Comment:

"GOING TO COURT

Going to court is never an easy decision.

It’s been a long time since I’ve advised clients to look for fair play in the courts, not government. 

Judicial relief is a blunt instrument.

The consequences of seeking judicial relief are multiple. The stress. The cost. The allegations.The closed doors. The uncertainty. The possibility of defeat.  

Going to court is based on a core decision that one can no longer trust a government’s commitment to do the right thing. 

The river has been crossed."

Richard Boraks, Nov 27, 2014.

News Release

Ontario Introduces Legislation to Maximize Benefits of Immigration

Newcomers’ Global Connections Boost Ontario’s Economy

November 26, 2014 8:45 A.M.

Ministry of Citizenship, Immigration and International Trade

Ontario is reintroducing its first-ever Immigration Act that would, if passed, assist the province in working with Ottawa to maximize the economic benefits of immigration.

Immigrants help grow a stronger economy by leveraging their networks and forging new global connections that will keep Ontario competitive in international markets.

Building on the government's Immigration Strategy, the proposed Ontario Immigration Act would:

• Facilitate Ontario's work with the federal government on the recruitment, selection and admission of skilled immigrants.
• Strengthen the province's ongoing efforts to reduce fraud by protecting the integrity of our immigrant selection program and improve accountability.
• Increase transparency and information-sharing with our immigration partners.

The province will also redesign the Provincial Nominee Program to respond to expected increases in the federal government's allocation of economic immigrants.

Maximizing Ontario's immigration programs is part of the government's economic plan for Ontario. The four-part plan is building Ontario up by investing in people's talents and skills, building new public infrastructure like roads and transit, creating a dynamic, supportive environment where business thrives and building a secure savings plan so everyone can afford to retire.

Quick Facts

• Ontario remains the number one destination for newcomers to Canada, receiving more immigrants than the combined total of all the provinces and territories west of here.
• Newcomers make up 30 per cent of Ontario's labour force.
• Over the next 25 years, immigration will account for all of the increases in Ontario’s working-age population and is expected to be a major source of future labour force growth.
• Federal decisions over the decade have reduced the proportion of economic immigrants coming to Ontario to 46 per cent, while other provinces on average receive 65 per cent (2013). In 2011, 97 per cent of Ontario’s provincial nominees remained in the province.

Quotes

“This proposed legislation is about making Ontario’s economy stronger through immigration. Immigrants bring with them connections to international economies, which is why the Premier reassigned International Trade to the immigration ministry. It’s important that we recognize not only the value of a diverse workforce but also the advantages of having an Ontario economy that is globally connected.”

Michael Chan

Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and International Trade

“The diversity of our people is one of Ontario’s strengths. Capitalizing on this advantage is vital to our economy’s future growth. Immigrants connect people, ideas and understanding. Ontario is showing its commitment to ensuring that the economic opportunities that immigrants expect are delivered.”

Matthew Mendelsohn

Director, Mowat Centre

Comment:

"ONTARIO... A STEP FORWARD

The good news is that Ontario, after 147 years, has taken the first baby step in fulfilling its constitutional responsibility concerning immigration.

The bad news is that our economy will not survive another generation if Queen’s Park fails to build on its existing foreign worker strengths

My concern is that Ontario’s new Immigration Act will not be matched with a concurrent political commitment to action.

I realize that things take time. Nevertheless, first principles are important.

Hopefully, there will be no backsliding under the cover of new legislation. "

Richard Boraks Nov 27,2014. 

Jason Kenney نVerified account‏@kenneyjason

Ran into some hard-working Irish lads at PJ O'Brien's, all of whom are here thanks to the "working holiday" program.

Comment:

"KENNEY AND “THE IRISH LADS “

Now, let me see what’s wrong with this picture.

Oh, now I know…

Kenney swore an oath to Her Majesty. Our Sovereign never gave Jason permission to hoist a brew with his favorite cousins while aggressively evicting legal, tax paying, brown eyed wine drinkers from Canada.

