the country, the federal agency said employment rose by 22,000 in May, bringing gains over the previous 12 months to 273,000 (1.6 per cent). The employment increase in May, combined with a decline in the number of people looking for work, pushed the unemployment rate down 0.2 percentage points to 7.4 per cent, it said.

mtoneguzzi@calgaryherald.com

Chinese-Canadians and immigrants, not investors from China, largely driving market, experts say

Aerial view of Simon Fraser University in Burn...

Image via WikipediaBY BRIAN MORTON, VANCOUVER SUN

A growing belief that Metro Vancouver's hot housing market is being driven by Asian investment, primarily from mainland China, is a misconception, according to experts in the real estate field.
In fact, they say, evidence suggests buyers are mainly Canadian citizens, immigrants or new residents in Canada -many with strong links to mainland China and many residing and working in China while their families establish roots in B.C.
Most purchases are also being made as long-term holdings - in some cases for children attending local universities -with little of the quick "flipping" prevalent in previous hot markets.
"From what we've seen from most of the major launches, it's a different buying habit than previous runs on the market," Jennifer Podmore, real estate advisory leader for accounting giant Deloite, said in an interview Friday. "Generally, we're not seeing the investor as the main drivers of the market. There are certainly a lot more Asian purchasers, but not Asian investors coming to purchase a condo and then leaving.
"Most [buyers] have strong ties to Vancouver, meaning they're Canadians, immigrants or live here," added Podmore.
Daryl Simpson, Bosa Properties' vice-president of sales and marketing, agreed, citing their 202-unit Sovereign tower in Metrotown that recently sold out in one day, largely to ethnic Chinese buyers.
However, it's incorrect to identify the buyers as mainland Chinese, he said, because most came from other parts of Metro Vancouver. Some may have connections with mainland China, but no more than "half a dozen buyers" had addresses outside Canada.
In 2010 B.C. received about 47 per cent of Canada's investor-class immigrants, who must show a net worth of at least $1.6 million and are required to make an $800,000 investment in Canada, Podmore added.
While Chinese immigrants to B.C. represented about 19 per cent of the total immigration, Chinese and Taiwanese investor-class immigrants represented 79 per cent of the investor category.
Podmore's and Simpson's comments follow a surge in investment, largely by ethnic Asian buyers with links to mainland China, that's branching out from Richmond and Vancouver's west side as buyers look to other communities.
Several condominium towers in Burnaby, including Sovereign, sold out quickly in recent weeks, mainly to Asian buyers.
"If you see the type of demand that we've seen on the west side of Vancouver and Richmond spread elsewhere, it will push up prices, but it's unlikely to have the same dramatic effect on prices because there's much more of a supply of units elsewhere," Tsur Somerville, director of the centre for urban economics and real estate at Sauder School of Business at the University of B.C., said, adding that it's hard to conclude mainland Chinese buyers are behind the sales.
Robert Dominick, vice-president of sales and acquisitions for WestStone Properties, said Asian buyers are fuelling sales at his 393-unit Surrey City Centre highrise, Ultra.
"We opened the door for [our most recent] sales two weeks ago. We didn't advertise and simply through phone calls to Asian realtors in our first week we generated 23 sales."

Dominick said some buyers showed up on buying trips organized by Chinese-based tour operators, but that most aren't interested in "flipping."
He said many buyers involve China-based husbands with family in Metro Vancouver, while some want a condo for their children attending the nearby Simon Fraser University campus.
Polygon Homes president Neil Chrystal said it's difficult to say how many buyers are mainland Chinese investors, adding that "we see a lot of people speaking Mandarin, which is an indication." He noted that south Surrey, north Delta and West Vancouver are becoming more popular with Asian buyers.
Chrystal said that while their Chancellor highrise and two other Burnaby towers experienced lineups of predominantly Asian buyers, "a lot of the people were locals looking to downsize."
Meanwhile, a recent Landcor Data Corp. report said many of today's Chinese immigrants arrive "with fortunes intact, especially in the Lower Mainland, eagerly buying their own bits of the good life and helping buoy up real estate prices."
The report looked at luxury home sales in Richmond and Vancouver, matching new owners' Chinese surnames to see how many purchasers were Chinese, with 74 per cent fitting the criteria in 2010.
A recent China Daily report said Chinese home buyers have become the second-largest group of international buyers of U.S. homes -after Canadians.
bmorton@vancouversun.com

