Issue Highlights
1. Immigration News
2. Best Cities in the World: Canada Takes 3
3. Economy News:
– Skilled Shortages in the Asia-Pacific Corridor in British Columbia
– Commerce in Alberta
– Canadian Natural Gas
– Alberta Labour Market
– Global Trends Effecting Canada
4. Agricultural News
5. Film Industry Booking in BC
6. Top Job NOC’s on Express Entry
7. Foreign Trained Medical Doctors
8. Wild Canada
9. Funny Canadian News
10. Enjoying the Outdoors: Lyme Disease
11. Job Positions Available
Immigration News
The Minister of Immigration Refugees and Citizenship (IRCC) has indicted on 12 Aug that he plans to substantially increase immigration to Canada. The expectation is that the number of immigrants will slowly increase over the coming years.
Last month Matrixvisa Inc. was invited by the IRCC to participate in an event with the federal government on 25 Aug 2016 to provide feedback to the federal government on Express Entry. We attended and provided feedback to contribute to the hoped for improvement of the present Express Entry System.
In August, Matrixvisa Inc. also sent letters containing suggestions for immigration policy changes to the following parties:
- The Minister of Immigration, Refugees, Citizenship Canada’s Deputy Chief of Staff and Director for Issues Management. The letter can be seen below.
- The Minister of Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour. The letter can be seen below.
The expectation is that the awaited changes in immigration policy will occur in September or October 2016, especially with regards to LMIAs.
Best Cities in the World: Canada takes 3 in the top 5 World Cities
In the past week the Economist published an article for the most livable cities in the world. The survey reviewed 30 factors in five categories: stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructure. First on the list was Melbourne, Australia, with 97.5 out a 100. Vancouver was at number three, Toronto in number four and Calgary was tied at number 5 with Adelaide in Australia (both getting 96.6).
Economy News
APGCI Investments Map. Digital image. Government of Canada. N.p., 01 Sept. 2013. Web.
Major Skilled Shortages predicted in the Asia-Pacific Gateway Corridor in British Columbia
The Asia–Pacific Gateway and Corridor is a system of transportation infrastructure, including British Columbia Lower Mainland (Vancouver area) and Prince Rupert ports, road and rail connections that reach across Western Canada and into the economic heartlands of North America, as well as major airports and border crossings. The Asia-Pacific Gateway and Corridor was created as the best transportation network for trade between North America and Asia and it is a growing, vital part of the national economy.
It was reported in the Vancouver Sun on 4 Sept 2016 that the Asia-Pacific Gateway Skills study showed that 10 000 jobs will open in 52 transportation and construction occupations across British Columbia in the next 9 years (2016-2025). According to the study, just over half of the workers required in the next decade will be straight out of school and new to the workforce, while immigrants from other provinces or countries will make up 21 per cent.
Alberta Labour Market
The joblessness rate is 8,6 % which is the highest it has been since 1994. The highest it has been being in September 1984 at 12,4 %.
Even though many have lost their jobs in the Oil industry, it was reported that some information technology companies are struggling to fill their vacancies in Alberta.
On 27 Aug 2016 it was reported in the The Star Phoenix and other newspapers that according to the Canadian Society for Unconventional Resources between 40,000 to 60,000 energy professionals are out of work in Alberta based on feedback from its membership, which includes all disciplines — geoscientists, engineers, finance and business specialists.
Commerce in Alberta
It was reported in the media that in Alberta the automotive sales dropped to C $851 million in June 2016 which is a C $20 million or 2,3% drop from June 2015 (1 year earlier).
Canadian Natural Gas
In Canada, natural gas plays a very important role especially in the heating of homes and commercial/ industrial facilities. Western Canada’s natural gas cannot be exported due to the absence of a natural gas export terminal on the coast. The Calgary based TransCanada Corp is now attempting to ship the natural gas from Western Canadian markets to Ontario (where 15 million of Canada’s population lives). TransCanada is competing against cheap gas from Pennsylvania which is being shipped to Ontario by Endbridge Inc. Enbridge is shipping the US natural gas to Ontario via its subsidiary, Union Gas. The head office of Enbridge is also in Calgary. Therefore 2 Calgary companies are currently competing for the substantial Ontario market.
