New Immigration rules may kill IT jobs
Jul 6th 2010, 2:59 am
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New Immigration rules may kill IT jobs
http://www.vancouversun.com/Media+in...518/story.html
Media industry fears new rules will kill jobs
Changes to federal legislation meant to protect Canadian employment could backfire and hinder the growth of local companies, critics say
By Joanne Lee-Young, Vancouver Sun July 5, 2010
Vancouver has been busy promoting itself as a creative, digital hub. It's part of a strategic effort to make the city a place where young, smart people want to work.
The arrival this year of Pixar and Digital Domain, the Venice, Calif.-based company behind Academy Award-winning films Titanic and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, was a major coup. Both are rolling out large studios and hiring local staff.
The hope, of course, is that once these heavy-hitters settle in, more of their kind will follow. But just as there is some momentum, there is also a mini-snag on the horizon.
In a little known move by Ottawa, slated for this fall, there is a desire to protect jobs for Canadians, but the plan could backfire and hamstring the growth of hundreds of jobs in B.C.'s economy.
For years, going back to the late 1990s, high-tech companies have been able to nimbly usher in key talent from outside Canada by using a federal IT (information technology) worker category. Basically, it allowed companies based here to put together project teams on the fly.
"To deal with critical shortages, C.I.C. (Citizenship and Immigration Canada) and Service Canada (which issues temporary work visas) chose seven IT positions and exempted them," said Vancouver lawyer Craig Natsuhara, who advises several large digital media firms. "So if, say, EA (the video game maker with offices in Burnaby) has a new title, it could easily bring in three of these (designers, artists, programmers), or five of those."
But Ottawa is eliminating this category at the end of September and the prospect of this not only has the digital media, gaming and visual effects industry in Vancouver worried, but Vancouver city hall too. It has been working closely with the Vancouver Economic Development Commission to pitch the city as a place where these global companies should plant a flag, invest money and have operations.
"I'm very concerned these changes will hinder the growth of our emerging tech cluster in Vancouver. Vancouver's thriving digital media, gaming and visual effects companies need to attract and retain global talent to remain competitive," said Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson via e-mail. "The proposed changes will have negative consequences for our local economy if it prevents companies from completing projects or forces them to locate their operations elsewhere."
"We are always in a hurry because by the time we've identified a hole for somebody, we have got a very short period of time," said Laurie Murdoch, a Vancouver-based human resources manager at Digital Domain. With the IT worker category, she could often work magic in under a week.
"Our timelines for production are so much faster than in other industries," added Wendy Boylan, a spokeswoman for Ubisoft Vancouver, which develops and markets video games. "We look locally first, but sometimes we need someone more niche, more veteran or with a certain kind of expertise. In a project, if we even have to wait a month, it can severely affect the time-line and cost."
Without the IT category, Pixar, Digital Domain, Ubisoft and the like will, starting in October, have to apply for temporary work visas the way every other company in any industry does. This means first seeking a so-called Labour Market Opinion (LMO) from Ottawa's Service Canada department. It requires demonstrating that a position meets wage guidelines, brings new skills and knowledge, and does not adversely affect the employment of a Canadian worker.
It sounds simple, but since January 2009, in the aftermath of the economic downturn, Service Canada has, across the board, been glacial in approving such applications.
"To be clear, we do use the LMO route, but it's definitely the longer route," said Murdoch of Digital Domain.
She thinks it could triple the time they are used to waiting, but even that might be optimistic thinking, according to others.
They've watched LMO waiting times stretch, but worse than that, "most companies don't know if their applications will be refused or not, and if so why. It seems very vague. The frustration is that you can go through the whole process, very carefully following the steps, and not get it," said Sylvain Provencher, executive director of ACM SIGGRAPH, a Vancouver-based society for computer graphics professionals. "It seems a very moody system."
"The problem right now, especially since January 2009, is that when Service Canada analyzes a [labour market] situation, it is minutely focused on whether companies have done enough [local] advertising of a position," said Natsuhara, a partner at Spectrum HR Law.
"There are a lot of new staff at Service Canada. Many veterans have left, taking with them their knowledge and insight to assess industries and their needs in a more global context," said Natsuhara, who is also past chair of the Canadian Bar Association's B.C. Immigration section. "The approach has become much more mechanical and based on checklists. 'This ad was up for 13 days, not 14 days. Reject!'"
At the same time, there has been a backdrop of rising unemployment and looming layoffs. "Canadians deserve to have reasonable access to jobs in every sector of the economy. The cancellation of this [program] will ensure that this access becomes available," said Anna Kroupoderova, a spokeswoman from Ottawa's Human Resources and Skills Development department, which oversees Service Canada. She described the change as an "administrative [one] to program procedures."
