Canada’s Multiculturalism Policies and Their Impact on Immigrants and Society

SWOT

Strengths

• Acquiring citizenship can help immigrants’ labor market outcomes, civic engagement, and political

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• Canada has been able to foster a climate of tolerance and inclusion (Ng & Metz, 2014)

• Canada has been able to attract skilled labor, foreign capital (direct investments), and a large number of international students

• politicians in Canada have tended to advance multiculturalism to generate political gains

Threats

• immigrant youths in Canada report lower discrimination and better adjustment than immigrant youths in France, where assimilation into French society is required (Berry & Sabatier, 2010)
• Canada and Australia have much more open citizenship and expansive multiculturalism policies (Multiculturalism Policy Index, 2010), they also place a stronger emphasis on economic qualifications (e.g., knowledge, skills, and abilities) in the selection of immigrants.
• French-speaking and Aboriginal Canadians see themselves as different and separate from ethnic minorities, and multiculturalism as an ideology is perceived as a threat to their own identities and aspirations for self-determination (see Winter, 2011)
• French Canadians (i.e., Quebecers), in particular, see (Anglophone) multiculturalism and cultural plurality to be a threat to their aspirations for self-governance and nation-building, preferring an alternative “intercultural” model (Bouchard & Taylor, 2008).

Social work education SWOT

Strengths

• Holistic practice orientation
• Generalist practice orientation
• Linkage between theory and practice
• Increased cultural relevance
• Quality programs
• Continued demand for social workers
• Values of the profession

Weaknesses

• Identity crisis

• Inability to promote the profession
• Diffuse knowledge base
• Values conflict
• Unprepared to meet stress of work
• Insufficient aboriginal and visible minority members of the profession
• Social work a residual effect of colonization (Westhues et al, 2001)

Opportunities

• Design of cost effective programs which meet client needs
• Development of managerial competence in social workers
• Extend job opportunities through privatization
• Articulation of social work competencies (Westhues et al, 2001)

Threats

• Trend to neoliberalism
• Increasing identification with the bureaucracy
• Increasing managerialization
• Increased community responsibility for service delivery
• Interdisciplinary (Westhues et al, 2001)

Economic SWOT

Strengths

• Entrepreneurial support: Canadian government supports entrepreneurship
• Niche market growth: Canada has seen an increase of profit through exporting in niche markets with Canadian diamonds and the ice wine industry
• Close to Americans: Canada has seen the benefits of substantial trade surplus with America

Weaknesses

• Dependency on the US: While the closeness to America serves as a benefit to Canada, the dependency can be a weakness
• The fluctuating Canadian dollar: The Canadian dollar has been up and down (mostly down) which has slowly caused a rift throughout the country

Opportunities

• Emerging markets: there is much opportunity with exporting to international markets.

Threats

• The closing of stores: The low Canadian dollar has threatened the livelihood of many Canadian businesses
• Loonie connected to oil: The dollar (a.k.a. loonie) has a correlation with the oil industry and higher oil prices (Frue, 2016).

Transportation SWOT

Strengths

• Largest railway in Canada, in terms of revenue and physical size of its rail network
• 22000 employees and approximately 20,000+ miles of track network
• Diversified and balanced portfolio of goods
• Serves close to three fourth of the U.S. population and all major Canadian markets
• Strong brand reputation in the industry

Weaknesses

• Overdependence on Canadian market.
• Decreasing gross profit margins.
• Low scale of international operations compared to its peers

Opportunities

• Strategic acquisitions to increase market share
• Growth in global fertilizers and agricultural chemical s sector
• Increasing demand of coal in US

Threats

• Slowdown in US economy
• Intense competition
• Regulatory conditions (Canadian, 2008).

In respect of Canada, the United States is the largest and most important market in the world and a high value investment in R & D and education. Its economy is driven by consumers and regulation on the private sector helps prevent monopolies. There is still a large population of people living in poverty. Disparities in wealth exist and lack insurance coverage for all people. Black America is threatened by global competition and some wages are being decreased. There has been an increase in spending by consumers and this helps create stability and growth for the economy. Financial relief is provided through tax relief but job losses, rising unemployment, house/mortgage crisis and consumers paying more for basic necessities is issues that need to be resolved for the United States o continue to be on top of the market.

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)

The integration of the world’s developed economies has been manifested, in part, by a dramatic rise in foreign direct investment (FDI) by multinational corporations. Canada’s heavy reliance on the United States as its position alongside dominant trading partners. Outward FDI is of vital importance for countries such as Canada that seek to overcome the limitations of small domestic markets (Mullen & Williams, 2011). A debate continues over whether inward FDI, particularly from the United States, will harm Canadian industries and cause a “hollowing out” of their economic sovereignty.