Legit Immigration Consultants Lobby Group To Go After Bogus Consultants

TORONTO – The recently instituted Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council (ICCRC), which is set to shortly take over as the new regulatory body for immigration consultants – or Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultants (RCICs), to give them their rightful name – will inter alia “go after ghost consultants,” both inside and outside Canada, Interim President and CEO Phil Mooney told practitioners at a recent Town Hall in Brampton, reported Toronto-based South Asian Focus newspaper.

Contrary to popular perception, there are plenty of ghost consultants operating right here in Canada, he asserted.

Mooney agreed however that there were also many more unscrupulous immigration consultants in source countries abroad. And while it’s true these don’t come under Canada’s direct purview, RCICs can certainly “damage their business” by naming and shaming them, he suggested.

The ICCRC chief addressed a series of Town Hall style meetings through the GTA last week as the organization itself prepares to take over from the current Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants (CSIC), which had earlier been put on notice by Immigration Minister Jason Kenney that it was likely be replaced by the incoming ICCRC.

The exact date of the takeover is still up in the air owing to legal snarl-ups, but the new body is widely expected to take over as the official regulatory authority this summer.

Mooney said the ICCRC’s three-point core mandate is to regulate, accredit, and fight ghost consultants. The new membership fees are set to be $1,550 per year.

While ICCRC will seek to slowly raise industry standards, unlike CSIC it will not force members to take specific courses, Mooney clarified.

For further details visit www.iccrc-crcic.ca

Labour crunch could be worse this time around .

The near-completion Art Gallery of Alberta in ...

Image via Wikipedia

By Bill Mah, Postmedia News June 17, 2011

EDMONTON - An executive from a big-name construction company drew laughs at a recent business conference when he urged everyone in the room to go home and make babies - so dire is the need for workers in Alberta.
It's no joke for employers. The labour shortage that plagued Alberta with long lines for service and inflated costs for purchases from burgers to upgraders is back.

The underlying factors never went away even when the economy tanked in late 2008 and 2009, argues Mike Corbett, senior vice-president of David Aplin Recruiting.
In fact, things may be worse this time around given an expected wave of retirements in 2011 - the year when baby boomers start turning 65, and healthy economies in regions that traditionally send labour to Alberta.
``We don't have the access to human capital that we did in the past,'' Corbett says. ``We may not see the economic expansion that we saw, but we'll find it more difficult to find those key resources.
``People are three or four years older and the stock market is almost at 14, 000 and they've recovered a lot of what they've lost so their appetite to retire is probably stronger today than it was in '08 or '09.''
Corbett warned of a labour shortage as early as January 2010. ``Although the unemployment rate is up, we haven't done anything to solve the labour-shortage problem that we experienced back in '07,'' he said at the time.
Now, the Alberta government forecasts a shortage of at least 77,000 workers within the next decade.
``We're walking into a perfect storm,'' Alberta Employment and Immigration Minister Thomas Lukaszuk says.
``Economic recovery, the return of skills shortages, the aging of our workforce and intensifying global competition for workers all highlight the need to continue our focus on developing the workforce.''
Employers say they can't find enough workers now - never mind 10 years from now.
``The market is getting tougher,'' said Mark McNeill, president of Master Flo Valve, an Edmonton-based exporter of choke valves and specialty control valves for the oil and gas industry.
``I'm looking for executives. I'm looking for engineers. We're looking for machinists. We're looking for service techs.''
He wants to hire 50 people, ``if we can find them.''
Bob Walker, vice-president for northern Alberta for Ledcor Construction Ltd., has an even bigger need. ``Our company needs a thousand people today,'' Walker says. ``Right today, I need a thousand more people than I needed month last and we hired more people and I still need a thousand more people.''
The problem is traditional sources of labour are drying up, he told the Edmonton Real Estate Forum in May. ``In five years, we'll laugh about how good it was today,'' Walker says.
Canadians are having fewer children, to 1.6 kids per family down from 2.3 kids in the baby boom generation, he says.
And workers in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and the Atlantic region are staying to work in their increasingly busy home provinces.
On top of that, a ``terrible'' new federal policy that forces people who immigrate under Canada's temporary foreign worker program to leave the country after four years, then wait four more years before they can reapply, Walker says.