TransCanada indicated that it can bring the natural gas to the Town of Dawn, Ontario. Dawn (close to Sarnia) is a very large natural gas trading facility and has the largest underground natural gas storage facility in Canada.
TransCanada is attempting to convince Toronto natural gas buyers to purchase natural gas from Western Canada instead of buying USA natural gas from Enbdridge Inc. This is a crucial 2 weeks for Western Canadian producers as gas contracts are signed for 10 year periods and if TransCanada loses against Enbridge it will have negative consequences for Canadian gas producers.
Global Trends Effecting Canada
All commodity producing nations such as Canada, Australia and South Africa are effected by the decline in world commodity prices. It was reported in the Globe and Mail on 8 April 2015 that the global commodity super cycle has come to an end. That includes metallurgical coal, iron ore, potash, uranium, etc. China imported 40 % of the world’s commodities and decided to manufacture more consumer products that require less commodities such as iron ore, metallurgical coal, etc. That played a pivotal role in the super cycle coming to an end.
Recently the price of metallurgical coal as increased to close to USD180 per tonne (spot prices) which is great indication of recovery. This month USA company purchased 3 coal mines in North East BC (Tumbler Ridge Area) and many that lost their jobs will again be employed. We believe there is still enough unemployed Canadians and they will have the opportunity to apply for vacant jobs.
BHP Billiton reported a financial loss of $6.4 billion at the financial year ending on 30 June 2016. BHP Billion is also slowing down their potash project Jensen in Saskatchewan and is cutting back on staff at the Jansen project. The potash prices were USD 400 a few years ago and now it is USD154. The government of Saskatchewan is expecting prices to rebound to USD205 this year and to then slowly increase up to USD221 by 2020. The Canadian marketing body for potash decided not to go ahead with a CAD 775 million port expansion in prince Rupert, British Columbia. Laid-off potash miners from New Brunswick took up vacant jobs in Saskatchewan potash mines which is preventing many foreign workers from entering the Canadian potash industry.
Agriculture News
Small Footprint Family. Digital image. The Inconvenient Truth About Canola. N.p., n.d. Web.
Canada is expecting the second largest crop of wheat canola and other grains in Canadian history with 36,6 million tonnes this year. The problem however is that wheat prices and canola prices are the lowest since 2006.
Last year China brought 40 percent of all Canadian canola (to make products like margarine, mayonnaise, etc). However, from 1 Sept 2016 China has an import rule that limits the amount of extraneous plant material to 1% in Canola imports; China blames canola for Blackleg fungus disease. In contrast to this suggestion, The Globe and Mail reported on 26 Aug 2016 that the Canadian government said that the claim is not scientifically supported.
The price for beef dropped so low that one of Canada’s largest feedlots will freeze it’s operations until the price of beef has increased again. Last year a fed steer would bring CAD3000 and now it is only CAD2000. The price of beef has dropped from C$202,06/cwt in may 2015 and by May 2016 it was C$158, 70/cwt and for the week of 9 Sept it was C$129/cwt. Cwt is unit of measurement that is about 45 kg.
The Canadian Agriculture Human Recourses Council has determined that there is a current shortage of 59 000 jobs/ people in the Agricultural Industry and by 2025 it will be 114,000 jobs/ people. The report can be seen here.
Film Industry is Booming in BC
The Union of BC Performers reported that 53 films and television productions are either shooting or in the pre-production phase in British Columbia (BC). BC has seen a 45 % increase in filming this year compared with last year. In July 2016 the City of Vancouver issued 565 Permits for various location shoots compared with 283 for June 2015. Star Trek Beyond was filmed over 78 days in BC and spent C $69 million in the province with more than C $40 million going towards wages for 3900 crew members.
L3 Unit 8 – Understanding the Television and Film Industries. Digital image. 4damday. N.p., n.d. Web.
