Should Canada Be Preparing for a Destabilized USA?

[niwell]

So I booked my annual trip to Chicago to see the Pitchfork music festival. We will see how everything goes!

Pretty sure it will be fine but it is weird that of the other trips I have booked I am least certain. Those being Copenhagen this Spring and Johannesburg in the Fall.

[1overcosc]

Originally Posted by lio45

I'd be curious to see data (in any case, the strong US dollar is worse for tourism than Trump, that's for sure).

I've seen numbers in various publications about noticeable (but not dramatic) declines in international tourism to the United States but never really looked further. Could have been fake news for all I know.

Of course, the dollar might matter more than Trump, as you said.

[SpongeG]

Hamilton church volunteers denied entry to U.S. so they wouldn't 'steal American jobs'

A group of church volunteers from Hamilton heading south to do relief work were denied entry to the U.S. for fear they would take American construction jobs, said a spokesperson for the church.

The 12-person contingent from Hamilton's Rehoboth United Reformed Church was travelling by road on the morning of Saturday, March 11, to New Jersey.

Erik Hoeksema, the church's outreach director who was travelling with the group, said they intended to spend March break cleaning up and rehabilitating neighbourhoods affected by Hurricane Sandy.

U.S. border law says Canadians do not require a visa to enter the country for volunteer work, as long as they can provide proof that their work will not be compensated.

...

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilt...jobs-1.4022969

[big W]

Originally Posted by BretttheRiderFan

Yeah, I don't really think the "I'm going to avoid the US because of Trump" crowd are actually the "I'm going to go spend a lot of time in Florida this winter" crowd.

Usually no. However I know some people with homes in Arizona that are now selling and looking to get something elsewhere. Timing works though as they made a killing, buying it a few years ago with low US home prices and high Canadian Dollar. Now the prices have increased in the US and the Canadian dollar has gone down. So the main driving force for them was not Trump, but it certainly did get them to look at things more closely.

[SpongeG]

Robert Lighthizer, Trump's Pick For Trade Secretary, Urged To Get Tough With Canada

CP | By Alexander Panetta, The Canadian Press
Posted: 03/14/2017 4:01 pm EDT Updated: 03/14/2017 4:56 pm EDT

WASHINGTON — In a possible preview of upcoming NAFTA negotiations, Donald Trump's pick as trade czar was urged to get tough with Canada on multiple fronts including lumber, dairy, and intellectual property, during a hearing in the U.S. Congress on Tuesday.

Robert Lighthizer, the nominated trade representative, was having his long-awaited confirmation hearing in the U.S. Senate and a number of the first lawmakers to question him offered pointed queries demanding action regarding the northern neighbour.

The exchanges were notable as a public conversation between actors involved in renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement: U.S. law says the U.S. trade representative must consult the Senate finance committee before, during, and after trade negotiations.

They were all there Tuesday.

...

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2017/03...cahpmg00000008

[BretttheRiderFan]

The particular clip I saw from an Oregon Senator as pertains to softwood lumber was just absurd. These Congressional committees are political theatre: their version of Question Period really.

[kwoldtimer]

I see that a U.S. court has blocked (temporary restraining order) the revised travel ban that was to come into effect today. I'm actually a bit surprised, as I assumed that the Administration would have all its ducks in a row this time around.

Fascinating times, fascinating country.

[SpongeG]

Trump immigration policies kill work visas for specialized Canadian nurses

Advanced practice nurses and nurse anesthetists told they no longer qualify for professional visas

CBC News Posted: Mar 15, 2017 4:36 PM ET Last Updated: Mar 15, 2017 5:31 PM ET

Canadian nurses working at Michigan hospitals were shocked last week when border security officers stopped them from entering the U.S. because of changes to their working visas under new immigration policies.

Staff at Detroit's Henry Ford Hospital heard reports of nurses unable to renew their working visas. Last week, a new Canadian hire at Henry Ford tried to go to work, but was turned away at the Windsor-Detroit border.

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She was told advanced practice nurses and nurse anesthetists no longer qualify for the working visas because of policy changes under U.S. President Donald Trump.

"We really question the motives," said immigration lawyer Marc Topoleski, whose firm is retained by the hospital. "All of the immigration executive orders and all the things being rolled out have been focused on national security first, and this is clearly not an issue of national security whatsoever."

