Now vote for the most influential man in Canadian social media

In Dave Forde’s blog: http://profectio.com/vote-who-is-canada%E2%80%99s-most-influential-man-in-social-media

New immigration rules rant

The new immigration occupation list is the stupidest thing I ever heard of. The immigration authorities manage to make the whole thing more and more idiotic every time they change the rules (apparently, human idiocy has no limits).

Now, if you don’t have Canadian experience (haven’t worked or studied in Canada), you only stand a chance to immigrate if you belong to the new occupations list.
Let’s look at each position. Whom does our government want to bring into the country?

Financial Managers – I am not even going to comment THAT.

Financial Auditors and Accountants Yes, with vast experience of working under other countries’ rules, regulations and accounting standards. These people don’t stand a chance of being employed in Canada unless they are willing to start from the ground up again (i.e. from being accounting clerks) and obtain all certification, which may take years.

General Practitioners and Family Physicians (and various other medical personnel) Am I walking the same ground that the government people do? Have they ever heard that it is impossible for a doctor with foreign diploma to work in Canada in the professional quality? Yes, I know that there is a government program for re-certifying foreign doctors, a really huge and ambitious project with throughput of about 40 people a year. (Guess how many doctors will come annually under the new rules.) So, these people will have to join the army of pizza deliverers unless the Government changes the licensing rules which I doubt.

All flavours of managers Again the practicality of the government people is astonishing. How big is a chance that someone who just came into the country will be hired in a managerial role? I’ll tell you. Nil. (Unless we talk about a pop-and-mom shop or, maybe, a very small software development company.)

Various kinds of engineers Last time I heard, you could not work as an engineer without Canadian certification and experience. So these people, too, will be forced to take a survival job and undergo long and expensive process of certification.

Chefs and cooks Have you personally suffered from the shortage of chefs and cooks in Canada? Now, doctors and nurses may be a different story, but no one is going to do anything about it (see above).

This is a real circus. I cannot believe my tax money is wasted on the bunch of harebrained [censored] who came up with this ridiculous list. Now take me, I came to Canada as an independent immigrant, I have been gainfully employed most of the time since then (until I switched to self-employment), I have paid taxes (a lot of them), and all in all, because of my presence in the country, the Canadian economy won and I won and everybody won. Under the new rules, I and a million of other people wouldn’t have stood a chance. Now, instead of that, we are going to get more deceived and frustrated doctors and managers who will have to work as pizza deliverers or go on welfare. Who is going to win? Not they, not I, not you.

Vote for the most influential woman in Canadian social media

Dave Forde, the man behind Toronto Tech Week, asks us to vote in a poll for the most influential woman in Canadian social media.
I voted for Sacha Chua.
Now it’s your turn!
Vote in Dave Forde’s blog

Attend filming of the exclusive “Thinking the Unthinkables” debates

Attend the filming of the exclusive “Thinking the Unthinkables” debates on Nov. 20, 2008. The debates will take place at the Rogers offices in the Velma Rogers Theatre, 333 Bloor St. East.

As part of this group, you will witness a series of engaging debates moderated by Joe Chidley, Editor of Canadian Business and Steve Maich Executive Editor of Maclean’s. Topics will range from integration and immigration to the oil sands and education. You will also have the opportunity to participate in an audience question and answer session after each debate.

Don’t miss this opportunity to hear some of Canada’s brightest minds debating issues important to Canadians (speaker/topic details below). This event is FREE. RSVP to Sarah-Jane.Pearce@publishing.rogers.com.

Government incentives for businesses – resource list

The resources are mostly for research-and-development based Canadian small businesses (some are applicable to other types of businesses as well).

SR&ED – government refund for companies doing research and development
http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/txcrdt/sred-rsde/menu-eng.html

OITC (Ontario Innovation Tax Credit) – rider to federal SR&ED
http://www.rev.gov.on.ca/english/forms/ct/pdf/0329f.pdf

Obtaining your free credit report in Canada

Each Canadian is entitled to receiving his or her credit report for free once a year. (Lots of people don’t know that, and the credit reporting companies, for obvious reasons, do not advertise the fact: they’d rather sell you a service for nice $$ per year doing essentially the same thing.)

So here’s how you can obtain the report for free:

By coming in person, in Toronto (by the way, you will not find this information on Equifax’s website)

Go to Equifax office located at 5700 Yonge (@Hendon, one block north of Finch; you can also get there directly from the Finch subway station). This branch used to be at 110 Sheppard East but moved here. The new office is located at concourse level behind the elevators, and there is no sign except for a small printed one.

Make sure you have the following with you:

all addresses that you lived at for the last 5 years
2 pieces of ID(*) including one with your current(**) address
something interesting to read, as the line may be quite long.

——
(*) These have to be official pieces of ID, including one with a photo. E.g. a plastic driver’s license or a passport or a major credit card and a bank statement. Pay stubs and OHIP cards do not qualify.
(**) I saw a woman turned back because she had moved recently (having indicated the fact on her application) and all her documents still showed the old address. She produced a pay stub with the new address, but it would not do.

You get the printed report immediately. Please note that you cannot obtain your credit score that way; with Equifax, it can be only done online for $$.

By mail from anywhere in Canada

You will find the instructions here in small print on the right side of the screen under “Related resources”.