``We've got to make it easier for people to want to come here to work,'' he says.
``We want them to come and move here. We can't make it where they're only going to be coming for a short time. We want a future for them. Where else are they going to be investing in building in the next 10 years in North America? It's going to be in Alberta.
``We've got to convince our politicians that it's OK to bring more people in and allow them to live here.''
Making matters worse, Alberta workers are themselves being targeted by labour-hungry employers from abroad.
Big players such as BHP Billiton, Caltex Australia, Origin Energy, Sinclair Knight Merz, Rio Tinto and Barmico held recruitment expos in Calgary and Edmonton in May.
``The massive rollout of Australian LNG (liquefied natural gas) and other resource projects in 2011 has prompted the need for offshore talent in the oil and gas, mining and engineering industries in Australia,'' says Rupert Merrick, of Working In Ltd., which held the weekend expos.
``We recognize that Alberta has an excellent international reputation for highly skilled individuals in these fields.''
Working in Australia offers international work experience, pay rates on average 20 per cent higher than Alberta, a balmier climate and exotic adventure opportunities.
Paul Verhesen, president of Clark Builders, told the audience at the Edmonton Real Estate Forum the construction industry is already close to its 2008 employment peak.
The difference is that in 2007-08, Clark had 400-500 people who lived outside of the province working for the company.
``Sure, they'll come back, but only if we're paying top dollar, only if we look after their accommodations and they have all these conditions,'' Verhesen says.
Verhesen says Clark Builders is now looking south for help.
``The U.S. is in slow recovery mode, if it's recovering at all and there's a real opportunity to bring a lot of those folks to Alberta to build our projects, '' Verhesen says.
McNeill, at Master Flo Valve, doesn't believe in recruiting from afar. ``We don't bring in a lot of foreign workers. We believe there's enough people out there.''
Employers just have to adjust their recruiting techniques for a new kind of job hunter, he says.
``It's all Internet-driven. They don't go knock on doors anymore. That's really unfortunate because we don't have Facebook or Twitter in our organization, but we're going to have to go there because that's how these guys are finding their jobs.''
Meanwhile, Employment Minister Lukaszuk has launched a provincial strategy aimed at convincing aging workers to put off retirement.
``Mature workers offer invaluable expertise and knowledge, especially to the younger generations,'' Lukaszuk says. ``Attracting, hiring and retaining older workers makes good business sense.''
Lukaszuk says he also wants to make better use of other groups under- represented in the workforce - aboriginals, youths, immigrants.