The framework of a well-designed regression model. Canada’s economy is strongly oriented towards international investment, with bilateral FDI stocks having approximately tripled between 1990 and 2007. Yet it has become a net exporter of capital since the mid-1990s, perhaps owing to its relatively punitive tax system and general restrictions on inbound foreign investment (Mullen & Williams, 2011). The importance of both stocks of FDI for Canada, expressed as a percentage of GDP, exceeds the G-7 average (Holden, 2008). Canada’s trade flows, with the United States accounting for 73.5 % and 63.7 % of its exports and imports, respectively (Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada, 2008).

Canadian FDI into a host economy (OUTFDI) had no significant effect on exports to that country. A straightforward interpretation of this finding is that Canadian exports do not appear to be displaced by direct investment abroad; this implies an increase in intra-firm trade from Canadian firms to their foreign affiliates. Tariff jumping could be part of the motivation behind the increase in outward FDI by Canadian firms (Mullen & Williams, 2011). Canada has a long and extensive exposure to foreign investments, which control around 43% of all manufacturing output during the sample period in all segments of plant-size classes during the period 1973 to 1999 (Baldwin and Wang, 2011). Baldwin and Peters (2001) surveyed that 46% of Canadian firms cited customers (in downstream industries) as an important source of innovation, 28% cited suppliers (in upstream industries), and 28% cited competitors (in the same industry). Canada is dominated by FDI originating from the most technologically advanced country. Foreign direct investments (FDI) affiliates operate in all manufacturing industries in Canada (Wang, 2013).

Inward FDI may have numerous benefits for host economies, including such things as access to capital, productivity spill-overs, innovation spill-overs and employment creation (Bobonis & Shatz, 2007). The benefits of FDI for developed economies, therefore, constitute a potentially significant source of economic growth. The majority of Investment promotion agencies (IPAs) representing the Canadian province of British Columbia are located in emerging markets, not developed markets. In fact, British Columbia has more offices in China than in any other target economy (Anderson & Sutherland, 2015). World Trade Organization (WTO) members wishing to acquire a business in Canada for more than $369 million must undergo review to assess whether the investment is of ‘net benefit’ to Canada (Industry Canada, 2015).

Canada’s high levels of inward FDI (IFDI) over the past twenty-five years shows its improved business climate, reduced restrictions on foreign possession, and a successful economy. Canada is one of the G-7 economies most open to inward FDI: slightly more than one-fifth of Canada's total assets are controlled by foreign companies. Canada has traditionally had comparatively high regulative barriers to inward FDI among developed economies, including in services such as banking. Canada continues to trust sector-specific restrictions and its powers to review sovereign investments and the other foreign investments with the potential to threaten national security (Acharya, Rao, Bhattacharjee, ; Wright, 2010).

The stock of Canadian direct investment abroad rose 3.4% to $1,121.1 billion in 2017 as increased investment activity in Europe and North America was partially offset by the downward revaluation effect of a stronger Canadian dollar against the US dollar. The stock of foreign direct investment in Canada increased 1.9% to $824.0 billion, mostly reflecting funds invested by foreign direct investors in existing affiliates. As a result, Canada's net direct investment position with the rest of the world widened by $22.1 billion in 2017 to $297.1 billion (Foreign, 2018).

The increase in the value of Canadian direct investment abroad in 2017 was mainly due to higher investment positions in Europe (+7.7%) and North America (+1.9%). The higher positions in Europe were partly attributable to the upward revaluation effect of a lower Canadian dollar against the Euro (-6.2%) and British pound (-2.4%). In North America, the appreciation of the Canadian dollar against the US dollar (+6.6%) offset some of the growth in investment into that region. The stock of Canadian direct investment in the United States continued to rise in 2017, up 4.9% to $504.8 billion (Foreign, 2018).

The US share of overall Canadian direct investment abroad rose to 45.0% by the end of 2017, its highest level since 2008 but still well below the peak levels of the early 1990s. In Europe, the stock of Canadian direct investment increased 7.7% to $288.4 billion following a small decline in 2016. The increase was mostly due to higher investment in the United Kingdom, Luxembourg and Netherlands. The stock of direct investment also increased in Asia and Oceania (+4.9%) and Africa (+3.7%). South America was the sole region to post a decrease in the stock of direct investment (-1.0%). On an instrument basis, the foreign direct investment position in Canada, in the form of equity, grew 3.6% to $684.9 billion in 2017, while the position in the form of debt instruments declined 5.9% to $139.1 billion. Equity accounted for 83.1% of the stock of foreign direct investment in Canada, compared with 93.2% for the stock of Canadian direct investment abroad (Foreign, 2018).

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