Top Jobs NOC’s in Express Entry
This is the list of top occupations drawn from Express Entry from Jan 2015 to July 2016:
NOC6311 – Food service supervisors 2,356 people
NOC6322 – Cooks 2,295 people
NOC2171 – Information systems analysts and consultants 1,255
NOC2173 – Software engineers 940
NOC2174 – Computer programmers and interactive media developers 935
NOC4011 – University professors and lecturers 745
NOC6211 – Retail sales supervisors 669
NOC5241 – Graphic Designers and Illustrators 550
NOC1111 – Financial Auditors and Accountants 494
NOC1112 – Financial and Investment Analysts 446
Our analyses is:
Food Services Supervisors, Cooks and Retails Sales Supervisors were drawn based on Labour Market Impact Assessments (worth 600 points).
Due to the high educational requirements of many of the other NOCs on this list, people in those NOCs most likely came without LMIAs or job offers.
These top 10 occupations are not an indication of occupational demand as Express Entry has nothing to do with demand for skills inside Canada (except if someone has been drawn based on the points received from a LMIA).
Foreign Trained Medical Doctors
The Canadian Institute of Health Information published research about the number of foreign trained doctors in Canada recently. It was determined that in Saskatchewan 53% of the doctors are trained outside of Canada of which South African trained doctors make up a large portion.
The challenge in Saskatchewan and British Columbia is that they require both the Evaluation Examination and the Part I examination of the Medical Counsel of Canada before a foreign doctor can practice in Canada.
Wild Canada
The past couple of months there has been several reports of bear and wolf attacks on Canadians. It is therefore always wise to be well prepared with bear spray etc.
It was reported that a cougar recently attacked a man in Vancouver Island (Port Hardy).
HOPD, and National Park Service. A File Photo of a Cougar. Digital image. Times Colonist. The Canadian Press, 11 Aug. 2016. Web.
Funny Canadian News
Journalists in Canada have a difficult time gathering news worthy articles and similarly police are not swamped with fighting crime. The result is that just about anything reaches national news:
It was reported by the Canadian press on Canada Broadcasting Corporation (www.cbc.ca) that in Toronto, a naked man took a bath under someone’s garden hose and then made off with a couple of tomatoes once he had is bath. The police investigated but could not find the illegal bather or the tomatoes.
Balzer, Donna. Harvest Tomatoes as They Ripen or Pick the Whole Plant for Hanging in the Garage. Digital image. National Post. N.p., 27 Aug. 2016. Web.
In a different CBC story, it was reported that a cyclist was fined for speeding in a school zone in the Town of Saanich on Vancouver Island.
Aurthur, Mike, (CBC). Saanich Police Issued a Ticket to a Cyclist for Allegedly Speeding through This School Zone on Glanford Ave. Digital image. CBC News. N.p., 7 Sept. 2016. Web.
Enjoying the Outdoors: Lyme disease
Immigrants that enjoy the outdoors must always check for ticks as some carry Lyme Disease. In places like New Brunswick the number of ticks carrying the disease has increased from 15 to 40 % The number of cases reported of humans contracting the disease in Canada has increased as follows:
2009: 144 cases
2010: 143 cases
2011: 266 cases
2012: 338 cases
2013: 682 cases
2014: 522 cases
2015: 917 cases
More can be read about it here.
Jobs
Emigrants looking for work should read about the 23 reasons why they might struggle to find work in Canada on our website here.
We are searching for individuals to fill the following Canadian vacancies:
Six cattle feedlot workers
A specialized livestock worker with cattle pasture experience
Medical doctors with specialization in Emergency Medicine (for Alberta)
An automotive mechanic (Saskatchewan)
An appliance technician (repairing washing machines, tumble dryers, fridges, etc.) (Saskatchewan)
Carpenters with concrete experience as well as construction foreman with concrete experience (Saskatchewan)
Two employers seeking veterinarians. Foreign trained applicants must be willing to complete the required examinations (see here). One employer might be willing to employ the foreign national as a veterinary technician.
SINCERELY,
COBUS KRIEK &
THE MATRIXVISA TEAM
We are committed to sharing the latest and greatest about Canada with you.