INFLATION IN CANADA IN 2011

Inflation figures were released today by Statistics Canada. Figures are available for the country, by province and territory, by main expense group and some other classifications. The inflation presented is base on the Consumer Price Index. Here are some of the numbers.

NATIONAL INFLATION

Consumer prices increased 2.3% from January to December 2012. This inflation in the country can be compared to that in previous years:

·        2011: 2.38%

·        2010: 1.16%

·        2009: 1.32%

·        2008: 2.35%

·        2007: 2.30%

Also, compared with the inflation in the other NAFTA countries for 2011 (2.96% in the US and 3.82% in Mexico) we can see the price increase in Canada has been lower than in these countries.

INFLATION BY PROVINCE AND TERRITORY

·        National 2.3%

·        Northwest Territories 3.5%,

·        New Brunswick 3.3%,

·        Newfoundland and Labrador 3.2%

·        Alberta 2.9%

·        Prince Edward Island 2.9%

·        Nova Scotia 2.8%

·        Yukon 2.8%

·        Manitoba 2.6%

·        Saskatchewan 2.5%

·        Quebec 2.5%

·        Ontario 2.0%

·        Nunavut 1.9%

·        British Columbia 1.7%

INFLATION BY MAIN EXPENSE GROUP

·        All ítems 2.3%

·        Food 4.4%

·        Transportation 3.3%

·        Household operations, furnishings and equipment 2.3%

·        Health and personal care 2.0%

·        Shelter 1.8%

·        Alcoholic beverages and tobacco 0.9%

·        Clothing and footwear 0.3%

·        Recreation, education and reading 0.2%

DEFINITION OF CONSUMER PRICE INDEX (CPI)

The definition presented by Statistics Canada for the Consumers' Price Index (CPI) is the following:

"The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is an indicator of changes in consumer prices experienced by Canadians. It is obtained by comparing, over time, the cost of a fixed basket of goods and services purchased by consumers. Since the basket contains goods and services of unchanging or equivalent quantity and quality, the index reflects only pure price change.

The CPI is widely used as an indicator of the change in the general level of consumer prices or the rate of inflation. Since the purchasing power of money is affected by changes in prices, the CPI is useful to virtually all Canadians. Consumers can compare movements in the CPI to changes in their personal income to monitor and evaluate changes in their financial situation."

About Acus Consulting. This firm supports companies, organizations and government agencies in financial and strategic analysis, investment project evaluations, financial planning and decision making. It is based in Toronto.

Immigrant entrepreneurs can transform small, even dying, communities.

 An article by sarah     No Comments

Not very long ago, the former mill town of Lewiston, Maine was a dying community, unable to reinvent itself after the mills closed. Yet an influx of entrepreneurial Somalis followed by other Africans with good trading connections has revived and reshaped its economy.  As quoted in areport for the Ford Foundation (p. 15), the head of the local growth council said, “It’s been an absolute blessing in many ways…just to have an infusion of diversity, an infusion of culture and of youth.”  The transformation of Lewiston appears to have been triggered by the arrival of a single family that in turn recruited other friends and families to settle in the town. The result has been an infusion of people and new businesses.

Most of Canada’s immigrants settle in large urban centres, but studies of immigrants in rural Canada show that many do prefer to live in smaller communities.  Immigrants may enjoy various benefits of living in small communities. Indeed, a 2008 Statistics Canada study found that immigrants fared better in smaller communities in various ways:

• immigrants in smaller areas quickly learn an official language because official language communication is more important in smaller areas than larger cities
• immigrants with less education in smaller areas fare better economically than immigrants with less education in larger cities
• refugees integrate quicker in smaller areas than in larger cities

At the same time, smaller communities are increasingly interested in attracting more immigrants: immigration is viewed as a means of countering population decline and revitalizing local economies.  To attract and retain immigrants, smaller communities need to offer economic opportunities, services and supports that newcomers need, and amenities such as transit.  Moreover, the communities must be welcoming of new cultures and new ideas.

In Nova Scotia, for example, the unemployment rate among immigrants was 7.4% in 2009, lower than for native Nova Scotians and immigrants to the rest of Canada.  This is partially due to the larger incidence of immigrants creating their own businesses.  As cited in an online article, Howard Ramos of Dalhousie University noted: “This is what I find interesting — a lot of the successful migrants are people who have come as entrepreneurial immigrants…. They open a hotel, kayaking outfitter or some value-added tourist element — they provide jobs for themselves, their families and a few people in the community.”

Click here to open a report on Immigrants in Rural Canada based on the 2006 Census.

Canada a safe haven for bond investors

Zara McAlister  Jan 17, 2012 – 12:26 PM ET | Last Updated: Jan 17, 2012 3:27 PM ET

Andy Clark/Reuters

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Canada has long been considered a safe haven for immigrants and it is now one for bond investors with the European financial crisis worsening. The month of November revealed a massive increase of foreign inflows in Canadian securities, jumping to $15-billion from just $3.9-billion in October.

