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Canada, India and the Global Compact on Immigration

In December 2018, Canada joined more than 160 United Nations member states at Marrakesh in adopting a new negotiated agreement on international migration – the non-binding United Nations Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration which sets out 23 objectives for improving international cooperation on all forms of migration, from refugees to skilled workers. Canada (along with Australia) is among the world’s most generous nations for immigrants and has one of the highest per capita admission rates. (A 2014 sociological study concluded that “Australia and Canada are the most receptive to immigration among western nations”).

Since 1947 in Canada, domestic immigration law and policy went through major changes, most notably with the Immigration Act, 1976, and the current Immigration and Refugee Protection Act from 2002, which have made the policy most forward looking. In November 2017, the Canadian Immigration Minister announced that Canada would admit nearly 1 million permanent residents to Canada over the following three years, rising from 0.7% to 1% of its population by 2020. This increase was motivated by the economic needs of the country facing an aging demographic, with the number of senior citizens expected to double by 2036 alongside a decline in the proportion of working-age adults. This recognition of the reality of an ageing population is what prompted many countries to re-examine their migration policies.

Back in 2016, 193 members of the UN general assembly unanimously adopted a non-binding political declaration, the New York declaration for refugees and migrants, pledging to uphold the rights of refugees and migrants, help them resettle and ensure they had access to education and jobs. This ‘New York Declaration on Large Movements of Refugees and Migrants’ saw the launching of a two-year process to develop a Global Compact on Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration, or as it is better known, the Global Compact on Migration.

There are in fact two different types of migration: what could be referred to as  “discretionary” and “non-discretionary” migration. Non-discretionary refers to the fact that there are certain forms of even legal migration over which governments do not have much discretionary authority. Amongst the reasons is that governments have signed international treaties committing them to do certain things. One example is the treaty of Rome in the European Union, which gives EU workers the right of free movement within the EU. Another is the Geneva Convention for handling requests for asylum. A third example is the US H1B Visa which comes from the commitment under GATS that the US gave at WTO. Discretionary of course is when countries decide who they will allow in. The Global Compact was expected to find guidelines for ‘managing’ migration.

Small Business Symposium & Expo

Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce is organising a Small Business symposium and exhibition on 29 August 2019 in collaboration with the City of Markham. His Worship Frank Scarpitti, Mayor of Markham will inaugurate the program and Hon. Mary Ng, Canada's Minister of Small Business and Export Promotion will give the keynote address. 

	Mary Ng		Frank Scarpitti

Adverse impact of tariff conflict on global trade

US-China trade tensions cause global trade to shrink by 2.3 % 

L to R: BK Sethi, Sunita Vyas, Pramod Goyal, Royce Mendes, Shibaney Sahney, Sanjay Kulkarni, Rakesh Joshi 

The rising trade tensions between the United States and China have impacted the global economy adversely and resulted in an overall shrinkage of global trade by 2.3 percent. With the tensions unlikely to dissipate in the near-term, the World Bank expects the global economy to grow by just 2.6% this year – the weakest since financial crisis of 2008-2009.

Royce Mendes, the Director and Senior Economist of CIBC Capital Markets, in his annual presentation on the global economic trends, emphasized that the impact of the trade tensions between two of the world’s largest economies will also be felt on the Canadian economies; already China has stopped the imports of some agricultural commodities claiming that these are contaminated.

Mendes said the tariff war between the US and China has crossed $360 billion – with US tariffs on China crossing over $250 billion and Chinese counter tariff crossing $110 billion. The Chinese economy has been severely hit by the US tariffs, and the threatened imposition of additional tariffs by the US would pull down the GDP numbers to around 5 percent.

He said, while the impact of the tariff war on the Chinese economy is debilitating, the US economy, too, has been slowing down quite a bit. The downward trend in the US economy may not result in a recession, and the US monetary policies may attempt to prevent the downward slide by tinkering with the bank rates.