Natsuhara thinks that tougher economic times may have sparked a knee-jerk, blanket approach: "People might think, 'I have relatives that are on [employment insurance], why are we letting companies bring non-Canadians?"
He argues that, based on his clients, temporary work visas are being sought for only 10 to 15 per cent of a company's Vancouver workforce. At Ubisoft Vancouver, spokeswoman Boylan pinpointed it at 12 per cent.
"But they might be for really key team leader positions. If they aren't filled, projects just can't go ahead. Most companies are eyeing star performers they have banked on before," said Natsuhara, adding they are usually looking to parachute expertise from the U.S., the U.K. and France.
"The idea is once we have a strong leader, then the rest of the team will be populated by local talent," said Murdoch of Digital Domain, which has said it hopes to hire 50-60 digital artists, mostly Canadian, and ramp up to 100 employees by the end of 2010.
One possible solution is a Canada-B. C. Immigration Agreement that includes an annex which could "eliminate the need for federal government (LMOs) in occupations experiencing on-going shortages." It was inked in April 2010, but won't go into effect until April 2011.
Unfortunately, this means that from this October to next April, there will be seven months, at least, of uncertainty for companies accustomed to forecasting hiring and budgeting plans under much tighter terms.
Media industry fears new rules will kill jobs
Changes to federal legislation meant to protect Canadian employment could backfire and hinder the growth of local companies, critics say
By Joanne Lee-Young, Vancouver Sun July 5, 2010
Vancouver has been busy promoting itself as a creative, digital hub. It's part of a strategic effort to make the city a place where young, smart people want to work.
The arrival this year of Pixar and Digital Domain, the Venice, Calif.-based company behind Academy Award-winning films Titanic and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, was a major coup. Both are rolling out large studios and hiring local staff.
The hope, of course, is that once these heavy-hitters settle in, more of their kind will follow. But just as there is some momentum, there is also a mini-snag on the horizon.
In a little known move by Ottawa, slated for this fall, there is a desire to protect jobs for Canadians, but the plan could backfire and hamstring the growth of hundreds of jobs in B.C.'s economy.
For years, going back to the late 1990s, high-tech companies have been able to nimbly usher in key talent from outside Canada by using a federal IT (information technology) worker category. Basically, it allowed companies based here to put together project teams on the fly.
"To deal with critical shortages, C.I.C. (Citizenship and Immigration Canada) and Service Canada (which issues temporary work visas) chose seven IT positions and exempted them," said Vancouver lawyer Craig Natsuhara, who advises several large digital media firms. "So if, say, EA (the video game maker with offices in Burnaby) has a new title, it could easily bring in three of these (designers, artists, programmers), or five of those."
But Ottawa is eliminating this category at the end of September and the prospect of this not only has the digital media, gaming and visual effects industry in Vancouver worried, but Vancouver city hall too. It has been working closely with the Vancouver Economic Development Commission to pitch the city as a place where these global companies should plant a flag, invest money and have operations.
"I'm very concerned these changes will hinder the growth of our emerging tech cluster in Vancouver. Vancouver's thriving digital media, gaming and visual effects companies need to attract and retain global talent to remain competitive," said Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson via e-mail. "The proposed changes will have negative consequences for our local economy if it prevents companies from completing projects or forces them to locate their operations elsewhere."
"We are always in a hurry because by the time we've identified a hole for somebody, we have got a very short period of time," said Laurie Murdoch, a Vancouver-based human resources manager at Digital Domain. With the IT worker category, she could often work magic in under a week.
"Our timelines for production are so much faster than in other industries," added Wendy Boylan, a spokeswoman for Ubisoft Vancouver, which develops and markets video games. "We look locally first, but sometimes we need someone more niche, more veteran or with a certain kind of expertise. In a project, if we even have to wait a month, it can severely affect the time-line and cost."
Without the IT category, Pixar, Digital Domain, Ubisoft and the like will, starting in October, have to apply for temporary work visas the way every other company in any industry does. This means first seeking a so-called Labour Market Opinion (LMO) from Ottawa's Service Canada department. It requires demonstrating that a position meets wage guidelines, brings new skills and knowledge, and does not adversely affect the employment of a Canadian worker.
It sounds simple, but since January 2009, in the aftermath of the economic downturn, Service Canada has, across the board, been glacial in approving such applications.