Most of the inflows came via bonds – both corporate and government of Canada – primarily from U.S. investors who bought $5.3-billion worth, according to Statistics Canada. Money-market instruments and equities also attracted more foreign investment in November. Japanese investors, on the other hand, reduced their holdings for a third consecutive month.

Nomura economist Charles-St Arnaud says strong inflows into Canadian markets over the past few months coincides with heightened global uncertainty, while inflows into Canada tend to be weak when risk sentiment is more positive. He thinks November confirms this trend.

Since many eurozone countries were downgraded last week, the economist believes Canada, which has an AAA rating, will continue to attract strong foreign inflows.

“This continues to point to some safe-haven flows going to Canada,” he says.

But National Bank strategist Krishen Rangasamy warns foreign investors that there is a limit to net inflows into federal government bonds. She says Ottawa plans to cap supply as part of the plan to balance the budget by 2015-16.

“With the limited supply of Canada’s being an issue, foreigners wishing to increase their Canadian exposure may increasingly turn to bonds from other Canadian issuers,” she says, suggesting provincial or corporate bonds as alternatives.

Source: The Financial Post.

Canadian website for foreign credentials launched

by RAY CLANCY on JANUARY 17, 2012

IQN website to help immigrants with better intergration into Canadian labour market

It is now easier to work out if your foreign qualifications can be accepted in Canada with the launch of a new website to help people applying for work.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada has launched the International Qualification Network (IQN) for the assessment and recognition of foreign worker qualifications.

It serves as a virtual space for employers, regulatory bodies, governments and organizations to capitalize on promising qualification assessment and recognition practices.

‘The Government of Canada is committed to improving the process of recognizing foreign worker qualifications, and the IQN website will help find solutions that will allow immigrants to integrate better into the Canadian labour market,’ said Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney.

Through the IQN website, stakeholders can share effective evaluation tools and practices, studies, pilot projects, reports and videos and post information on events, such as workshops and conferences.

The website was created with the guidance of the IQN Advisory Council, a group of 20 partners and stakeholders who represent various provinces, employers and post secondary education institutions from across Canada. The information posted on the IQN will benefit everyone in all jurisdictions.

For example, The Registered Nurses Professional Development Centre in Nova Scotia has posted a profile of its programme to assist internationally educated health care professionals in getting their credentials recognized and integrating into the province’s labour market. The profile serves as a model for other nursing associations in other provinces to design their own programme.

The Multi jurisdictional Midwifery Bridging Project (MMBP) posted an outline of its eight month bridging programme for internationally educated midwives who want to practice in British Columbia, Alberta, the Northwest Territories, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Nova Scotia. The outline provides valuable information to foreign midwives and organisations assisting immigrants.

With the creation of the IQN website, the Government of Canada is delivering on a two year commitment to support provincial, territorial and stakeholder efforts to improve international credential recognition through the Pan-Canadian Framework for the Assessment and Recognition of Foreign Qualifications.

The IQN website is administered by the Foreign Credentials Referral Office, a branch of Citizenship and Immigration Canada that offers referral services in Canada and overseas to immigrants, and develops tools for employers and regulatory bodies so they can help immigrants integrate into the Canadian workforce.

Calgary’s Employment Forums Go Face-To-Face

Bringing the city's hiring managers face-to-face with immigrant job-seekers

Many immigrants who come to Canada want to work for municipalities because government jobs are held in high regard in their countries of origin, says Cheryl Goldsmith, Human Resources Advisor at the City of Calgary.

The challenge is to ensure those who are enthusiastically applying to work at the City are a good match for the jobs, she says.

To that end, Goldsmith and her colleagues partnered with the Immigrant Sector Council of Calgary to establish the Immigrant Employment Partnership Project. The project’s mandate is to “promote employment for newcomers and other immigrant stakeholders in Calgary, and to educate these groups about the careers available with The City of Calgary,” says Goldsmith.

One-stop shop for skilled immigrants

The project has been an outstanding success. This is partly due to the emphasis on employment forums — a “one-stop shop” for new Canadian professionals interested in a career with the City.

Typically, each forum features direct interaction with City of Calgary hiring managers. The forum begins with a general presentation on the recruitment process, followed by individual hiring managers presenting information on how their profession is practiced within the municipality. During these programs, the managers discuss what types of jobs are available, as well as what qualifications and qualities they’re looking for.

Finally, the managers sit down one-on-one with the immigrants, who will get a chance to ask questions. “This is valued as one of the best parts of the forum,” says Goldsmith.

She cites the work of the Immigrant Sector Council of Calgary in helping to co-ordinate the agencies to work with the City at these forums. “We always make sure to keep a balanced focus on our partners in the immigrant employment and settlement sector,” she says.

Employer forums on the horizon

In the past, the forums have focused on the immigrant professionals and immigrant employment counselors. Looking ahead, the partnership hopes to also focus on employers.

An “employer forum,” says Goldsmith, would share the model of the Immigrant Employment Partnership and highlight the importance of:

• Working as a partner: sharing the leadership and training responsibilities between the employer and the immigrant-serving agencies.
• Sharing expertise: gaining essential knowledge from immigrant-serving agencies about interviewing immigrants and analyzing their résumés.
• Being creative: participating in career fairs targeting immigrants and reducing barriers in electronic recruitment.