Ledcor's Walker says women are another undertapped source of skilled labour.
``We're saying to the ladies with the jobs in the Walmarts and stuff, come and be a tradesperson and make some good salaries and have a nice future,' Walker says.
``The next biggest category that we're looking at right now is the aboriginal community.
``They're great tradesmen and when we built the River Cree (Resort) project, 20 per cent of our labour force was First Nations. We were on time, on budget and it was a quality project.''
But Employment Minister Lukaszuk says adding from the ranks of unemployed and underemployed Albertans won't be enough.
``At the end of the day, our population growth is still not catching up with our labour force requirement to our economic growth.''
Others say the labour shortage goes beyond employer recruiting and immigration policies - it's making Alberta, and Edmonton, more attractive as a place to move.
``I don't know that we're doing the things necessary to attract people to the local economy here in terms of sheer numbers,'' says Mike Corbett, of David Aplin Recruiting, adding the competition for labour is now global.
``We've got to make Edmonton a destination that people want to come to so when you get into debates about a downtown arena, an arts district or things of that nature - it takes on a different perspective than this is something for the Oilers.
``We need to figure out a way to brand the city here so that we'll attract that segment of the population that will help drive the economy.
``The City of Edmonton, as a city-region is in competition, quite frankly, with the world now,'' says Gary Klassen, general manager of planning and development for the City of Edmonton.
He says he often hears company executives reluctantly moving to Edmonton, only to find they actually like the place. He also says the city needs to brand itself as a place to move to.
``The entire city needs to think about how we move that agenda forward because we need to be able to attract the talent that we're talking about,'' Klassen says.
``What we have to appreciate is that when we're building a city - the attractiveness and the amenities - that is the table stakes around the world that we're competing with.''
Edmonton Journal

Retiring boomers create immigrant opportunities

SURESH MADAN

Special to Globe and Mail Update

Published Wednesday, Jun. 15, 2011 2:44PM EDT

Last updated Wednesday, Jun. 15, 2011 2:49PM EDT

Thirty years ago when Indian immigrants came to Canada, they typically became taxi drivers.

Ten years ago they frequently took jobs at local factories as engineers or as site managers.

Now, when Indian immigrants move to Canada, they aspire to be business owners.

Canada's points-based immigration system has ensured that new arrivals are more educated than most second- or third-generation Canadians. Almost all of them are post-secondary graduates and many of them are professionally qualified doctors, engineers, lawyers and MBAs. Almost all of them have good language skills and a wealth of experience operating businesses. As the Indian economy has opened up in recent years, a large number of immigrants have experience working for multinationals and they have a good understanding of systems and procedures for operating companies.

Indians are known to have higher savings and in many cases they have start-up cash at their disposal.

Immigration Canada calculates that nearly 40,000 immigrants are coming directly from India and additional immigrants of Indian origin are arriving from a number of other countries with similar skill sets.

Looking for a job in their new home, especially when Canada continues to face a relatively high unemployment rate, is a daunting task. They are particularly disadvantaged if they have to retrain themselves at an educational institution for two or three years, then start again at the bottom of the ladder, essentially erasing all their prior education and experience.

Canadian business are undergoing a demographic tsunami as baby boomers – born between 1946 and 1965 – are reaching the age of 65. That generation accounts for 33 per cent of the Canadian population and well over half of the working population. According to Statistics Canada, there are 1.4 million small businesses in Canada. Almost all of them are owned by baby boomers.

In a recent study conducted by a major Canadian bank, more than 500,000 Canadian small-business owners are planning to retire over the next five years, and another 750,000 are expecting to retire by 2020. This offers a considerable opportunity for Indian immigrants to acquire businesses.

Jim Treliving, chairman and founder of Boston Pizza International, at a recent event organized by The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) organization, stated that more than 25 per cent of Boston Pizza franchisees are Indian entrepreneurs. Boston Pizza has in excess of 400 locations. Indian entrepreneurs have also made considerable in-roads in the broader retail and hospitality sectors.

Many others are taking advantage of various programs through TiE, and they are setting up businesses in information and communications technology, clean tech, health care and other innovative sectors.

Special to The Globe and Mail

Suresh Madan is a Toronto-based fund manager and president of TiE Toronto. TiE, the world's largest non-profit focused on promoting entrepreneurship, organizes a number of events to help aspiring entrepreneurs start and operate new businesses. Successful entrepreneurs are matched with aspiring owners to help guide and mentor them. More than 400 aspiring entrepreneurs are currently working to develop their ventures, and more than 25 of them have already raised in excess of $1 million in funding. Some have already made successful exits.

Buying Canadian has rarely made more sense

DAVID ROSENBERG | Columnist profile

From Tuesday's Globe and Mail

Published Monday, Jun. 13, 2011 7:08PM EDT

Last updated Tuesday, Jun. 14, 2011 1:38PM EDT

My colleagues and I recently made a presentation to a group of well-heeled and sophisticated investors out in warm, sunny California.