Her Majesty would not be amused. "

Richard Boraks, Nov 27, 2014. 

COMMENT

"November 19, 2014  

Express Entry = The Bangalore Immigration Act

I just came back from a Law Society immigration seminar. Ottawa chiefs came down to provide Toronto natives with wisdom and instruction.

I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Here we have 500,000 illegal workers in the GTA, including tens of thousands of successfully established skilled trades persons, and the geniuses in Ottawa are sending Canadian immigration staff to Bangalore to fast track IT workers who “may” have the ability to establish themselves successfully in Canada after they arrive.

No one asked the obvious question:  Why not send some immigration officers to Toronto and check out trades workers who are already successfully here?

The entire exercise reminded me of my time back in the early 1970’s when I was a young exchange student in a communist country. I was there to observe bureaucrats screwing up the economy. The communist apparatchiks had an explanation for everything and an understanding of nothing.

The communists had millions of skilled workers and lot of government but no  private sector. A few years later the system collapsed.

Which brings me back to Canada. We have a lot of government telling the private sector what to do with workers that do not exist.

Toronto prays that we can continue to survive by ignoring Ottawa. Her Majesty pretends to manage the work place .We pretend to be managed. The cost of this deception is high.

Another interesting problem is with the extraction sectors. 

The attached article about Chinese oil investors makes the point that the law abiding extraction investors will not survive without skilled workers. They have yet to figure out how to ignore Ottawa.  

Perhaps next year’s seminar will ask the question:  How does an army of white collar Canadians from Bangalore find work in a Canada without the blue collars to run the oil patch or build the subways.

The answer is simple…Just move our immigration officers to Bangladesh and approve the English speaking folks  who will always manage to find the paperwork confirming their experience in whatever trade you want."      

Richard Boraks, November 19, 2014

Canada's immigration policies hurt bottom line, China says Add to ...

JEFF LEWIS AND CARRIE TAIT

CALGARY — The Globe and Mail

Published Monday, Nov. 17 2014, 3:00 AM EST

Last updated Monday, Nov. 17 2014, 11:24 AM EST

China’s state-controlled energy firms are struggling to turn a profit in Canada in part because of the federal government’s immigration laws, a senior Chinese diplomat says.

Wang Xinping, China’s consul general based in Calgary, said his country’s energy companies want to bring in their own employees to reduce costs. But Ottawa has been stingy in issuing work permits, he said, making it harder for Chinese companies to develop their projects.

“Over all, for the Chinese investors, they are not making a profit,” he said in an interview at the Chinese consulate.

China sank $30-billion into Canada’s energy sector between 2005 and 2012 snapping up assets. Mr. Wang concedes some of these projects are not as good as Sinopec Corp., CNOOC Ltd., and PetroChina Co. Ltd., once believed. With oil prices down 30 per cent since June, the companies want Ottawa to open the borders to help ease its troubles.

“It is very, very, difficult to get the necessary work permits for the operation and the running management of the Chinese enterprises invested here,” Mr. Wang said. Alberta’s market for technical experts like engineers and mid-level managers “is so expensive,” he said, “and that adds to the financial burden of the companies.”

Sinopec paid $4.65-billion (U.S.) to buy 9 per cent of Syncrude Canada Ltd. in 2010. A year later, it bought Calgary oil producer Daylight Energy Ltd. in a $2.1-billion deal. Despite spending billions, Ottawa has only granted Sinopec 15 working visas, according to Wenran Jiang, an expert on China and special adviser to the Alberta government’s department of energy.

This number could not be verified because the federal department of Citizen and Immigration does not release such information, according to spokeswoman Sonia Lesage.

The department prohibits companies operating in Canada from hiring foreigners if there is a qualified Canadian able to the job.

“Work permit applications are considered on a case-by-case basis on the specific facts presented by the applicant in each case,” she said.

China’s request for immigration concessions come as it acknowledges it made some mistakes in its rush to buy assets in northern Alberta.

