Bill Gates says Trudeau's approach to immigration, refugees good for business

By Geordon Omand, The Canadian Press

Canada's open approach to immigration and its willingness to welcome tens of thousands of Syrian refugees is an "enlightened" move that will benefit the country's business sector, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates says.
The business leader and philanthropist was in Vancouver on Tuesday to speak at the Emerging Cascadia Innovation Conference, aimed at strengthening the technology and business ties between British Columbia and Washington state.
"I think Canada's very well positioned. It's got good, strong universities, good policies -- certainly more enlightened immigration policies than most countries have, which is a real asset," said Gates, who is listed by the American business magazine Forbes as the richest man in the world with a US$81-billion net worth.
Gates commended Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for his role in helping people fleeing conflict in the Middle East.
"He as a leader wants to remind people about openness and taking in refugees in an appropriate way."
Gates also spoke about the need to address the gender gap in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, as well as the importance of investing in education.
"It is no coincidence that if you look at high-tech jobs in a location there is a very strong correlation to where you have very high-quality universities," he said.

Research highlighted 

Gates addressed the crowd of mostly business and government leaders alongside Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, who's been at the helm of the company since 2014.
"I'm very, very excited about the work we're doing in Vancouver," Nadella said, adding that he hopes to establish the same research and development partnerships with the University of British Columbia that exist with the University of Washington.
"It's the human capital that is going to make a fundamental impact in terms of what Microsoft's future is."
In 2014, the Canadian government sped up the immigration process by exempting Microsoft from having its foreign employees complete labour market impact assessments.
The federal government has been criticized for the move, as Microsoft faces accusations of using Vancouver as a "staging ground" for non-Americans to qualify more quickly for a transfer to the U.S.
Earlier on Tuesday, the premier of British Columbia and governor of Washington state advocated for the expansion of an innovation corridor between the two jurisdictions to bolster research efforts, which they predicted will one day lead researchers to find a cure for cancer.
The success and the potential of strengthening cross-border collaboration was trumpeted by Premier Christy Clark and Gov. Jay Inslee.
The leaders also floated the possibility of developing joint academic degree programs, which could be started on one side of the border and finished on the other, as well as linking PhD certificates to offers of citizenship.
Clark and Inslee's speeches focused heavily on past successes as both leaders gear up in the coming months to face voters for re-election.
Clark drew laughter and applause when she referenced the common features of Washington State and B.C., which she said included an abundance of rain, mountains and ocean, as well as opposition to U.S. presidential hopeful Donald Trump.