What these people came to hear about was the potential for investing in Canada, that big, far-away, snowy chunk of land at the top of the map. Few had anything but a peripheral understanding of just how large, vibrant and independent their northern cousin’s economy is, and what investment opportunities Canada has to offer.

So what were they told?

That, over the past 10 years, a period that encompassed two huge bull markets and two mammoth bear markets, the S&P 500 – the benchmark U.S. stock index – was flat on an annual rate, while the Toronto Stock Exchange grew at a 5-per-cent annual rate in local currency terms, and the Canadian dollar rose at nearly a 5-per-cent annual rate.

In other words, Canadian equities produced a combined return from both stock market gains and currency appreciation of about 10 per cent a year more than U.S. stocks. And about half the outperformance came from currency appreciation.

One would think that the Canadian dollar’s rise over par would be wreaking havoc on Canadian industries. Instead, the data reveal that exports are up 10 per cent in the past year, manufacturing shipments have risen 10 per cent, and factory payrolls have managed to eke out a 2-per-cent gain.

Being in a good currency has its advantages. And the Canadian dollar is in a long-term bull market, interim corrective phases notwithstanding.

Several forces have placed Canada’s economy in the sweet spot. Let’s examine a few:

Natural resources: Global investors are looking for reserves in the ground. This is true whether or not China endures a few quarters of subdued growth to quash its inflation buildup. Whether it be equity market capitalization, shipments or exports, Canada has triple the commodity share the United States has.

Canada is the world’s 14th-largest oil exporter while the United States is the largest importer – and with crude seemingly in a semi-permanent new and higher range, the balance-of-payments effect will continue to act as a huge underpinning for Canada’s currency.

Yield: Global investors are looking for safety and income at a reasonable price. In equities, the TSX delivers a 2.6-per-cent dividend yield, 64 basis points above the S&P 500. (A basis point is 1/100th of a percentage point.) Canadian banks pay out a 3.7-per-cent yield, versus 1 per cent stateside. Consider that the yield on the Canadian banks is higher than you can get on a 10-year U.S. Treasury bond.

Stability: The recent federal election saw the Conservatives – the party that emphasized fiscal integrity and ever-lower corporate tax rates in its campaign platform – emerge with a majority government. This appeals to global investors, who are seeking political stability in a world awash with uncertainty.

The last time Canada had a Conservative majority government was in the late 1980s, which ushered in an era of free trade with the United States, deregulation measures and tax reform, and was a great time to be long Canadian dollars.

Organic growth: Global investors are searching for economies that can grow organically, without being propped up by the crutch of fiscal and monetary stimulus.

Canada is a winner in this regard. The federal government stopped easing fiscal policy well over a year ago and the Bank of Canada has not embarked on any “quantitative easing” programs either. In contrast, since mid-2008, the U.S. Federal Reserve Board’s balance sheet has expanded 20 times more than that of the Bank of Canada’s.

Meanwhile, the Bank of Canada has raised interest rates four times. And guess what? Even with rising rates and a stronger currency, the Canadian economy expanded at a 3.2-per-cent rate compared with 2.9 per cent south of the border.

Look ma – no strings attached!

Fiscal sanity: Global investors are looking for strong fiscal balance sheets as well. On this score, with a 31-per-cent net federal debt-to-GDP ratio, Canada is near the bottom rung on the debt ladder compared with other developed nations.

I don’t mean to wrap myself in the Canadian flag but often I am asked when I will start to ease up on the positive Canada story. It will be when the good news has been fully discounted.

The potential in Canadian investments relative to our neighbour south of the border has rarely been as compelling as it is now.

David Rosenberg is chief economist and strategist for Gluskin Sheff + Associates Inc. and a guest columnist for Report on Business.

Canada among 10 most peaceful countries

By Mitch PotterWashington Bureau

WASHINGTON—Canada ranks for the first time among the world’s Top 10 most peaceful nations in a new global security assessment released Wednesday.