'Livelihoods are at stake'

Only advanced practice nurses and nurse anesthetists are being rejected. All Canadian nurses working in the U.S. have non-immigrant NAFTA professional (TN) visas.

An estimated 30,000 to 40,000 Canadians work in the U.S with TN visas, which allow experts in certain fields — like economics and science — a fast track, provided they have a job offer.

Henry Ford Hospital alone has hundreds of Canadians on staff, with about 25 advanced practice nurses or nurse anesthetists with TN visas.

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"Some of these things are surprising," said Patrick Irwin, vice-president human resources at Henry Ford Hospital. "We have always been able to qualify these nurses under the TN category."

CBC News contacted U.S. Customs and Border Protection for an interview, but has yet to get a response.

Hospital officials said they're doing everything they can to resolve this issue.

"Their livelihood is at stake," Topoleski said. "They don't know why this is happening, they don't understand why it's happening. All they've been doing is just coming here and helping Americans get better by providing patient care."

Michigan's Council of Nurse Practitioners is trying to make their members aware of possible problems at the border, according to executive director Olivia McLaughlin.

"It's obviously concerning for a number of reasons," she said. "This seems like a recent opinion that is affecting the renewals."

'It just makes absolutely no sense'

The nurses have been advised they need to apply for H1B visa status, which is a separate category under NAFTA for more specialized employment. But those applications can cost between $3,000 and $4,000 depending on the applicant, according to Topoleski.

Henry Ford Hospital job fair in Windsor a hit at Caboto Club
Other policy changes recently announced by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will suspend a fast-track program for processing H1B applications as of April 3.

...

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windso...cted-1.4026554

[kwoldtimer]

It seems strange that their system wouldn't have included some sort of advance notification or transition period. Somebody in the bureaucracy was asleep at the switch, unless it was considered too minor a matter to be concerned about.

[HomeInMyShoes]

I don't think Donald actually thinks about implementation details.

[lio45]

It's kind of a logical decision, when you think about it -- you don't want to make it too easy for a hospital within commuting distance of the border to be staffed with foreigners.

[Antigonish]

Originally Posted by HomeInMyShoes

I don't think Donald actually thinks about implementation details.

The second time around they did though. The 'legalese' behind the 2nd EO was sound, it's merely an activist judge in Hawai'i that blocked it. I'm assuming at this point they will just go to court over it.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by Antigonish

The second time around they did though. The 'legalese' behind the 2nd EO was sound, it's merely an activist judge in Hawai'i that blocked it. I'm assuming at this point they will just go to court over it.

And, since then, another one in Maryland. Those activist judges are everywhere! The irony, I gather, is that both judges took into account (rightly or wrongly, I couldn't say) Trump's anti-Muslim/Muslim ban campaign rhetoric in considering the challenges to the revised executive order. Politically, I don't know whether Trump really cares - his base sees him trying to do something he promised to do and being stymied by Courts, so this isn't putting the base off their man.

[Infrequent Poster]

my future prediction is....at some point, Trump will do something to bring back much of the film business from Vancouver and Toronto.

Unless he holds a bit of grudge against all the dumb ass ultra rich hollywood personalities telling everyone else what they should be thinking/doing....In which case maybe he wont be doing anything to help their industry?

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by Infrequent Poster

my future prediction is....at some point, Trump will do something to bring back much of the film business from Vancouver and Toronto.

Unless he holds a bit of grudge against all the dumb ass ultra rich hollywood personalities telling everyone else what they should be thinking/doing....In which case maybe he wont be doing anything to help their industry?

Other than throwing subsidies at them and somehow raising the value of the Canadian dollar, I'm not sure how he'd do that.

[big W]

Originally Posted by lio45

It's kind of a logical decision, when you think about it -- you don't want to make it too easy for a hospital within commuting distance of the border to be staffed with foreigners.

