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Greetings! Welcome to the latest diversity and multicultural news in Canada. The purpose of this newsletter is to inform and educate aspiring and current Women, Aboriginal and Visible Minority professionals and entrepreneurs across Canada seeking to advance their careers or grow their businesses both locally and internationally. If you would like more news and information visit www.diversitycan.com The following are the main headlines:
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| This Week´s Highlights | ||||
| 2012 Buyer´s Market brings together craft producers, retailers
Artisans and craftspeople from across Prince Edward Island will meet retailers January 20 at the 12th annual Craft and Giftware Buyer´s Market in Charlottetown, says Innovation and Advanced Learning Minister Allen Roach. “This event allows our craftspeople, artists and artisans a great marketing opportunity; and this event allows retailers to acquire unique Island-made items for their customers,” said Minister Roach. “I would like to thank Prince Edward Island´s craft sector. Their work has great cultural, economic and tourism significance to our community. Retailers who attend this show will find unique creations that will add value to their businesses and allow them to offer customers artwork and crafts that are unique to Prince Edward Island.” The Buyer´s Market will be open to registered retailers only. Retailers interested in attending this event can register by contacting Bonnie MacDonald, Innovation PEI, at bjmacdonald@gov.pe.ca or by calling 620-3508.
Social Housing Renovations Continue in Central Newfoundland and Labrador Housing Corporation is renovating 14 social housing properties in three central Newfoundland towns through contracts totalling $142,000. “Through the Newfoundland and Labrador Housing Corporation, the Provincial Government is making significant progress in renovating and repairing social housing throughout the province,” said the Honourable Tom Hedderson, Minister Responsible for Newfoundland and Labrador Housing Corporation. “This work will upgrade and modernize properties and is an investment in the future of our communities.” A contract valued at $68,000 was awarded to Norseman Contractors Inc. to upgrade three units in Triton, replacing windows, siding, doors, shingles and ventilation systems. Notre Dame Agencies Ltd. completed $54,000 in renovations in South Brook, replacing shingles, eaves, windows, doors and waterlines on three units. “It´s very good to see this work getting done in our area and shows Newfoundland and Labrador Housing Corporation´s commitment to maintaining its social housing portfolio,” said Ray Hunter, MHA for Grand Falls-Windsor – Green Bay South.
Government Announces 2012 Automobile Deduction Limits and Expense Benefit Rates for Business The Honourable Jim Flaherty, Minister of Finance, today announced the automobile expense deduction limits and the prescribed rates for the automobile operating expense benefit that will apply in 2012. Specifically: The ceiling on the capital cost of passenger vehicles for capital cost allowance (CCA) purposes will remain at $30,000 (plus applicable federal and provincial sales taxes) for purchases after 2011. This ceiling restricts the cost of a vehicle on which CCA may be claimed for business purposes. The limit on deductible leasing costs will remain at $800 per month (plus applicable federal and provincial sales taxes) for leases entered into after 2011. This limit is one of two restrictions on the deduction of automobile lease payments. A separate restriction prorates deductible lease costs where the value of the vehicle exceeds the capital cost ceiling. The maximum allowable interest deduction for amounts borrowed to purchase an automobile will remain at $300 per month for loans related to vehicles acquired after 2011. | ||||
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Saskatchewan Taxpayers Protected From Inflation
Saskatchewan residents will see an additional $25.2 million in annual tax savings as a result of the indexation of the provincial income tax system in 2012.
As a result, an individual taxpayer now pays no Saskatchewan income tax on his or her first $18,075 of income, while a family of four pays no income tax on their first $46,850 of income.
Indexation protects taxpayers from “bracket creep”, or the automatic increase in tax caused by inflation and preserves the real value of personal income tax credits. For 2012, income tax brackets and personal tax credit amounts will increase by 2.8 per cent, which represents the annual average inflation rate from October 2010 through to September 2011.
“Making sure Saskatchewan´s income tax system is fully indexed to inflation each and every year helps to keep provincial taxes as low as possible,” Finance Minister Ken Krawetz said. “It´s part of the Saskatchewan Advantage.” In 2008, the provincial government introduced significant income tax reductions for all Saskatchewan taxpayers through increased personal exemption amounts and low-income tax credit enhancements.
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Canadians deserve a say on transport of radioactive materials
The Green Party of Canada is suggesting that a public review is necessary regarding the shipping of uranium through Canada to the US, contrary to the conclusions of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. “Communities deserve to know if this dangerous and toxic material is passing through their streets,” said Leader Elizabeth May, MP for Saanich-Gulf Islands.
The federal government has been keeping the transport of this weapons-grade uranium secret, including the delivery route. “Even if certain details need to be kept secret for security purposes, Canadians should still have the opportunity to have their questions answered and make their voices heard,” said May.
There was an outpouring of opposition to the Bruce Power plan to transport 16 decommissioned nuclear steam generators from south western Ontario to Sweden for recycling through the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River. This plan is still on hold.
“The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission continues to display a reckless attitude toward the risks of transporting radioactive materials through-Canadian communities and ecosystems. Municipalities and First Nations have already let it be known that they do not want to assume these risks. At the very least, a full environmental assessment with corresponding public consultation should be automatic for shipments of radioactive material,” said May.
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BMO Financial Group is leading the way in expanding Canada´s awareness of supplier diversity
From filling in certification forms for her own family´s business to developing new programming creating a supplier diversity initiative for Chicago´s largest south-side employer, KC Mosley, who heads up BMO Financial Group´s Office of Supplier Diversity Procurements & Strategic Sourcing, has cut her teeth on developing successful supplier diversity experiences. As BMO Financial Group grows its own in-house programming and its spheres of influence, her experience is not only helping the Bank navigate a strategic course to success with supplier diversity in Canada, but also contribute to the increase of overall supplier diversity competence within the corporate marketplace.
“It´s been very clear since the beginning that in Canada there are differences, and that to be successful in Canada we have to capitalize on what is uniquely Canadian,” Mosley states. Though the Bank has a thriving diversity program in the US, the organisation is not trying to simply export their US programs. Instead, they are working with the diversity culture in Canada to create supplier diversity programming that generates a continuous improvement culture for partner suppliers and the bottom line.
Appreciating Canada´s Unique Diversity Culture
There is no doubt that the diversity culture in Canada is unique. Known as a multi-cultural nation, Canada uses human rights legislation as its platform for workplace diversity and supplier diversity alike. Companies have to self-disclose minority status, and quotas or mandates for getting contracts do not exist.
While programming for aboriginals is not new — for years the federal government has had a program for aboriginal suppliers – expanding the concept for the inclusion of other visible minorities and women is still in its infancy.
As a result, supplier diversity programming for aboriginal firms and visible minorities is a relatively new concept. In particular, some of the Tier 2 programming that is robust in the States is almost completely absent in Canada.
While BMO operates on both sides of the border and sometimes uses firms from one country to supply needs in another, the bank´s goal is to find the best suppliers regardless of where those businesses are headquartered. Thus the framework for BMO´s supplier diversity program is based around an expanded classification of diverse suppliers in order to broaden the pool it has access to.
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News brief December 8th ´2011
News brief December 1st ´2011
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Cultural Pluralism in the Arts Movement Ontario (CPAMO) 