The Global Peace Index, which measures a complex array of 23 indicators ranging from levels of militarization to internal strife, incarceration and murder rates, placed Canada 8th internationally in 2011, jumping from 14th the previous year.

The assessment is likely to raise eyebrows in Toronto, where the violent scenes that attended last year’s G20 Summit remain a topic of heated debate.

Yet the GPI report, while assigning Canada a “slight rise in the likelihood of violent demonstrations,” downplayed events surrounding the G20 as a one-time blip more than offset by broader Canadian trends toward “societal safety and security.”

Canada’s high ranking comes in stark contrast to that of the United States, which placed 82nd among 153 countries analyzed, reflecting “much higher levels of militarization and involvement in external conflicts than its northern neighbour,” the report said.

Iceland, now recovering from the 2009 global economic meltdown and largely bereft of internal and external strife, regained 1st place in the 2011 GPI report, to be released Wednesday in Washington. Iceland is followed by New Zealand, Japan, Denmark and the Czech Republic. Small, stable democracies ranked highest, with 14 of the top 20 countries in western or central Europe.

The overall trend in 2011 suggests the world become “slightly less peaceful” over the past year, the report summarized, reflecting a higher potential for terrorism and violent demonstrations amid the political turmoil of the Arab Spring.

Somalia scored last, followed closely by Iraq, Sudan, Afghanistan and North Korea in the fifth annual report, compiled by the Institute for Economics and Peace in partnership with the Economist Intelligence Unit.

The measurement of peace is an evolving science and this year the GPI refined its approach, weighing 23 “qualitative and quantitative factors ranging from a nation’s level of military expenditure to its relations with neighbouring countries and the level of respect for human rights.”

Canada’s rise in the global ranks came, in part, as others fell. But the GPI credited Ottawa for achieving a thaw during 2010 in neighbourly relations, as trade tensions with the United States receded and Canada dialed down rhetoric on arctic sovereignty, easing relations with Norway, Russia and others.

“The reality is if you go down each of these 23 indicators, society is quite distinctly safer in Canada — and the difference of some 80 places above the United States is considerable,” Clyde McConaghy, president and co-founder of the GPI, told the Toronto Star.

“Even taking into account the G20 spike, Canada has startling distinctions that measure very well.”

Among other factors, the report credits Canada for “a moderately sophisticated and capable military sphere,” noting Canada’s defence budget has “broad declined” as a proportion of overall government spending since 1964, when three military branches were reorganized into the Canadian Armed Forces.

Limited access to small arms and light weapons and a comparatively low incarceration rate of 117 per 100,000 people in 2010 also elevated Canada in the global rankings.

Mideast countries struggling through the Arab Spring also saw a collapse in their global rankings, with Libya, Bahrain and Egypt falling farthest, in that order. But GPI officials acknowledge the possibility of “one step backward to go two steps forward” as the hope for many countries in the region.

“The question remains whether countries such as Libya, which experienced a huge fall, will be able to put in place more effective forms of government that will improve society for their own people,” said McConaghy.

The intent behind the GPI is to break new analytical ground on understanding “the conditions and structures that typify peaceful nations,” thereby offering a pathway for others to follow suit, he said.

“We don’t believe in failed states. We try to make no moral judgment on why and where (individual countries) are,” he said. He points to Angola — a country consistently rising from deep crisis 10 years ago — as an example of how “bottom-dwellers” are able to become “movers and shakers” toward stability and prosperity.

“As the research deepens, we now understand the structures of peace better than ever before,” said McConaghy. The findings, he said, provide “an actionable proposition” to show “these are the sorts of levers we need to pull to make more peaceful societies.”

Immigration Canada

Severe worker shortages’ forecast for Alberta

Chinese-Canadians and immigrants, not investors from China, largely driving market, experts say

Legit Immigration Consultants Lobby Group To Go After Bogus Consultants

Labour crunch could be worse this time around .