How a common labour agreement could benefit Canada.

[Machjo]

How a common labour agreement could benefit Canada.

If I wanted to start a company requiring highly specialized staff, the EU might be my first choice due to its assign pool of well-educated workers to which I have easy access without having to go through the bureaucratic hoops of getting a work visa for someone.

The US might be my second choice due to its large educated labour market.

Canada would be low on my list of choices due to its smaller population.

Bring in a common labour market agreement and Canada is not so attractive anymore.

Even assuming that most of the staff are foreign, even the most high-tech companies hire janitors, cleaners, cooks, servers, drivers, and other more common workers who would not have had a job had the company not settled there. Even without that foreign staff that would otherwise have been paying its taxes and shopping abroad would now be doing it here. That extra tax revenue could go towards educating the unemployed, money the government does not now have.

Preventing foreign nationals from working in Canada will not increase the chance of a Canadian janitor being promoted to head physician or physicist for example.

As for the worry that such an agreement could also make it easier for qualified Canadians to leave Canada, it's still preferable that such Canadians prosper abroad than collect social assistance in Canada. Sometimes it just happens that the skills don't match the jobs, so a common labour market is mutually beneficial to all countries involved.

This would also increase the value of Canadian citizenship. After all, of what value is Canadian citizenship if it allows one to work only in Canada.

[Bonam]

Under NAFTA, there is already fairly free flow of professional labor between the US and Canada.

[TimG]

As for the worry that such an agreement could also make it easier for qualified Canadians to leave Canada.

It is already very easy for Canadians to leave. Close to 10% of the population lives abroad (many in the US). The problem for Canadian business is they:

1) can't pay as much as US counter parts when the CAD is low;

2) smaller cities means a smaller talent pool;

3) fewer people with money that can back a start up;

4) the highest status jobs for many professions are in the US;

5) with some specialities the market for the speciality is non-existent in Canada

[bush_cheney2004]

Under NAFTA, there is already fairly free flow of professional labor between the US and Canada.

Agreed....non-immigrant work visas with sponsorship means that labour moves freely between Canada, U.S., and Mexico. Other nationals (e.g. from India, Pakistan, Ireland, etc.) know how to get legal non-immigrant employment in North America using all three nations for access.

[RobertMcClintock]

Collective agreements can be a benefit to both the local and non local workers around, as it clearly mentions the entire working from joining to leaving the industry. The important factor lies as in the institutions themselves avail the common man with the convention collective automobile pdf s to refer.

[hitops]

Agreed....non-immigrant work visas with sponsorship means that labour moves freely between Canada, U.S., and Mexico. Other nationals (e.g. from India, Pakistan, Ireland, etc.) know how to get legal non-immigrant employment in North America using all three nations for access.

Agreed....non-immigrant work visas with sponsorship means that labour moves freely between Canada, U.S., and Mexico. Other nationals (e.g. from India, Pakistan, Ireland, etc.) know how to get legal non-immigrant employment in North America using all three nations for access.

This is not so true anymore. It used to be that there were plenty of work visas, however within the last 2-3 years, the H1-B visa applications exceed the yearly quota within the first week of eligibility each year. It is now dominated by companies which specialize in making visa applications. the largest of which are based in India. Small firms in the US cannot recruit because of this. The NYT had an extensive article on this last week.

And as far as medical, this has never been true. Unlike almost every other professional job, doctors have to write the US exams (called the USMLE's) to be eligible for H1-B's. This is a long, difficult and costly undertaking which is effectively a law by regulation, designed to circumvent NAFTA and protect American doctors from competition.

Edited November 16, 2015 by hitops

[Bonam]

This is not so true anymore. It used to be that there were plenty of work visas, however within the last 2-3 years, the H1-B visa applications exceed the yearly quota within the first week of eligibility each year. It is now dominated by companies which specialize in making visa applications. the largest of which are based in India. Small firms in the US cannot recruit because of this. The NYT had an extensive article on this last week.

This is true but Canadians can easily get the TN visa instead, which is not subject to a cap.

[bush_cheney2004]

This is not so true anymore. It used to be that there were plenty of work visas, however within the last 2-3 years, the H1-B visa applications exceed the yearly quota within the first week of eligibility each year. It is now dominated by companies which specialize in making visa applications. the largest of which are based in India. Small firms in the US cannot recruit because of this. The NYT had an extensive article on this last week.

It is still true for non-North Americans wishing to game the system through Canada and Mexico (NAFTA). I know several IT workers who do this routinely, having to leave the U.S. temporarily ("on vacation") to keep their TNs alive.

[hitops]

This is true but Canadians can easily get the TN visa instead, which is not subject to a cap.

It is still true for non-North Americans wishing to game the system through Canada and Mexico (NAFTA). I know several IT workers who do this routinely, having to leave the U.S. temporarily ("on vacation") to keep their TNs alive.

Good point, but not for docs unfortunately. You cannot earn more than 10% of your income from clinical practice on a TN. Basically unless you are going to do research or teaching, it is not a viable option for physicians.

Edited November 17, 2015 by hitops