"To be clear, we do use the LMO route, but it's definitely the longer route," said Murdoch of Digital Domain.
She thinks it could triple the time they are used to waiting, but even that might be optimistic thinking, according to others.
They've watched LMO waiting times stretch, but worse than that, "most companies don't know if their applications will be refused or not, and if so why. It seems very vague. The frustration is that you can go through the whole process, very carefully following the steps, and not get it," said Sylvain Provencher, executive director of ACM SIGGRAPH, a Vancouver-based society for computer graphics professionals. "It seems a very moody system."
"The problem right now, especially since January 2009, is that when Service Canada analyzes a [labour market] situation, it is minutely focused on whether companies have done enough [local] advertising of a position," said Natsuhara, a partner at Spectrum HR Law.
"There are a lot of new staff at Service Canada. Many veterans have left, taking with them their knowledge and insight to assess industries and their needs in a more global context," said Natsuhara, who is also past chair of the Canadian Bar Association's B.C. Immigration section. "The approach has become much more mechanical and based on checklists. 'This ad was up for 13 days, not 14 days. Reject!'"
At the same time, there has been a backdrop of rising unemployment and looming layoffs. "Canadians deserve to have reasonable access to jobs in every sector of the economy. The cancellation of this [program] will ensure that this access becomes available," said Anna Kroupoderova, a spokeswoman from Ottawa's Human Resources and Skills Development department, which oversees Service Canada. She described the change as an "administrative [one] to program procedures."
Natsuhara thinks that tougher economic times may have sparked a knee-jerk, blanket approach: "People might think, 'I have relatives that are on [employment insurance], why are we letting companies bring non-Canadians?"
He argues that, based on his clients, temporary work visas are being sought for only 10 to 15 per cent of a company's Vancouver workforce. At Ubisoft Vancouver, spokeswoman Boylan pinpointed it at 12 per cent.
"But they might be for really key team leader positions. If they aren't filled, projects just can't go ahead. Most companies are eyeing star performers they have banked on before," said Natsuhara, adding they are usually looking to parachute expertise from the U.S., the U.K. and France.
"The idea is once we have a strong leader, then the rest of the team will be populated by local talent," said Murdoch of Digital Domain, which has said it hopes to hire 50-60 digital artists, mostly Canadian, and ramp up to 100 employees by the end of 2010.
One possible solution is a Canada-B. C. Immigration Agreement that includes an annex which could "eliminate the need for federal government (LMOs) in occupations experiencing on-going shortages." It was inked in April 2010, but won't go into effect until April 2011.
Unfortunately, this means that from this October to next April, there will be seven months, at least, of uncertainty for companies accustomed to forecasting hiring and budgeting plans under much tighter terms.
Jul 6th 2010, 4:33 am
#2
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 390
Re: New Immigration rules may kill IT jobs
One possible solution is a Canada-B. C. Immigration Agreement that includes an annex which could "eliminate the need for federal government (LMOs) in occupations experiencing on-going shortages." It was inked in April 2010, but won't go into effect until April 2011.
Unfortunately, this means that from this October to next April, there will be seven months, at least, of uncertainty for companies accustomed to forecasting hiring and budgeting plans under much tighter terms.
Unfortunately, this means that from this October to next April, there will be seven months, at least, of uncertainty for companies accustomed to forecasting hiring and budgeting plans under much tighter terms.
Ray
Jul 6th 2010, 5:22 am
#3
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 9,708
Re: New Immigration rules may kill IT jobs
Hi
Actually the closing of the exemption for the 7 IT jobs will be probably benefit Canadians. What was happening was the US companies where opening branch offices and staffing them with overseas staff that they were unable to get H1Bs for the US. H1B quotas are usually filled the day they open in the US. They were hiring very few PRs/CCs to staff their Canadian operations, now the playing field will be a little more level with the IT companies having to advertise and demonstrate that there are not CCs/PRs available for the positions.
I suspect the tightening of the Federal programme will give provinces more autonomy to allow companies to hire more people of the type that the province needs. I know BC can move quite quickly to accommodate employers in the province, so I don’t think the lack of LMO prior to April next year is going to be a major impact for companies who need specific talent to come over. At least in BC.
Ray
Ray
Jul 6th 2010, 8:14 pm
#4
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Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 337
Re: New Immigration rules may kill IT jobs
Totally agree - setting up the business in Canada just to benefit from certain tax exemptions and tax credits and then hiring foreign workers instead of Canadians is not providing any benefits to Canada or the Province. If they (foreign companies) want to benefit from tax credits and exemptions they must hire locals, not bring in foreign workers.
