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Canada Waives Own Rules, Helps Microsoft Avoid US Visa Problems
Freshly Exhumed writes Citizenship and Immigration Canada has granted an unprecedented exemption to Microsoft that will allow the company to bring in an unspecified number of temporary foreign workers as trainees without first looking for Canadians to fill the jobs. No other company in any other field has been granted such an exemption, and it does not fall within any of the other categories where exemptions are normally given, according to a source familiar with process, effectively creating a new category: the Microsoft Exemption. Microsoft Canada did not immediately respond to questions about the deal, but in an interview earlier this year with Bloomberg Businessweek, Karen Jones, Microsoft's deputy general counsel, said the deal will allow Microsoft to bypass stricter U.S. rules on visas for foreign workers. The entire issue of temporary foreign workers has been as blisteringly hot a topic across Canada as it has been in the USA.
We do not have a shortage of CS workers in this country, we have a surplus, and with some provinces having over 10% unemployment rates Harper is seemingly doing everything he can to keep Canadians out of Canadian jobs.
Fucking neocons.
Someone's getting a nice big bribe!
do American workers now displaced from places overseas get waved across the border to work in Canada, then, eh?
if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
Bend over.
By changes made by the same government that has now opened yet another back door. Can you say "never let your left hand know what your right hand is doing"? Or other phases about hands...
davecb@spamcop.net
Canada had a stripper visa where they targeted Eastern Europe and South-East Asia to fill their stripper shortages.
Now, the temporary tech visa is targeted to India and China (they fill up 90%+ of these jobs).
Let's face it. When we say foreign, we mean India + China. With these job visas, people of India and China will want to become citizens of Canada (or US). I guess we don't like Indians and Chinese to become fellow citizens.
I've found that foreign western Europeans are welcomed with enthusiasm but foreign Asians with much much resentment.
In my opinion, it is very positive for us to have high educated and motivated individuals working here. However, old habits die hard and people from different backgrounds never seem to coalesce together.
It's not just a surplus in CS - in some areas it's a HUGE surplus. This is just a continuation of the exemptions granted to the banks to bring in foreign workers and have the current workers train them to do their jobs and then get laid off, ditto fast-food chains who don't want to hire Canadians who know their rights and as such are "too uppity", etc.
FTFA:
Karen Jones, Microsoft’s deputy general counsel, said the deal will allow Microsoft to bypass stricter U.S. rules on visas for foreign workers.
"The U.S. laws clearly did not meet our needs. We have to look to other places," she told the wire service. She went on to say Microsoft didn’t choose to expand in Vancouver "purely for immigration purposes, but immigration is a factor."
The source said that means the company will take advantage of rules governing intra-company transfers, which require employees to work for at least one year at a company subsidiary before being transferred to the U.S. He says the result will be a net disadvantage for Canada.
Bad enough the Burger King - Tim Hortons deal was a blatant tax dodge at a time when governments everywhere are trying to get corporations to behave more responsibly ... I guess the Harper government decided to "double-double down."
Blame Canada.
Shame, Canada.
Oh, Canada.
Oh-oh Canada.
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
It's simple. They'll be passing through Canada into the US. Do it quickly enough, it will also prevent tax liability.
Until recently, McDonalds and Tim Horton's in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area) have been doing this sort of thing for years. Usually in the form of 'minority hiring' that shuns the citizenry. They got their hands smacked soundly over it, and now are being watched like a hawk.
URL Reference here:
http://www.vancouversun.com/li...
Now Microsoft is going to do it en masse, taking away the positions from Canadian citizens that have been training here...
There will be a reckoning over this one.
Plenty of Vancouver Microsoft-Nokia staff were layed off or terminated in the period just before this announcement. Many are not yet even back on their feet.
Does this have the effect of off-shoring to another country? A country that speaks English without a thick accent and understands the US "screw you" zeitgeist. The real problem being if those immigrant employees are taxed at their real wage. If that wage is really Canadian minimum wage, this deal will cost Canada more than it makes from income taxes. Thinking this will boost corporate taxes is very dumb thinking.
That big MS office in the Bay Area was really expensive to operate. Steve Balmer was OK with it but the new CEO no.
Now it's mostly gone but the need is still there. So the solution is simple: off-shore (or off-border) the positions to Canada and bring in the Indians, Chinese, and laid-off Americans. All for a fraction of the initial cost!! Canada is also more pro-employers than the US in many ways (ex. taxes in some areas, free healthcare, etc)...
Now, Harper is pro-immigration (numbers are hitting the roof every year with him). But he likes "skilled" immigrants only, not refugees and unskilled, which the NDP and the Libs prefer so much. So it all makes sense!
If this is somehow needed, then the laws ought to be changed. Otherwise, it just means the government is corrupt.
...to accept third world wages and indentured servitude. Once your education systems have been completely handed over to corporate interests that will train the next generation of workers that $10 is a good wage and that you should be at the beck and call of your employer 24 hours a day, you'll become comptitive enough to get some of those jobs.
Asian countries are extremely xenophobic and stop at nothing to prevent non-Asian workers in their countries.
Maybe a professional organization, like the Engineers have here in Canada.
I had friends working for a union building pipelines. It was all about seniority, not skill. My mom worked as part of a union, and they didn't represent her interests. My friend worked for a union and they made here go on strike due to issues that some other people in a totally different job had on the other side of the country.
Meanwhile I've worked for three different companies over the past decade and a half, I've gotten along with every manager I've ever had, I've been reasonably happy with my work, I've gotten more money than I ever expected. I don't see how being part of a union would have helped.
I respect that unions can do good things, but they have issues as well.
and routes around it.
- after John Gilmore
Even in Canada, sadly.
Rope, tree, politician. Some assembly required.
-- Will program for bandwidth
Never underestimate the influence of vast sums deposited in offshore accounts for public servants.
After a move like that, is it any wonder that Microsoft gets so many contracts with the government of Canada? It's another sad day for open source in Canada when it is so obvious that the GoC is in Microsoft's pocket.
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àà¥àààà áOEÄ"valapara!
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Buffett's secretary Bosanek pays a tax rate of 35.8 percent of income, while Buffett pays a rate at 17.4 percent on profit.
http://news.yahoo.com/warren-b...
You're paying Income tax on your salary, not savings.
Tell Govt to impose tax on Company revenues, not profits.
http://wh.gov/iCfVS
Casteism
The biggest issue is that older people - who often either don't understand or don't care about much of this - vote for the conservative government that's currently in power. The younger demographic - who are getting thoroughly screwed by the current government in terms of less jobs, selling off of domestic natural resources, and increasing cost of education/housing/etc - don't seem to get out to vote. Now to be fair, some of this is due to the government screwing with the rules around voting (particularly around university students and where their voting locale is) but the biggest contributor is plain old laziness and apathy.
If you're a Canadian of voting age who is not happy with with the way things are currently going, and you DIDN'T VOTE, then you're part of the problem (not accusing the parent, just the lazy bastards in general).