Additionally, the competitive regulatory regime that the Trump administration has adopted to bring investments and jobs back into the USA has had an adverse impact on the Canadian economy. For instance, the Canadian economy has lost its corporate tax advantage as the US shifts to lighter regulatory burden.

Mr. Mendes said that the lowering of bank rates in the US may have an impact on the Canadian economy. On the Canadian front, the housing market has remained sluggish despite the mortgage rates becoming attractive in the recently. The auto sales also reflect this downward trend, indicating a slowdown. Canadian economy is more reliant on rate sensitive sectors, in addition to elevated stock of household debt, he said.

He said that the consumer debt will remain a perennial pressure point for Canadians, but they are unlikely to get into a payment default ever.

Mr. Mendes said, “The coming rebound in Canada looks to be little more than a normalization following a particularly weak few quarters. Base-case outlook is for the trade-war to linger into next year and the US economy to gradually slow, requiring the Fed to ease only twice to sustain the expansion.”

He said that the Bank of Canada will follow the Fed by cutting rates in 2020 to keep the Canadian dollar competitive and spurring sustained growth in exports and business investment. But, the timing, location and magnitude of trade shocks is difficult to pinpoint, and the situation could deteriorate faster or more aggressively than expected. 

Recession is outside of base-case outlook, but trade-war could end up being trigger. Stocks can still rise, so long as rate cuts are delivered, and growth responds, Mr. Mendes said.

Members of the audience at the annual presentation on global economy 

Mr. Venki Raman, Vice President, Mobile Advice, CIBC, introduced Mr. Mendes to the audience, and emphasized that “he leads the CIBC Capital Markets’ efforts in monitoring and forecasting the Canadian economy, a team judged to be the most accurate by Reuters in 2018.”

In his remarks, Mr. Pramod Goyal, President, ICCC, said, “the relationship that the ICCC and the CIBC have developed over the years has benefited both the institutions.” Mr. Goyal welcomed CIBC’s clients, ICCC Members, and other guests to the program.

Ms. Sunita Vyas, Vice President, Events and Programs, introduced the evening’s program, and Mr. Rajeev Misra, Market Vice President, CIBC, gave the vote of thanks.

ICCC President Mr. Goyal along with other board members felicitates Consul General Dinesh Bhatia

Toronto 03 July 2019: Indo Canada Chamber of Commence bid farewell to Amb. Dinesh Bhatia, Consul General of India in Toronto at the Edward Village Hotel in Markham on 3rd July 2019. Amb. Bhatia has completed his term as Consul General of India in Toronto and prepares for his new role as India’s Ambassador to Argentina.

Speaking on the occasion, ICCC’s President Mr. Pramod Goyal said that India Canada relations has been benefitted greatly from Amb. Bhatia’s leadership and vision. Amb. Bhatia’s approach of engaging all the stakeholders in taking the relationship to a new level with innovative ideas was commendable. ICCC worked very closely with the Consul General Bhatia during his over 3 years of stay and hosted a number of delegations and joint events in collaboration with the CG office under his leadership.

Amb. Dinesh Bhatia in his address to the audience applauded the role of the ICCC in fostering India Canada relations since over four decades. He said that he attended over 70% of the ICCC’s events in the last three years which were especially focussed on promotion of business and commercial relations with India. ICCC builds the brand India in Canada and also working very closely with the CG office to promote Canada in India as well.

ICCC’s former Presidents Sanjay Makkar, Hari Pandey, Dharma P Jain, Naval Bajaj and former Vice President Jagdish Bajaj also shared their memories while working with the Consul General office in the past.

The event was attended by large number of past presidents, advisory board members, members of the President’s team and ICCC office bearers including Mr. Deepak Ruparel, Mr. Andy Jasuja, Mr. Aditya Jha, Mr. Hari Pandey, Mr. Imtiaz Seyid, Amb. Praveen Verma (Retd.), Mr. Naval Bajaj, Mr. Dharma Jain, Mr. Sanjay Makkar, Ms. Devika Penekelapati, Ms. Sunita Vyas, Mr. Tauseef Sheikh, Rakesh Joshi, Mr. B K Sethi, Ms. Shibani Sahney and Mr. Sanjay Kulkarni.