Pilot program aims to help new immigrants to Guelph find jobs

English: Wellington Brewery in Guelph, Ontario
English: Wellington Brewery in Guelph, Ontario (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Source: Guelph Mercury
For new immigrants coming to Canada, a key part of getting settled in a community is finding a job, but the task is not always easy, even where there are jobs available.
A new program piloted by Immigrant Services Guelph-Wellington is aiming to help newcomers get the skills they need to get hired, while at the same time filling a need in the local labour market.
“The program has already been employing people,” says Immigrant Services employment co-ordinator Sohrab Rahmaty.
It’s called the Circle of Learning, and it officially started on Sept. 8 with a group of around a dozen people from various countries, all of whom have settled in Canada and are looking for jobs.
“They’re all newcomers from different walks of life,” said Rahmaty.
Among their countries of origin are Iran, Russia, Iraq, Israel, Ethiopia and Somalia, to name a few. Some of them have been in Canada for years, some for only weeks. Some are employed, but are looking for better jobs, some are looking for jobs in a particular field, others are looking to move from volunteering into paid work.
The Circle of Learning program is meant to help them reach their goals by providing training in a variety of essential skills that will help them through the employment process in Canada.
“Some of the things could be very elementary for a Canadian who has been here for a long time,” Rahmaty said.
While many people born in Canada might take elements of the employment process — from preparing a resume, to interview, to hiring — for granted, the process may not be so simple for someone who is not from here, explained Rahmaty.
“Back home, it would be different, the way you look for jobs,” he said.
Differences might range from job qualifications and training standards to workplace culture and social conventions.
As well, those who are new to Canada often face a number of other challenges, such as a language barrier or difficulty making connections.
“It’s multiple things,” Rahmaty said. “It’s lack of Canadian experience; it’s low language skills; it’s the uncertainty and the complexity of trying to navigate the labour market.”
Topics included in the seven-week program include Canadian workplace culture, interview and interpersonal communications, community networking, workplace health and safety, first aid, customer service, and more.
While there are other offices that provide employment services and programs in Guelph, Immigrant Services is the office best positioned to provide these services to newcomers, Rahmaty said.
“We’re the most front-line organization when it comes to immigrant issues in Guelph,” he said, noting the organization is seeing a high demand for an employment program.
“Our difference is that we have in-house language facilitators,” he said.
It can be difficult for other local agencies to navigate the system with someone who doesn’t have a strong command of English, he said.
In the classroom at Immigrant Services on Dawson Road, where most of the first half of the training program is taking place, the majority of people sitting around the table have some command of English.
At the back, a translator sits, softly repeating the facilitator’s words to a couple of the participants in their own language.
The topic of this class is applying for jobs and interview skills.
“Speaking over the phone is even more difficult than in person,” says Yorlenis Proenza, who works in pre-employment and volunteer development at Immigrant Services, and is leading the class. She is speaking about the happy, but also nerve-wracking experience of being contacted for an interview.
“Language skills make it scary,” said Leila Kamali, a program participant who came to Canada five years ago from Iran.
“English is not our first language, so we may have to take extra time to articulate,” responds Proenza, who comes from Cuba.
She is running through the step-by-step process of applying for a job, going over everything from how to answer the phone when a potential employer calls to how to dress for an interview, to the proper way to conduct oneself in an interview situation.
“Not every country in the world is used to the eye-contact thing,” Proenza says, noting a key cultural difference the students may encounter.
Her coaching is geared toward providing the skills they will need to be confident in their quest for a job.
Later in the day, the class goes through some mock interviews to put those skills into action.
For Kamali, the hope is to find a better job than the one she was previously doing.
Kamali has a bachelor’s degree in food nutrition, and has studied quality assurance at Conestoga College. She worked for a couple of years in a local restaurant, but is looking for a job that fits better with her field of study.
“I thought it might be helpful to be familiar with the workplace and Canadian work culture,” Kamali said of her reasons for joining the Circle of Learning program.
“Here, there are very kind people. They try to help us and connect us,” she said of the people at Immigrant Services. “Also, they teach us. They know lots about what you should do and don’t do.”
Kamali said she is also looking forward to the WHMIS (Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System) and first aid training, which she thinks will be a good asset on her resume.
“You have to pay for this sometimes, and this is free,” she said.
While the goal is to help people find meaningful employment, there is also a hope that the program will help local companies that are experiencing hiring difficulties.
“We’re doing this to help the labour market shortage,” Rahmaty said.
Locally, there’s a demand for workers in warehouse settings, as well as merchandising and customer service, he said.
“While they’re doing training, we’re also working with employers to find these people placements once they get out,” he said, noting for some of the participants just making those connections will be key.
In the latter half of the once-a-week training program, participants will move onto technical and applied workshops, some of which will be held at actual worksites, where they can learn hands-on skills.
Immigrant Services is partnering with local organizations such as Habitat for Humanity and Action Read for some of these elements.
“This program is developed as a community-based program,” said Rahmaty, noting the program’s partnerships “allow our newcomers to be exposed to the different organizations in the city.”
There is also an education component to the program, where the University of Guelph, Conestoga College, and the Wellington Centre for Continuing Education will provide information for those who are looking to further their Canadian education, Rahmaty said.
The program is being piloted thanks to support from the Co-operators Insurance Group’s Community Economic Development Fund, but the hope is to be able to offer it on an ongoing basis, Rahmaty said.
“I think the demand is showing itself,” he said. “It’s something that is needed for Guelph-Wellington.”

