One Stop Financial Solutions Inc.

01/04/2024

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04/10/2017

The number of new homes that began construction in Canada last month hit their highest level since September 2007, the latest sign of a boom in the housing market that many fear is overheating.

The seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts for March came in at 253,720 units, up from 214,253 in February, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. said Monday.

Economists had expected a reading of 215,000 for last month, according to Thomson Reuters.http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/housing-starts-canada-1.4064142

The number of new homes that began construction in Canada last month hit their highest level since September 2007, the latest sign of a boom in the housing market that many fear is overheating.

04/05/2017

Retiring abroad certainly has its benefits, such as cheaper healthcare, a refreshing change of scenery and a lower cost of living. That last detail is especially important for retirees who haven't saved as much as they had hoped. Fortunately, there are a number of countries where you can retire comfortably with a smaller nest egg. (For more, see: Retirement Funds Too Little? Retire Abroad.)

Living on the cheap is even easier when you're receiving Social Security benefits. As of 2017, the average benefit amount came to $1,360 for the typical retired worker. If you have $200,000 tucked away in a retirement plan, that, along with your Social Security payments, should be enough to last three decades in these eight international locales.

Retiring on $200,000 may seem like a longshot, but there are several countries that are perfect for living out your later years on a smaller budget.

04/04/2017

Fifty-one per cent of surveyed businesses said they expected to have more employees over the next 12 months, compared to 15 per cent who expected lower employment. The number of firms planning to hire more is now at its highest level since late 2014, when oil prices began their precipitous decline.

An improving sales outlook from surveyed businesses has been fuelled by "an expected rebound in energy-related activity," said the report, as well as "favourable effects of the weaker Canadian dollar for exports and the tourism sector."

"Meanwhile, some firms believe that activity in sectors experiencing robust growth (such as housing and automobiles) could soon level off," said the report.

Canadian businesses expect higher commodity prices to increase costs, reported the bank.

"A few also cited regulatory factors, such as cap-and-trade policies in Ontario and the carbon tax in Alberta, as contributing to their input price growth."

The survey offers "plenty of signs that the worst of the oil price shock is behind the Canadian economy," wrote Robert Kavcic, of BMO Economics in a note.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/bank-of-canada-business-survey-april-1.4052692

More Canadian businesses expect to hire and make investments over the next year, according to the latest survey from the Bank of Canada.

04/04/2017

The Canadian economy roared into the new year, growing at an annualized rate of 2.3 per cent in January, Statistics Canada reported on Friday.

For the month, gross domestic product grew by 0.6 per cent, double the market consensus prediction of 0.3 per cent, the same as in December.

That continues the rapid pace seen in the fourth quarter of 2016, when the economy expanded by 2.6 per cent, and it has some economists revising their estimates for this year's Canadian growth upwards.

The manufacturing sector had the strongest performance in January, expanding by 1.9 per cent, led by growth in fabricated metal, non-metallic mineral and wood product manufacturing.

But there was widespread growth across both goods and services production, Statistics Canada reported, with wholesale trade, the retail sector, construction, mining and oil and gas all on the upswing.

With the exception of October, gross domestic product has risen every month since June 2016.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/gdp-growth-january-1.4049204

The Canadian economy roared into the new year, growing at an annualized rate of 2.3 per cent in January, Statistics Canada reported on Friday.

03/21/2017

http://askmigration.com/canada-hiring-more-filipinos-to-fill-out-14000-job-vacancies/

01/19/2017

Credential evaluation vs. recognition: what’s the difference and why it matters
By Silvia Di Blasio
January 18, 2017

career directionsMany immigrants think that having their credentials evaluated means they can work in their profession in Canada as they did in their home countries. Unfortunately, this is not true.

There is a big difference between going through an evaluation process and having your credentials recognized in Canada. Let’s start by explaining the difference between credential evaluation (also called assessment) and credential recognition (also called accreditation), as they are much different processes.



Getting a credential evaluation
There are two main credential evaluation/assessment agencies in Canada: World Education Services (WES), located in Toronto, and International Credential Evaluation Service (ICES), located in Burnaby, B.C.

Evaluation agencies don’t have the authority to decide whether your international studies and experience are comparable to those required by employers in Canada. They can only assess three things:

1. whether you studied where you say you did

2. whether the institution exists and is recognized by the educational regulatory body in your country

3. what level (in years) is this education comparable to similar studies in Canada.

If you’re an immigrant in a licensed profession such as engineering and teaching, you need to be aware that many professional regulatory bodies don’t accept either WES or ICES results. This means that before you send your transcripts to WES or ICES, check with the provincial regulatory body that governs your profession.