All key Chamber sponsors namely CIBC, Turkish Airlines, TD Bank, ICICI Bank, SBI Canada Bank, Peter & Paul’s, RBC Royal Bank, Seneca College, Telus, GT20, Y-Media, Weekly Voice and PTC Punjabi Canada were present through their key representatives. Tarique Anwer felicitated Amb. Bhatia and Mrs. Bhatia by presenting unique souvenir courtesy Turkish Airlines.

The Chamber congratulated Amb. Bhatia on his new assignment and wished him all the best in his new endeavour.

ICCC Celebrates its Annual Awards & Gala Night 2019

 Rising India: Time to Act

 ICCC leadership with 2019 Award winners and Chief guest

ICCC President Pramod Goyal 

ICCC’s 27th Annual Awards & Gala Night was celebrated successfully with the participation of all the levels of the Government – Federal, Provincial and the Municipal. 

On Sunday June 17, 2018, the exquisite Paramount Eventspace in Woodbridge was the venue of the annual program; it was abuzz with the who’s who of Indo-Canadian community leaders, diplomats, corporate leaders, academics, small and medium entrepreneurs, bankers, and lawyers, and the representatives of the media.

Among the political dignitaries who participated in the program included Hon. Ahmed Hussen, Canada’s Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship; Hon. Andrew Scheer, Leader of the Official Opposition and Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada; Hon. Todd Smith, Ontario’s Minister of Economic Development and Job Creation.

Ambassador Dinesh Bhatia, the Consul General of India in Toronto, represented the Government of India at the program. Visiting Industries Minister of the Indian Province of Chhattisgarh, Mr. Kawasi Lakhma was also graced the occasion.

Mayors Patrick Brown (Brampton); Frank Scarpitti (Markham); and Bonnie Crombie (Mississauga); besides several Members of Parliament, the Provincial Parliament and Municipal Councils were among the other political heavyweights who participated in ICCC’s marquee event.

The theme of the evening was the Rising India: Time to Act set the tone for the evening as every speaker emphasized the importance of the rising India in all the sectors especially its economic growth.

Hon. Minister Hussen as representative of the Government of Canada in his remarks, mentioned the contribution of the Indo Canadian community in the Canadian society. Hon. Andrew Scheer, Chief Guest of the evening applauded the role of Indo Canada Chamber of Commerce in the promotion of Canada India relations. He said that he is confident that the bilateral relations between the two nations will grow manifold. Amb. Dinesh Bhatia in his remarks briefed about the development done by India in the last two decades.

In his keynote address, Hon. Minister Todd Smith referred his recent visit to India. In his remarks he said that Ontario is open for trade and business and applauded the Indo Canadian community for taking risks in starting new businesses in Ontario. He assured that Ontario government is business friendly and creating jobs by promoting the entrepreneurs in all the sectors. Ontario is very positive in developing its relations with India as several Indian students are studying in the province and Indian entrepreneurs are coming forward to invest in Ontario.

Pramod Goyal, President of ICCC, said the theme – Rising India: Time to take action – reflects the confidence Indians have in their own future and the future of their country. We, the Indians in the diaspora, have a terrific opportunity to take part in this glorious nation-building movement. “The Chamber’s leadership is cognizant of this vast and expanding economic horizon that India will continue to offer. Earlier this year, we launched our India operations by opening an office in New Delhi. We are now the only organisation working in the Canada – India corridor to have a presence in both the countries. We will leverage our presence in both these markets by creating opportunities for our members to explore the markets and build relationships,” he said.

The highlight of the evening was, of course, the award ceremony when 11 Indo-Canadians were honored for their achievements.

The 2019 ICCC Annual Award Winners are:

ICCC members, stakeholders, sponsors, members of the Advisory Board, the Board of Directors, the Past Presidents and other supporters of the Chamber participated in the ICCC Gala with enthusiasm.

 
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