Bill Gates commends Canada's immigration approach

English: Signage at Canada Place, Vancouver, B...
English: Signage at Canada Place, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
VANCOUVER - Canada's open approach to immigration and its willingness to welcome tens of thousands of Syrian refugees is an "enlightened" move that will benefit the country's business sector, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates says.
The business leader and philanthropist was in Vancouver on Tuesday to speak at the Emerging Cascadia Innovation Conference, aimed at strengthening the technology and business ties between British Columbia and Washington state.
"I think Canada's very well positioned. It's got good, strong universities, good policies — certainly more enlightened immigration policies than most countries have, which is a real asset," said Gates, who is listed by the American business magazine Forbes as the richest man in the world with a $81-billion (U.S.) net worth.
Gates commended Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for his role in helping people fleeing conflict in the Middle East.
"He as a leader wants to remind people about openness and taking in refugees in an appropriate way."
Gates also spoke about the need to address the gender gap in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, as well as the importance of investing in education.
"It is no coincidence that if you look at high-tech jobs in a location there is a very strong correlation to where you have very high-quality universities," he said.
Gates addressed the crowd of mostly business and government leaders alongside Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, who's been at the helm of the company since 2014.
"I'm very, very excited about the work we're doing in Vancouver," Nadella said, adding that he hopes to establish the same research and development partnerships with the University of British Columbia that exist with the University of Washington.
"It's the human capital that is going to make a fundamental impact in terms of what Microsoft's future is."
In 2014, the Canadian government sped up the immigration process by exempting Microsoft from having its foreign employees complete labour market impact assessments.
The federal government has been criticized for the move, as Microsoft faces accusations of using Vancouver as a "staging ground" for non-Americans to qualify more quickly for a transfer to the U.S.
Earlier on Tuesday, the premier of British Columbia and governor of Washington state advocated for the expansion of an innovation corridor between the two jurisdictions to bolster research efforts, which they predicted will one day lead researchers to find a cure for cancer.
The success and the potential of strengthening cross-border collaboration was trumpeted by Premier Christy Clark and Gov. Jay Inslee.
The leaders also floated the possibility of developing joint academic degree programs, which could be started on one side of the border and finished on the other, as well as linking PhD certificates to offers of citizenship.
Clark and Inslee's speeches focused heavily on past successes as both leaders gear up in the coming months to face voters for re-election.
Clark drew laughter and applause when she referenced the common features of Washington state and B.C., which she said included an abundance of rain, mountains and ocean, as well as opposition to U.S. presidential hopeful Donald Trump.
— Follow @gwomand on Twitter
Source: https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/bill-gates-commends-canadas-immigration-approach/ar-BBwplHR

John McCallum wants to 'substantially increase' immigration to fill Canada's labour needs

English: The recreation of the immigration hal...
English: The recreation of the immigration hall at Pier 21, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Canada's immigration minister points to an aging population and looming labour shortages

By Susana Mas, CBC News Posted: Aug 12, 2016 6:03 PM ET Last Updated: Aug 12, 2016 7:03 PM ET

If Immigration Minister John McCallum gets his way, Canada will significantly increase immigration beyond its current record level as a way to fill the country's labour needs.
Pointing to an aging population and looming labour shortages, McCallum made the pitch in Manila during a speech to the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines on Friday.
"So why not substantially increase the number of immigrants coming to Canada? And that is, I think, I hope, what we are about to do," McCallum said, according to a transcript of his remarks obtained by CBC News.

  • Earlier in the week, McCallum was in Beijing, where he sought to open more offices where Chinese can apply for visas, in the hope of attracting more high-skilled workers.
The Trudeau government is already seeking to admit between 280,000 and 305,000 new permanent residents in 2016 — a record increase from the 260,000 to 285,000 newcomers the previous Conservative government had planned to welcome by the end of 2015.
Key to the Liberal government's larger plan to promote innovation and grow the economy is McCallum's three-year immigration plan, which he plans to unveil this fall.
McCallum said no final decision on immigration has been made and that he has to get his cabinet colleagues on board with his new plan and convince Canadians it's the right thing to do.
"But the direction in which I would like to go is to increase substantially the number of immigrants," McCallum said Friday.

Reducing 'barriers' to immigration

The express entry system launched under the previous Conservative government promised transformative changes to Canada's economic immigration policy.
McCallum will ease some of the rules to make it easier for international students to come to Canada and become permanent residents.
He is also going to eliminate what is known as a labour market impact assessment (LMIA) —  a document all employers need to hire foreign nationals over Canadian workers.
Businesses have said it is the biggest flaw with express entry, a requirement the previous government borrowed from the temporary foreign worker program.
The Liberal government also tasked a parliamentary committee with a review of the controversial foreign worker program, but Parliament adjourned before the report was tabled. It will now be made public in the fall.
"So we're going to make it easier for international students, we're going to reduce some of the barriers in our immigration system … we don't think that every immigrant needs to go through what we call a labour market impact assessment process. We think it can be simplified. We think there are some rules which are no longer necessary," McCallum said.
"Now, we have to convince Canadians of this. But I think it's a good idea."
McCallum, who worked as a chief economist at one of Canada's Big Five banks and a professor of economics before he entered politics, also acknowledged he has his work cut out for him.
"Not every Canadian will agree. But I think with our mindset of welcoming newcomers in the beginning, with the facts of the labour shortages, aging population, we have a good case to make, and I think we will be able to convince a higher proportion of Canadians that this is the right way for Canada to go."
Philippines is currently the top source country for permanent residents in Canada, according to data published by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada as of May 31.
The immigration minister also said that processing times for reuniting families from the Philippines has dropped "dramatically" to 12 months, "cut in half in just a year."
The Liberal government promised during last fall's federal election campaign to reduce processing wait times in all categories.
Follow @SusanaMas on Twitter.

