These do not include Canadian embassies that now are shared with UK embassies or the Buffalo N.Y. consulate that first was renovated ($1.5m) and had a 10-year lease.
In other news, Canada set up spy posts for the National Security Agency/ Central Security Service (NSA/CSS), the 'main producer and manager of signals intelligence (SIGINT)' for the United States of America; PM Harper allowed Six Eyes foreignersNSA to spy at a billion dollar G20 summit in Toronto, 2010. And what about that Muskoka and infrastructure fund to reduce border congestion.
In other fire sale news: selling a Crown corporation (AECL) for $12.3 million to SNC-Lavalin, without a value-for-money audit.
On April 25, 2012, common-sense improvements to the Temporary Foreign
Worker Program were announced to better meet labour market demands,
reduce red tape for employers, strengthen protections for temporary
foreign workers and support the economic recovery. These enhancements
included a new wage structure.
Every employer continues to be required to pay temporary
foreign workers the same wage that they are paying their Canadian
workers for doing the same job in the same location.
Under the old wage structure, employers were required to pay
temporary foreign workers at least the median wage for an occupation in a
specific region, regardless of what they were paying their Canadian
employees. In many cases, this resulted in employers paying temporary
foreign workers more than Canadians. The method of determining the
median wage was also inconsistent from region to region. The old
structure was unfair to Canadians and did not reflect labour market
realities. After various consultations, action was taken to address the
problem.
Under the new wage structure, employers can pay wages that are up to
15% below the median wage for a higher-skilled occupation, and 5% for a
lower-skilled occupation, in a specific region. However, employers must
provide documentation that clearly demonstrates that the wage being paid
to a temporary foreign worker is the same as that being paid to their
Canadian employees in the same job and in the same location. The wage
for a lower-skilled occupation cannot be below minimum wage and the wage
range is set at 5% because these jobs pay less. The new wage structure
is based on Statistics Canada's data and allows a set range that
provides a flexibility that was not previously available.
The new wage structure does not apply to the Seasonal Agricultural
Worker Program, the Agricultural Stream or the Live-in Caregiver
Program because employers participating in these programs hire mostly
temporary foreign workers. Scenarios