Nexen Inc.’s Long Lake oil sands project is well k1nown for its technological and geological troubles, and Syncrude has been underperforming for years.

“When you are making an acquisition, you suppose what you are getting is good,” Mr. Wang said.

“When the situation is something like that, they think they had good assets. But sometimes – sometimes – they did not get what they thought they should get. That’s also one of the difficulties the companies can have.”

Mr. Wang declined to give an example.

“It is not a matter of [being] upset,” he said.

“You just try to swallow the fruit. If it’s sweet, it’s good. If it’s bitter, you have also to swallow.”

China remains concerned about regulations limiting its ability to invest in the energy patch. CNOOC’s $15.1-billion (U.S.) takeover of Nexen in 2012 prompted Prime Minister Stephen Harper to clamp down on investments in Canada from certain state-owned enterprises. He effectively blocked these companies from owning entire oil sands projects.

Alberta officials are now urging their federal counterparts to revisit the restrictions, which have been blamed for the sharp drop-off in foreign investment in the province’s energy sector.

China has long argued its state-controlled companies adhere to free-market principles rather than Beijing’s demands.

“That’s why I say the SOE restriction is not wise,” Mr. Wang said. “It is not right.”

COMMENT

Corriere Canadese

I suggest that our readers look regularly at the web site of Canada’s only Italian language daily newspaper, The Corriere Canadese.

The Corriere has articles in both Italian and English. Its message is respected in either language.

The Corriere has been running a series of article on immigration. This series is “MUST” reading for anyone interested in the subject. No other media outlet in Canada comes even close in meeting the Corriere’s high standards on the issue.

The publisher of the Corriere Canadese is The Honourable Joe Volpe, Canada’s former Minister of both Immigration and Human Resources. Mr. Volpe brings both his experience and his wisdom to the subject.

Below is the link for the Corriere’s “Hot Topics” site (including Immigration)

http://www.corriere.com/index.php/en/27-hot-topic/immigrazione/211-immigration-

Below is a November 11 2014 comment from The Honourable Joe Volpe, Publisher

 ,

The need for a long term economic plan

  
TORONTO - Canada’s Immigration/ Economic policies are leaving Ontario and the GTA by the wayside. They are not likely to improve as the price for Western oil continues to drop, and with it the rosy outlook for western Canada’s economy. Federal policies and practices on Immigration, as we have been outlining on our series on Immigration, have shifted their focus to what meets the needs of the Western provinces. In part, this reflects the current government’s determination to build an economy on the exploitation of the natural resources (gas and oil) found in abundance in the West.

That might be considered fair if the demographic policy accompanying such decisions were expansive and focused on general growth. That does not appear to be the case. As we saw in previous articles – both in absolute numbers and in percentage figures – Economic Migrants are being directed increasingly Westward. For example, in 2011, 71% of immigrants destined to provinces outside of Ontario were classified as “Economic”.

For Ontario, the corresponding figure was a mere 52%. Economic migrants are those capable of making an immediate positive impact. In that same year, 57.1% of refugee claimants in Canada landed in Ontario. The Western provinces, despite benefiting from this federal imbalance in public, economic policy, get access to a greater number of Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) permits in order to help them get around the much more demanding Permanent Residency requirements for potential immigrants. They also claim the right to choose (sponsor) their own economic migrants. Briefly, this process is known as the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP).

It is not “new”. What is “new” is the reliance by some provinces on this program to secure an increasing share of economic migrants – except for Ontario. [see chart #1] Ontario continues to rely of the Federal government to decide what is best for the province. Graph C illustrates how aggressive the Western provinces were even as far back as the 2005-2009 period in the pursuit of their own economic migrants. Ontario has been virtually absent from the process.

In fact, last week, November 7, it announced with some fanfare that it had met its target of 2500 PNP applications for 2014! It is worth noting that the PNP totals are included in the overall numbers of “economic migrants”. For Ontario, this number, last year, dropped by 40% relative to 2005 when almost 80, 000 economic migrants were “landed” (accepted) in the province. When one recalls that each of these migrants generates an additional $ 52, 000 in per capita GDP for the country, the shortfall for Ontario is significant: about $ 1.7 billion in economic activity and a minimum of $ 300 million in forgone tax revenue annually for the province.