“Partnership is such a viable model because of the learning opportunities,” says Goldsmith. “Peer-to-peer and cross-sector learning has opened so many doors for the City as an employer. Our hiring processes have been greatly improved because of our partnerships.”

The upside to this multifaceted approach to immigrant recruitment has been an overall improvement in human resources services at the City of Calgary. The City now has International Qualifications Assessment Services guides available online, which allows both HR and hiring managers to quickly check international credentials.

“At present, there is a much higher internal awareness of how international credentials factor into the hiring process,” says Goldsmith. “Before this information was provided on our intranet, résumés with such credentials might have been screened out.”

The City of Calgary has more than 14,000 employees.

Source: Hire Immigrants

Russians are leaving the country in droves

Some chafe at life under Vladimir Putin's rule, but for many others, economic limitations are the prime motivator. Experts say the numbers have reached demographically dangerous levels.

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Russians line up for visas outside the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. (Sergei L. Loiko / Los Angeles Times)

November 14, 2011|By Sergei L. Loiko, Los Angeles Times

Reporting from Moscow — Over a bottle of vodka and a traditional Russian salad of pickles, sausage and potatoes tossed in mayonnaise, a group of friends raised their glasses and wished Igor Irtenyev and his family a happy journey to Israel.

Irtenyev, his wife and daughter insist they will just be away for six months, but the sadness in their eyes on this recent night said otherwise.

A successful Russian poet, Irtenyev says he can no longer breathe freely in his homeland, because "with each passing year, and even with each passing day, there is less and less oxygen around."

"I just can't bear the idea of watching [Vladimir] Putin on television every day for the next 12 years," the 64-year-old said of the Russian leader who has presided over a relatively stable country, though one awash in corruption and increasing limits on personal freedoms. "I may not live that long. I want out now."

Irtenyev and his family have joined a new wave of Russian emigration that some here have called the "Putin decade exodus."

Roughly 1.25 million Russians have left the country in the last 10 years, Sergei Stepashin, head of the national Audit Chamber, told the radio station Echo of Moscow. The chamber tracks migration through tax revenues.

He said the exodus is so large, it's comparable in numbers to the outrush in the wake of the Bolshevik Revolution.

"About as many left the country after 1917," he said.

They don't leave like their predecessors of the Soviet 1970s and '80s, with no intention to return. They don't sell their apartments, dachas and cars. They simply lock the door, go to the airport and quietly leave.

The reasons are varied. Some, like Irtenyev, chafe at life under Putin's rule, which seems all but certain to continue with the prime minister's expected return to the presidency next year. But for many others, economic strictures are the prime motivation. With inflation on the rise, and the country's GDP stuck at an annual 3% growth rate the last three years — compared with 7% to 8% before the global economic crisis — Russians are feeling pinched.

Russian nuclear physicist Vladimir Alimov, who now works at the University of Toyama in Japan, said he couldn't survive on the $450 monthly salary of a senior researcher at the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

"Yes, I miss Russia, but as a scientist I couldn't work there with the ancient equipment which had not been replaced or upgraded since the Soviet times," Alimov, 60, said in a phone interview. "Here in Japan, I have fantastic work conditions. I can do the work I enjoy and be appreciated and valued for it, everything I couldn't even dream of back in Russia."

The wave of emigration, which has included large numbers of educated Russians, has grave implications for a country of 142 million with a death rate significantly higher than its birthrate. A study published this year by the Berlin Institute for Population and Development called Russia a waning power and predicted its population would shrink by 15 million by 2030.

Experts believe that 100,000 to 150,000 people now leave the country annually and warn that the exodus reached dangerous dimensions in the last three years.

"People are going abroad for better college education, for better medical help, for better career opportunities, believing they will come back someday, but very few actually do," said Dmitry Oreshkin, a political analyst with the Institute of Geography. "The intellectual potential of the nation is being washed away, as the most mobile, intelligent and active are leaving."

Lev Gudkov, head of Levada, also sees a political dimension. "The worst thing is that people who could have played a key role in the modernization campaign proclaimed by the Kremlin are all leaving," Gudkov said. "But it appears that the Kremlin couldn't care less if the most talented, the most active Russians are emigrating, because their exodus lifts the social and political tension in the country and weakens the opposition."

But Valery Fyodorov, the head of VTsIOM, says the current emigration has very little to do with politics.

"A majority of those who want to leave the country are already quite successful in Russia," Fyodorov said. "They simply want to live even better and try something new."

"However, I must admit that life in Russia has not been really improving in the last three years, and that of course applies pressure and encourages talk of leaving," he said. "But that is much more connected with economic crisis problems and consequences rather than politics."

About 20% of Russians are thinking about leaving the country and trying their luck abroad, according to various Russian polling agencies, from the independent Levada Center to the Kremlin-friendly VTsIOM. Among 18- to 35-year-olds, close to 40% of respondents say they'd like to leave.