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The federal government has shifted its immigration policy by recruiting thousands of immigrants to fill labour shortages in health care, skilled trades, agriculture, transportation and STEM (science, technology, engineering and math). Since late June, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has invited 9,000 people to apply for permanent residency because of their candidacy for those occupations.
Economists and policy experts are warning that with today’s fast-changing labour needs, this approach could leave the country with too many workers in the fields currently targeted. Experts have also said that potential immigrants could be overlooked despite ranking high in Canada’s point system. Immigration candidates are assigned a score through the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS), accounting for such factors as age, education and employment history. The score corresponds to their expected Canadian earnings, based on the outcomes of previous cohorts of immigrants. In the past, Ottawa selected the top scorers to apply for permanent residency.
By targeting people with certain career backgrounds, experts say, the process could become less predictable for prospective immigrants and could result in less overall productivity as lower-earners are more commonly selected because of their occupation.
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Helicopter pilot becomes third person to die fighting Canada’s wildfires
Canada’s worst wildfire season on record has now killed three people working on the front lines. On Wednesday evening, a helicopter pilot died when he crashed during firefighting operations in a remote location near Haig Lake, Alta., more than 300 kilometres northwest of Grande Prairie. Transportation Safety Board of Canada deployed a team of investigators to the crash site Thursday morning.
On July 13, 19-year-old firefighter Devyn Gale died after a tree fell on her near Revelstoke, B.C. Then on Saturday, 25-year-old firefighter Adam Yeadon died from injuries he sustained while working to contain a blaze near his home in Fort Liard in the Northwest Territories.
There are 885 wildfires actively burning across the country with 600 determined to be out of control and 11 million hectares burned so far this year. This year’s wildfire season is 10 times worse on average than what the country has experienced in the past. The situation is most severe in British Columbia where 376 active wildfires are burning as of Thursday, with 225 considered out of control.
Inside the gruelling, fuzzy world of Toronto’s busiest party mascot
The Emery family founded the children’s party company JoJoFun in 2005. The family patriarch, Austin Emery, is the chief of mascotting. On any given day the 52-year old could be a giant mouse, bear, or bunny. He doesn’t just put on the costume though, he plays a character. His mouse doesn’t just walk, he swaggers. He doesn’t just step up at the curb, he bounces.
Day after day Emery enters children’s parties to a broad spectrum of reactions. Some love him, some hit him, and some are scared of him. No outburst could deter Emery or get him down though. He takes a lot of pride in entertaining kids, even when they have complicated feelings about his performance.
For Emery, the job isn’t just fun, it’s fulfilling. That became especially clear to him during the pandemic. Without his work, Emery realized how important it was. Now the parties are back, and Ann Hui sat down with Emery to explore the life of a professional mascot, from costume mishaps to kicks and punches from kids who aren’t sure what to think of him.
Austin Emery, chief of mascotting at his family business, JojoFun, at his home in Toronto, July 19.Christopher Katsarov/The Globe and Mail
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Also on our radar
B.C. ports: The union caucus that rejected a tentative labour agreement for B.C. port workers has scheduled a new vote on Friday to determine the fate of the package.
Women’s World Cup: Canada was unable to break the deadlock in its opener on Friday in Melbourne, settling for a 0-0 draw against Nigeria, the world’s 40th-ranked team.
Bernardo transfer: The Correctional Service of Canada has said the transfer in late May of serial killer Paul Bernardo from a maximum-security to a medium-security institution was sound and followed all laws and policies.
Bill C-18: Meta has started to run ads to inform Canadians of its plan to block the viewing and sharing of news content on Facebook and Instagram within weeks, but some Quebec radio stations and news publications are refusing to carry them.
Ontario nurses: Ontario hospital nurses will see their hourly wages rise by an average of 16 per cent this year after an arbitrator concluded a significant pay increase was necessary to attract and keep the workers in the wake of the pandemic, which has intensified labour shortages in health care.
U.S. Soldier in North Korea: The U.S. Army on Thursday expressed deep concern for how North Korea might treat Private Travis King and said Washington was fully mobilized in its efforts to reach out to Pyongyang, including by using United Nations communications channels.
Business and Investing: Test your knowledge of the stories making headlines with The Globe’s business and investing news quiz. Questions like: How did Netflix’s password crackdown affect subscriber numbers?
Morning markets
World markets muted: Global stocks were subdued on Friday after earnings reports from Tesla and Netflix failed to dazzle and ahead of an action-packed week for central bank interest rate decisions.
Just after 5:30 a.m. ET, Britain’s FTSE 100 was up 0.13 per cent. Germany’s DAX slid 0.38 per cent. France’s CAC 40 gained 0.23 per cent. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei finished down 0.57 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.78 per cent. New York futures were modestly positive.
The Canadian dollar was relatively steady at 75.93 US cents.
What everyone’s talking about
Citizenship is about more than just a click, a ceremony or an oath
“And the notion of belonging that is at the core of citizenship means different things to different people. What those objecting to the one-click approach may not realize is that immigrants have to take the oath to receive our passports. As such, it doesn’t feel like a celebration – it feels like a mandatory administrative task.” - Themrise Khan
An overdue roadmap for defence policy
”The Liberal government launched a review of its defence policy 15 months ago in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Defence Minister Anita Anand should accelerate that review’s completion and release, given the urgency of countering threats from both Russia and China.” - The Editorial Board
Today’s editorial cartoon
Illustration by Brian Gable
Living better
Ready for retirement? Surprising and reassuring truths about your golden years
Most Canadians are stressed about retirement. Fewer than half are confident they will have enough money to retire as planned, according to a Bank of Montreal survey earlier this year.
But retirement is better than most Canadians expect it to be. Seniors are happier in their retirement than any other time in their adult life and most people have enough money too. Ian McGugan busts myths about your golden years here.
Moment in time: July 21, 2010
Former U.S. President Barack Obama signs the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act in Washington, July 21, 2010.JIM YOUNG/Reuters
U.S. President Barack Obama signs the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act
The 2007-2008 financial crisis can be largely chalked up to irresponsible and excessive risk-taking by banks, insurance companies, credit rating agencies, investment banking firms and mortgage lenders. With lax regulations, the system allowed for some lenders to use hidden fees and fine print to take advantage of consumers, which caused the housing sector bubble to burst and ultimately drove the worst recession since the Great Depression. In an attempt to make the U.S. financial system safer for consumers and taxpayers, then-president Barack Obama signed Dodd-Frank, one of the largest Wall Street reform legislations in history. Dodd-Frank created new government agencies – including the Securities and Exchange Commission Office of Credit Ratings and watchdog Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) – to oversee the financial system to prevent mortgage companies and lenders from exploiting consumers. “The American people will never again be asked to foot the bill for Wall Street’s mistakes,” Mr. Obama said at the signing. Donald Trump rolled back significant portions of Dodd-Frank in 2018 when Congress passed the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act. After President Joe Biden was elected in 2020, the CFPB focused on rescinding rules from the Trump era that conflicted with its charter. Mahdis Habibinia
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