Pilot immigration programme to boost economic development in Atlantic Canada

Prince Edward Island (Canada), July 30 : Canada's federal government recently allied with four premiers of Atlantic Canada to introduce a 'New Atlantic Growth Strategy' to boost the region's economy by allowing immigration of new skilled workers, according to media reports in Canada.

The three-year-old pilot project will aim to bring to Canada over 2,000 immigrants and their families by 2017 in addition to the normal intake currently being allowed under the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP).

The announcement was made at a press conference in St Peters Bay at Prince Edward Island earlier this month. The meeting was attended by the four Atlantic premiers -- Brian Gallant, Premier New Brunswick; Dwight Ball, Premier Newfoundland Labrador; Stephen McNeil, PremierNova Scotia; and Wade MacLauchlan, Premier Prince Edward Island. Federal Immigration Minister John McCallum and Innovation Minister Navdeep Singh Bains were also present in the meeting.

The immigration component will be largely driven by the provincial governments and their specific needs, said Immigration Minister, John McCallum.

We. . .will work with each government to develop a plan specific to their own province with a focus on particular occupations, particular regions and with a focus on engaging companies to not only recruit the immigrants but to undertake measures to keep them here, he said.

According to McCallum, the two levels of government will find ways to confirm that once immigrants arrive, theyll stay in a particular region as it will accelerate credentials for different jobs.

He mentioned that apparently, the program is a pilot project in Atlantic Canada. However, it could be the model for the rest of the country in the near future.

Investment matters:

When it comes to bringing home new immigrants, it is also important to secure jobs of existing residents. New Brunswick Premier Brian Gallant emphasized that attracting new people and repatriating residents are both part of the same consolidated effort.

Premier MacLauchlan also said that through immigration, We will make Prince Edward Island a more attractive place in terms of repatriation. He mentioned that in order to create sustained prosperity, the workforce in his province must grow.

Dwight Ball, Newfoundland and Labrador Premier, however, pointed out that while increased immigration is necessary for the growth of the region, existing residents who are unemployed shall not be overlooked.

He said, Newfoundland and Labrador will continue to invest in our residents who are ready and looking for employment. We will continue to train those that are under-skilled and looking for work.

Ageing population concerns:

The new growth strategy also aims to address the ageing demography of Atlantic Canada.

According to figures released by Statistics Canada for the second quarter of 2014, overall population in the region has fallen 0.4 per cent since the third quarter of 2012, to 2,364,770. This shows that there is a marked difference between the mortality rate and the birth rate in the three provinces of Atlantic Canada; Prince Edward Island is the only exception.

Therefore, emphasis is given highly on retaining immigrants by working with the provincial governments and employers together so that future immigration can be tied up with labour market requirements in the region.

Innovation is essential:

To build up a strong economy, the premiers said they will also focus on priority areas like innovation, trade and investment and infrastructure. They will also aim to initiate growth and development while switching to a low-carbon economy.

Premier Wade MacLauchlan said in a written release, To build on our successes and create sustained prosperity for Prince Edward Island, we must grow our workforce and continue to foster an environment of innovation and entrepreneurship.

There is also a working agreement with the federal government to improve access to high speed internet and premium cell phone services in the region. This in the long run will aid to market the region internationally for its food and tourism, as well as create jobs to head towards its low carbon economy goal.

The leadership committee formed by the four premiers and federal ministers including John McCallum, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Scott Brison, President of the Treasury Board, Dominic LeBlanc, Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, Navdeep Singh Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, and Judy Foote, Minister of Public Services and Procurement will oversee the plan.

The leaders say the first phase of the plan will probably be implemented by the end of the year.

(Writing and reporting by Debarati Mukherjee and Chandan Som)

Source: http://www.newkerala.com/news/2016/fullnews-98123.html


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