Credential recognition is different
Credential recognition or accreditation is a different, more complex process for those in licensed or regulated professions. About 20 per cent of all occupations and professions are, in fact, regulated in Canada, and each one has different rules and requirements when it comes to accepting internationally trained professionals. They are generally governed by provincial regulatory bodies, which could also have different requirements for the same profession depending on your province.

In some careers, such as nursing, teaching, medicine and certain trades, to name a few, accreditation is mandatory — you need to obtain a licence or ticket in order to work or carry the professional designation. Other careers are regulated only for certain levels of performance, as in the case of engineers, technicians, non-professional accountants and some trades.

Regulatory bodies tend to have their own assessment and accreditation system, which may include:

evaluation of your international transcripts
requiring you to sit for Canadian exams
interviewing you
requiring you to gain supervised work experience
asking you to provide professional references
requiring you to complete further studies in Canada, particularly in areas such as industry legislation, ethics, technical courses and professional English.


Next step: a job?
Once you have completed an evaluation and/or accreditation process, you are not necessarily guaranteed a job, however. This is very important to understand.

Further, some accreditation processes may take years and cost thousands of dollars for fees, exams and retraining, so you’ll need to decide if this works for your situation: do you have the time, money and energy this requires?

So, if you are in doubt about how to proceed for your profession, the best approach is to get a consultation with a certified and experienced career counsellor, who can provide you with guidance on your next steps. It is also a good idea to have a few informational interviews with people already working in the industry and to talk with advisors from the appropriate regulatory body before making any decisions that may impact how well you start your new path in Canada.

01/19/2017

About 1,400 immigrants a year ordered removed from Canada for residency non-compliance
By Nicholas Keung
January 18, 2017

An average of about 1,400 Canadian immigrants are intercepted at the border each year and ordered removed from the country for not fulfilling their residency obligations, the Star has learned.

Although these newcomers can appeal to a tribunal to restore their permanent resident status under humanitarian considerations, only one in 10 succeeds in the process, according to government data.

“The tribunal is supposed to be immigrants’ last resort as the Parliament has given it the discretionary power to give immigrants a second chance if they breach the law,” said immigration lawyer Lawrence Wong, who obtained the data through an access to information request.

“But that second chance in reality is hard to come by. The national sentiment is pretty much the same. If you are an immigrant, don’t make a mistake. If you do, we want to see you kicked out.”

It’s believed to be the first time data about the loss of permanent residency at ports of entry has been made public, revealing the extent of residency noncompliance among immigrants trying to get back to Canada after lengthy stays overseas, said Wong.

Canada’s immigration law requires permanent residents to be physically present in Canada for at least 730 days in every five-year period in order to maintain their status. Otherwise, their residency will be revoked.

According to the Canada Border Services Agency, on average 1,423 permanent residents a year were stopped at the border for failing the requirement from 2010 to 2014, the most recent statistics available. During the period, Canada accepted some 260,000 newcomers annually.

The number of removal orders issued against these individuals had risen sharply to 1,413 in 2014 from 605 in 2008, when former Conservative Immigration Minister Jason Kenney took over the department and cracked down on fraud.

Across Canada, Quebec had the highest detection rate; more than a third of the removal orders were issued in the province against the non-compliant immigrants returning to Canada.

Between 2008 and 2014, a total of 3,575 immigrants were slapped with removal orders for residency non-compliance at Pierre Elliot Trudeau airport in Montreal, dwarfing the 439 and 972 people respectively intercepted at Toronto’s Pearson airport and the Vancouver International Airport.

The numbers do not include those who had their permanent residency revoked due to criminality and misrepresentation, who were refused travel documents to return to Canada or who applied to voluntarily relinquish their permanent residence.

While all these immigrants who lost their status can appeal to the immigration appeal division based on errors in law or humanitarian and compassionate grounds such as hardship from separation with family in Canada, the border services agency data show their success rate hovers at about 10 per cent — and has declined in the past few years.

Those who successfully restored their permanent resident status dropped significantly from 127 or 17 per cent of 746 appellants in 2008 to 78 or 7.7 per cent of 1,008 people in 2014.

“Once you are issued a removal order, the chances of saving your permanent status are really very limited,” said Wong.

12/23/2016

After a rough 2016, a currency prognosticator at a major investment bank says he expects more pain for the Canadian dollar next year, predicting a low of around 65 cents US in the next 12 months.

David Doyle of Macquarie Capital Markets Canada Ltd. says two major factors are going to conspire to drag the loonie almost 10 cents lower than its current level of around 74 cents US over the next year: interest rates and the price of oil.