Economic analysts for Builders in the GTA will be calculating the number of housing units lost, and Unions the number of jobs unavailable as a result. The rest of us, including the Ontario government, should ask, “What are the demographic/ economic objectives of the Federal government as it shifts its focus from a Permanent Residency (PR) system to one based on TFWP”. It is relatively easy for employers in the agricultural/ agro-food and slaughterhouse community to obtain work permits (WP). Southern Ontario easily gets an annual 17, 000 such permits for workers from Mexico and the Caribbean. Western Canada is flush with WPs for the Central Africans and South-East Asians it recruits. Ontario’s skilled trades-reliant construction industry – especially in the GTA – cannot get any WPs.

Co-incidentally, that is where Europeans with skills and experience are available [see Graph A] but apparently not recruited. Likewise for the ethnic restaurants and auto remanufacturing sectors. The federal data bank has no labour market information (LMI) on skilled trades in the GTA. It also cannot keep track of the “black market”, undocumented workers. Graph B illustrates how difficult it is to enlist Federal help in developing a sound demographic/ labour policy to meet the needs of its economy. 

As our series has been pointing out, Ontario receives minimal permits under the skilled Workers Program, an insignificant number under the PNP and virtually none under the Canada Experience Class. Maybe it is time for Ontario to step up to the plate, lay out its long term economic plans and demand that Ottawa start paying attention.

Eighth in a series


Next: why it makes fiscal and economic sense for Ontario to lay out its economic plan and demand that Ottawa pay attention.

Richard Boraks, November 14,2014

COMMENT

"Ontario, employers and unions

Over the past several months, I have been focusing on Ottawa’s mishandling of  the GTHA’s worker immigrant issues.

The federal issues will soon come to a head. Rocco Galati will shortly be filing our Federal Court application.

While the court deliberates, practical solutions must be found.

Queen’s Park is the key to any progress.

Ontario is the only province which has failed to set up a system to determine its foreign trade’s worker priorities.

Until Ontario steps up, Ottawa will, perhaps rightly, assume that Ontario does not want any legal foreign trades workers.

Ontario’s silence will be taken as acceptance of the status quo.

Ottawa has made it clear that the status quo is not an option. The new reality for  skilled workers starts January 1, 2015. Ontario is not part of the new order.   

So what motivates Ontario’s reticence to get involved with any immigration strategy, let alone foreign skilled workers? What motivates Ontario to stand alone as a province unwilling to determine its own workforce?

The reasons are both historic and ongoing sectoral self interest.

The province’s historical reasoning is in fact an excuse, not an explanation.

Queen’s Park’s thinking on immigration predates the British North America Act of 1867. The Fathers of Confederation gave the province a 50-50 say in immigration and absolute control over every aspect of the trades. Ontario apparently does not accept that the BNA Act was actually enacted.

Queens’ Park is content to live in colonial times…The colonial masters in Ottawa wrongly exert pre 1867 absolute control over immigration, job site safety, local language issues, local business management, local union affairs and the colony of Ontario accepts whatever is dished out.

Refusing to take responsibility for constitutional obligations is not the hallmark of a responsible government.

Sectoral self interest must also be re examined. The time has come when legitimate trades employers and unions must look in the mirror and ask themselves three simple questions:

“Is there any overriding logic in assuming that illegal workers serve any legitimate trades employer’s or unions  sustainable interest? “

“Does any legitimate trade’s employer or union think that it makes sense to take on Ottawa alone as the feds unilaterally change the rules of the game concerning illegal and non English speaking workers?”

“Why do we fear being investigated by Ottawa for our hiring illegal workers? Ottawa created the problem. Ontario sat by. Government created the problem. Government should fix the problem. Why should the province allow us to be threatened with federal investigations? 