I don't care for the US president but on this one it makes perfect sense at first blush. We do not have labour mobility with the US like the EU has between countries. So in this case, why should a hospital in the US not employ Americans. Lets be honest, it the hospital was in Windsor and 1/4 of the staff was coming in from Detroit while there was high unemployment in other parts of Canada, would we not say why are they hiring Americans when there are Canadians out of work. Think of the uproar we had with the foreign worker program. Now I realize the issue is significantly more nuanced when you dig into it. It could be a lack of people in the US wanting those jobs as they don't want to move from San Diego to take a job in Detroit for example, may not have people with the qualifications in Detroit that are able to take the job etc. But the point stands if you are an American you are seeing jobs in the US going to foreigners when there are millions of Americans out of work.

[CanSpice]

Originally Posted by big W

I don't care for the US president but on this one it makes perfect sense at first blush. We do not have labour mobility with the US like the EU has between countries. So in this case, why should a hospital in the US not employ Americans. Lets be honest, it the hospital was in Windsor and 1/4 of the staff was coming in from Detroit while there was high unemployment in other parts of Canada, would we not say why are they hiring Americans when there are Canadians out of work. Think of the uproar we had with the foreign worker program. Now I realize the issue is significantly more nuanced when you dig into it. It could be a lack of people in the US wanting those jobs as they don't want to move from San Diego to take a job in Detroit for example, may not have people with the qualifications in Detroit that are able to take the job etc. But the point stands if you are an American you are seeing jobs in the US going to foreigners when there are millions of Americans out of work.

For highly specialized fields that require a fairly long lead-time towards hiring someone (remember, these aren't jobs at Dunkin Donuts) you can't just cut them off suddenly. You need to make sure that there are actually suitable American candidates who can get into those jobs. There needs to be a transition period where everybody knows what's going on.

The uproar here about the foreign worker program was largely centered around low-skill jobs that could be easily filled by Canadians (Tim Hortons jobs, for example). For high-skill jobs in markets with extremely low unemployment and extremely high need (I'm thinking general practitioners in BC, for example) having foreign workers come in would be largely applauded, I'd think.

[SpongeG]

Canadian working in the U.S.? What you need to know about TN, H-1B visas

Specialized nurses working in Detroit who used TN visas now advised to apply for H-1B visas
CBC News Posted: Mar 16, 2017 5:54 PM ET Last Updated: Mar 17, 2017 9:47 AM ET

Canadian nurses working at Michigan hospitals were shocked last week when border security officers stopped them from entering the U.S. because of changes to their working visas under new immigration policies.

Marc Topoleski, an immigration lawyer for Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, said the changes at the border stem from new U.S. immigration policies, but officials from the Cross Border Institute at the University of Windsor disagree.

According to Laurie Tannous, a special adviser to the institute, the changes come from border security enforcing existing NAFTA regulations that have not been enforced before.

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"There is no NAFTA or legal challenge to what they are doing," she said. There were far fewer specialized nurses needed in the U.S. when NAFTA rules were written, Tannous said.

...

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/trump-...roit-1.4028260

[SpongeG]

someone I know moved to new york 11 years ago, he got his visa at the airport for $50 valid for 3 years which was easily renewed and he got in in the special category as a graphic designer. Which seemed a lot easier than I thought it would be, special seems to be a pretty broad category.

Anyway now he has just gotten a green card and can stay there etc. But he decided to move to montreal last september for the winter, lol, and he is still there and he got his green card news while living in montreal. I think he plans to move back to New York in a few months in the summer.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

Canadian working in the U.S.? What you need to know about TN, H-1B visas

Specialized nurses working in Detroit who used TN visas now advised to apply for H-1B visas
CBC News Posted: Mar 16, 2017 5:54 PM ET Last Updated: Mar 17, 2017 9:47 AM ET

Canadian nurses working at Michigan hospitals were shocked last week when border security officers stopped them from entering the U.S. because of changes to their working visas under new immigration policies.

Marc Topoleski, an immigration lawyer for Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, said the changes at the border stem from new U.S. immigration policies, but officials from the Cross Border Institute at the University of Windsor disagree.

According to Laurie Tannous, a special adviser to the institute, the changes come from border security enforcing existing NAFTA regulations that have not been enforced before.

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"There is no NAFTA or legal challenge to what they are doing," she said. There were far fewer specialized nurses needed in the U.S. when NAFTA rules were written, Tannous said.

...

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/trump-...roit-1.4028260

I gather that the specialized nurse visa thing has now been reversed - seems to have been a bureaucratic error more than anything else.