The biggest factor in Doyle's analysis is the sudden divergence in monetary policy between Canada and the United States. In the U.S., the Federal Reserve hiked its benchmark interest earlier this month and is signaling that it expects to do so again at least three more times next year.......http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/dollar-loonie-prediction-1.3909519

After a rough 2016, a currency prognosticator at a major investment bank says he expects more pain for the Canadian dollar next year, predicting a low of around 65 cents US in the next 12 months.

12/14/2016

Ottawa has eliminated the notorious “4-in-4-out” rule that kicked out migrant workers after four years, ending what some critics call the “revolving door” of indentured labour to Canada.
“In many ways, the four-year rule put a great deal of uncertainty and instability on both temporary workers and employers. We had the sense that it was an unnecessary burden on applicants and employers, and also on officers who process applications,” Immigration Minister John McCallum said in a news release posted late Tuesday.
“We believe this important recommendation . . . requires rapid action, which we are taking today.”
The former Tory government introduced the rule in 2011 to ban migrant workers from returning to Canada for four years after they worked here for four.

Liberal government eliminates notorious rule that kicked out migrant workers after four years, ending what critics dubbed the ‘revolving door’ for indentured labour to Canada.

12/10/2016

Changes to spousal sponsorships in Canada announced
December 8, 2016

More spousal sponsorships will be processed in 2017, and faster, too.

Earlier this year, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) began a concerted effort to reduce processing times, which have increased due to increased demand: in 2015 alone, nearly 70,000 applicants applied through spousal sponsorship but there was only space for 48,000 people to be admitted to Canada that year. This led to a longer wait for applicants and processing times increased. At the start of 2016, processing times were an average of 26 months for in-Canada applications, and 18 months for applications made outside Canada.

Improvements have already been made to these long waits: from the start of 2016 to the fall, processing times were reduced by 15 per cent for in-Canada applications and just over 10 per cent for applications outside Canada.

“We have listened to Canadians and are delivering results. Bringing families together makes for a stronger Canada. Canadians who marry someone from abroad shouldn’t have to wait for years to have them immigrate or be left with uncertainty in terms of their ability to stay,” says John McCallum, minister of immigration, refugees and citizenship. “What we’re announcing is a more efficient, more considerate process to reunite families.”

To keep improving processing times, IRCC will not only increase the levels of sponsorships in 2017 to 64,000 spouses and dependants in 2017, but is also targeting to process applications in 12 months. In addition, IRCC has simplified the application kit. Available on Dec. 15, 2016, the new kit is easier to use and understand. There will also now be only one kit, regardless if you are applying from within or outside Canada.

Since some applicants may have already started filling out their application using the current kit, IRCC will continue to accept new applications using the current kit only until Jan. 31, 2017. After this date, only applications using the new kit will be accepted.

To help clients through the application process, a brand new “Basic Guide” has been developed, which summarizes the applications process and gives clients a clear explanation of what they need to do to apply.

Immigration officials said they hoped to clear all existing applications by the end of 2017 with the expanded quota, additional staffing resources and a streamlined process, according to the Toronto Star.

Despite the streamlined process, officials said full criminal, security and medical screening will continue to be in place.

11/07/2016

A major bank spent 14 years overcharging its customers more than $73 million. But the bigger story here is that no one noticed. CIBC reported itself to the Ontario Securities Commission and has agreed to pay the money back and the bank will also pay $3 million to the OSC to help with its mandate of protecting investors.

But critics say the incident speaks to a distinct lack of either laws or regulators to protect investors. If CIBC hadn't turned itself in, the problem could have gone on for years more.

Tim Paziuk says regular investors are simply outmatched by the financial services industry. Paziuk, a veteran of the financial services industry, now works as a financial planner and tireless advocate for reform in this sector.

Know the rules in the game of money

"When it comes to money, they're playing a game they don't know how to play," he says of most regular Canadians trying to invest. "They don't know what the rules are."

The CIBC settlement is by no means an anomaly. In July, Scotiabank reached a similar deal with the OSC, agreeing to pay back nearly $20 million in fees that should never have been charged. In February, mutual fund giant CI Investments Inc. said it would return more than $156 million to clients. That was, by far, the largest amount of investor compensation since the regulator introduced no-contest settlements.

The CEO of Wells Fargo was forced to resign after it was revealed that employees had fraudulently signed customers up for accounts without their knowledge. The U.S. bank, the world's second largest by market capitalization, was hit with a $185-million settlement charge in a case that is still unfolding.

Wells Fargo fined $185M for making up 2 million bogus accounts
One common denominator is that customers could have pored over their statements month after month — and even the most financially literate would have had a hard time finding those extra fees.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/peter-armstrong-bank-fees-1.3831255

CIBC must pay back $73 million in fees it improperly charged customers for 14 years, while customers looking at their monthly statements all that time would never have noticed. Is it time for more transparency in the financial services industry?