The cost of Ontario ignoring the rules of the game are quantified in the Corriere Canadese.

The consequences of Ontario doing nothing to stand up for its legitimate employers and unions are reviewed in the Corriere Canadese.

Ontario and its trades sectors have a choice. They can either accept or they can ignore the numbers and policy analysis presented by the Corriere Canadese.

If they accept the numbers and analysis then its time for the province to enter the 21^st century with an immigration strategy.

If they ignore the numbers and analysis then January 1 2015 will be the kick off  for the legitimate  employers and unions to bend over and enjoy the experience as Ottawa does what it says it will do.

Enjoy."

Richard Boraks, November 14,2014

COMMENT

"In the words of German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt:

“Never underestimate the stupidity of government”

Getting ready for Express Entry: Part 1

We are being advised that below are the targets for Ottawa 2015 Express entry program

• In 2015, Ottawa wants 70% of its landed immigrants under the economic classes 
  
  
  
  
  Here is the projected breakdown: 
  
  
  51,000 Skilled Workers, including trades
  23,000  CEC
  48,000  PNP
  30,000  LCP
  32,500  QUE
  48,000  FC1 et. al.
  20,000  FC4
  4,000    HC
  14,500  ref overseas
  11,000  protected persons

Below are Ottawa’s Express Entry policy guidelines.

As always, Ottawa policy guidelines are “reasonable”

Ottawa says that:

• It will keep the existing programs (Federal Skilled Worker... FSW, Canada Experience Class… CEC and Federal Skilled Trades Program (CEC)

• It is committed to assuring that the number of visas approved by the Express Entry program will be in line with the existing targets handed out by the CEC, FSW and FSTP programs

• It is committed to favoring landed immigrants over temporary workers. Thus, LMIA’s for permanent residency applications will be cheaper and easier than LMIAs for temporary workers

• It is committed to processing files in 6 months

• The new program is responsive to “economic and labour needs”

• Potential immigrants will be processed on the basis of their potential in becoming successfully economically established in Canada

Getting ready for Express Entry: Part 2

The Ontario trades sector and Express Entry.

          The cynical consensus

Most GTHA observers, excluding me, assume that Express Entry will change nothing for the GTHA trades... they assume that life will go on as it has since 1972. This means that:

• We in Ontario get the illegal’s while the rest of Canada gets the legals
• Ottawa will do some pro forma enforcement before the 2015 election in order to pretend  that the system has some vestiges of integrity
• Government will give up the illegal worker tax revenue in return for fewer GTHA voters, fewer OHIP patients and fewer pension claimants 
• Employers and unions will not even feel a bump in the road

I disagree with the “business as usual” crowd.

As I see things, Express Entry will be a 10 year game changer in the GTHA trades.

Why?

Because, I’m taking Ottawa at its word concerning tough language standards, byzantine skills assessments and easier, cheaper LMIA‘s for immigrants.

The combination of absurd language and skills assessment rules together with relaxed LMIA’s for Express Entry applications will assure that:

• The skilled trades immigrant program will bring in more English & French speaking workers from third world counties

• Given boom and bust economies in Western Canada , most of the third world workers will gravitate to the GTHA

• As more legal trades workers come into the GTHA there will be pressure to remove the present core of illegal European workers

• The present “shared cultural “values of the Ontario trades will be disrupted in much the same way as the trucking industry  ...new players will create new realities, some unpleasant

Getting ready for Express Entry: Part 3

Ottawa’s recipe for more GTHA trades disaster with Express Entry

Ottawa has once again decided that bureaucrats, and not employers, will decide which workers will be allowed on our job sites, kitchens and mechanics shops.

            Ottawa’s exact quotes are:

“ Express Entry will allow Citizenship and Immigration Canada to select who are most likely to succeed economically in Canada, rather than passively process all applicants in a queue.

Express Entry candidates who are invited to apply for permanent residence can expect faster processing times of six months or less”.

