News briefs (Nov. 4, 2002)

CANADA A TOP ASSIGNMENT

London
— A new report on the best cities in the world for expatriates to relocate to praises Canada, stating there is “very little hardship” for foreign business people living here. The survey, conducted by the London-based Economist Intelligence Unit, assessed the level of hardship for expatriates on three categories — health and safety, culture and environment, and infrastructure. Out of 130 cities rated, Vancouver was tied with Melbourne for best place to live and work, Toronto placed fourth, Montreal eighth and Calgary was sixteenth.

ACCOUNTING BODY CALLS FOR OPTION EXPENSING

Toronto
— Canada’s accounting authority says it is time to require businesses to expense stock options without waiting for a similar requirement in the United States. The Accounting Standards Board voted last month to draft rules that will require companies to expense stock options, according to a report in the National Post. Currently most businesses in Canada and the United States do not have to include the cost of stock options on financial statements, but in recent months there have been growing calls to end this practice (for more, click on the “Related Articles” link below).

WAITING FOR LANGUAGE TRAINING

Ottawa
— Many English-speaking federal civil servants can’t get the French-language training they want and need because the government won’t spend the money, according to the Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers. Many jobs, particularly at a senior level, require fluency in both official languages. About 38 per cent of 148,000 jobs in the public service are bilingual and the proportion is much higher in the national capital region, where 63 per cent of 58,600 jobs are bilingual. More than 500 people are on waiting lists for “statutory” training but have little chance of starting training in the next two years, according to the Ottawa Citizen.

UNION TARGETS NOVA SCOTIA

Moncton, N.B.
— The Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada (CEP) is making an all out effort to unionize more workers in Nova Scotia. The union, encouraged by its success in unionizing 40 employees at a waste recycling facility in Yarmouth on Oct. 10, says the victory is just the beginning of a province-wide unionization blitz. In the past two years, CEP has unionized seven groups in New Brunswick, representing 1,780 members. It also organized more than 400 workers at the Hibernia oil platform in Newfoundland.

PLEASE COME HOME

Halifax
— Desperate to find people for some hard-to-fill positions, the Capital District Health Authority in Halifax launched a program to lure back health-care workers who left the province to find employment. Health authority employees are being encouraged to send postcards to people they know who left Nova Scotia. The postcards have a picturesque scene of Nova Scotia with the message “Wish You Were Here” on the front. If the postcard helps to bring someone home the sender gets a $250 reward and if the returnee stays nine months, they receive another $250.

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