I can just imagine some of the “invitation” questions that the bureaucrats have cooked up.

I’ll bet the farm that no trades worker will be “invited” by the bureaucrats unless:

a) They’ve passed the language exam

b) They have certificates of skills education and work from their home country

c) They have never worked illegally in Canada

In theory, all of the above questions are reasonable.

Ottawa bureaucrats are always “reasonable” when establishing principles.

The problem is that what passes as “reasonable” in Ottawa is simple nonsense in the real world of the GTHA trades.   

Somewhere between the policy principles and the bureaucracy’s execution of those policies, Canada Immigration consistently manages to bugger things up.

For example, experience shows that during the past 20 years:

• Only 48 % of applicants selected by the bureaucrats  have actually stayed in Canada (Source: Asia Pacific Foundation)
•  Many of the others selected by the bureaucrats have driven this nation’s welfare rolls through the roof. The Fraser Institute  pegs the annual welfare bill in the $24 billion range
• Most investors selected by the bureaucrats were not investors
• Most entrepreneurs  selected by the bureaucrats were not entrepreneurs
• Many spouses selected by the bureaucrats were not spouses
• Many refugees selected by the bureaucrats were not refugees
• Thousands of citizens approved by the bureaucrats  were not citizens
• 500,000 GTHA skilled trades workers either refused or ignored  by bureaucrats have in turn ignored the bureaucrats and work illegally

After spending years and millions of dollars setting up immigration programs, the bureaucrats eventually close down corrupt, failed boondoggle after corrupt, failed boondoggle.

The GTHA trades have survived by ignoring government.

The problem this time is that Ottawa is probably serious about imposing its lunacy on the GTHA trades.

 

The impact of the above three little, “reasonable” bureaucratic, EXPRESS ENTRY “invitation” questions will be devastating to the Ontario economy

Here’s what will happen in the Ontario trades:

1. Employers will lose 95% of trades workers from southern and eastern Europe, including those already successfully established in Ontario. These are the existing workers who have been certified by the Ontario government as being “safe” on the job site even though they cannot pass the language exam.

Express Entry will assuredly invite a significantly disproportionate group from England Ireland, France, the Commonwealth and Francophonie.

GTHA employers will give up proven workers from Europe and in return will get untested, largely third world workers who speak fluent French or English but have no clue about a Toronto construction site. Wonderful.

2. Employers will not be able to retain workers from jurisdictions such as Portugal which produce good workers but bad trade certification.

Employers will be asked to hire workers from corrupt third world jurisdictions who may or may not generate good trades workers but can be relied on to crank out corrupt trade certification.

Employers will be asked to hire works from Ireland, France and England who may have great certificates but zero ability to compete on Toronto construction sites, other than on gold bricking public infrastructure locations such as the TTC. The subways will never be built.   

3. Ottawa’s feigned obsession with “illegal workers’ is laughable. Illegal workers pose a greater threat for Ottawa than alleged terrorists.  Ottawa will not process or even acknowledge “illegal “work. Ottawa will make a deal with a terrorist. Ottawa deports workers. Do we laugh or do we cry?

Ottawa will sacrifice Ontario employers on the grounds that the “integrity of the system” demands that we enforce against those who have worked illegally. Meanwhile Ottawa will not consider that its own fraudulent LMI and cynical acceptance of illegal works created this mess. 

4. I believe Ottawa when it says that it will get better Labour Market Information (LMI) for the GTHA trades. The  new LMI combined with draconian language requirements will assure the third world takeover of the GTHA trades   

Conclusions

Employers and unions of 500,000 illegal workers in the GTHA are so intimidated by Ottawa that they will pull the covers over their heads and wonder why they can’t legalize their workers in a booming economy

Express Entry will be the final frontier in denying Ontario employers and unions the ability to retain their trades staff, all 500,000 of them  

Ten years from now, Ottawa will add the skilled trades’ program to its list of aborted policy failures.

By that time, the GTHA will be the Detroit of Canada."

Richard Boraks, November 12,2014