Catch up on stories from the past week (and beyond) at the Slashdot story archive

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
Businesses The Almighty Buck

Moving a Business to Canada? 105

Posted by Cliff from the moving-to-the-maple-leaf dept.
An anonymous reader asks: "I am an independent consultant working in Sweden. After working over here for nearly 10 years, I'm considering moving my family back to Canada. I enjoy working through my own company and the freedom it offers. One of the concerns I have is whether it is feasible for me to even try to work as an independent consultant in Canada, since I have no contact network over there to speak of. I'm also considering the idea of working as a regular employee for a consultancy company until I can build up a contact net. The major disadvantage of doing so is the lack of freedom and vacation time. Over here in Sweden, 5 weeks vacation is standard and 6 weeks isn't that uncommon. As we have relatives in Sweden we would like to spend a few weeks here a year, and still have some vacation left over to do something else. How hard is it to negotiate a 5 week vacation at an employer even if 3 weeks are unpaid? Is going through a company, that charges a commission for finding consultants work, a viable option? What cities in Ontario have a large enough customer base to support independent consultants? As much as I like Toronto, I don't want to raise my family there, nor do I want to spend hours commuting to it everyday."
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Moving a Business to Canada? More

Moving a Business to Canada?

Comments Filter:

  • Come to Winnipeg! (Score:4, Funny)

    by grub ( 11606 ) <slashdot@grub.net> on Thursday May 05, 2005 @04:23PM (#12445186) Homepage Journal

    Good sized city (~680K) isolated in the middle of the prairies. Hot, mosquito filled summers. Frigid winters. Urmmm... wait.. why am I staying?

    • Re:Come to Winnipeg! (Score:3, Insightful)

      by metoc ( 224422 )
      Winnipeg, your gone for a decade and the phrase 'the more things change the more they stay the same' comes to mind.

      IT community is small (relative to southern Ontario and Greater Vancouver), mostly government and financial institutions (GWL, RBC, etc).

      Consulting is dominated my a few majors (IBM, EDS, Sierra), and many one & two man shops.

      Depending on your skill set you can ask for anything.
    • You forgot the constant summer construction "fixing" the potholes that appear on the streets constantly (that reappear in 6 months), the confusing street layout (how many times does Route 90 change street names?), virtually none of the streets meet at right angles but instead run parallel to the rivers, confusion corner, and the fact that they send all the dangerous infectious diseases here for research these days.

      I can think of one upside to living in Winnipeg... It's cheap to live here.

      • Wow, I didn't think there were this many Winnipeg /.ers.

        I thought me and Grub were about it.



        yeah, yeah, -1 offtopic. I know.

        • Hey, there are lots of us (well, Oakbank, but work in the 'Peg).

          Anyway, the standard of living is pretty good, prices are reasonable, and you're at least halfway to anywhere else on this continent. We might joke about the open space, but it attracted my neighbours here from the UK. They're pleased with the move a year later. As someone else noted, there are plenty of one/two man shops, which fits the original poster; apparently you can do OK at it.
  • 2 wks is standard for US companies in Canada, Most big Candian companies will give you 3 wks to start. Depends on the employer for negotiating non paid. Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal maybe Ottawa for large custumer base. Depends on industry.

  • Why are you considering moving back to Canada? (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    It sounds like you have everything you want where you are, and you're unlikely to match it in Canada.

  • Ottawa (Score:5, Informative)

    by tomcio.s ( 455520 ) on Thursday May 05, 2005 @04:28PM (#12445246) Homepage Journal
    After the tech crash, most companies here have severely cut their business. You may want to try, but most tech business around here is small beans.

    Oh, and forget 5 weeks of vacation, forget even 3. If you get 2, you'd be lucky. If you can take them (consecutively, that is), well, I could only compare you to a lottery winner.

    Stay in Sweden. You are much better off.

    • Vacation is typically provincially mandated. There is a federal rule that allows a minimum of 2 weeks, but most companies fall under provinical labour law. (The exclusions being federal government employees, telecommunicatons and transport that interact with other provinces and a few others). In Saskatchewan, the minimum is 3 weeks.

      The tech sector I belive is very regional. I keep hearing good things about Calgary and Vancouver, but I don't have any first hand experience. Regina (my home) isn't great

    • Re:Ottawa (Score:5, Informative)

      by MrAndrews ( 456547 ) <mcmNO@SPAM1889.ca> on Thursday May 05, 2005 @04:43PM (#12445402) Homepage
      You would think that, but having just moved from Ottawa out west, I can tell you the tech in the bigger cities is even less evolved than it is in Ottawa. They're more aggressive, have a lot more ego, but they're doing things in BC that have been passe in Ottawa for years now (and for less).

      Somewhat irrelevant, but I thought it was strange.

      As for vacations: exactly right. When I worked for companies as an employee, asking for a week of my vacation time at a time was almost scandalous. Working as a free agent is almost harder, though, because none of your clients wants to LET you take your vacation, and they get those puppy dog eyes, and shucks, I just can't say no.

      Hell, if it weren't for the... uh... Swedish thing, I'd move to Sweden too!
      • > Hell, if it weren't for the... uh... Swedish thing, I'd move to Sweden too!

        You would be surprised at how little Swedish you need to know in Sweden. They speak better English than most Americans and many of the larger global companies conduct their business in English.

        What will get you are the long dark winters and the labor laws.
        • That's both cool and sad at the same time. It's somehow sad when an entire culture adapts so strongly to English influence like that. Japan tries for the same thing in a lot of ways, and it just feels wrong. I prefer the good ol' fashioned Ottawa/Gatineau approach, where the Francophones look at you funny when you speak English to them: you adapt to THEM, not the other way around. Thank god for early french immersion...

          What will get you are the long dark winters...
          As if I get to see the sun now anyw
          • The real funny(?) thing is when the workers at a McDonalds in Sweden speak better English than the typical burger flipper in the US.

      • Re:Ottawa (Score:3, Informative)

        by pipingguy ( 566974 )

        When I worked for companies as an employee, asking for a week of my vacation time at a time was almost scandalous.

        As an employee (after a certain amount of time) you are guaranteed 4% pay; i.e., two week's vacation as well as paid statuatory holidays.
      • My clients never get puppy dog eyes and ask me to stay when I say I'm going on vacation.

        Oh well. I guess they just don't like me.

  • Six weeks of vacation? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by HotNeedleOfInquiry ( 598897 ) on Thursday May 05, 2005 @04:31PM (#12445272)
    Let me get this straight.

    You want all the benefits of the socialist economy of Sweden and all the benefits of (largely) free-enterprize Canada. Umm, something has to give somewhere.
    • Brazil, Germany and many other countries have much longer vacation time than found in the U.S. or Canada.
    • You want all the benefits of the socialist economy of Sweden and all the benefits of (largely) free-enterprize Canada. Umm, something has to give somewhere.

      No, good for him. It's people like him who dream about having it "all" (and occasionally succeed at it) that eventually demonstrate to others that a life of quiet desperation and constant compromise isn't the only way to live.

      Also, while Canada certainly permits USA-style free enterprise, you'd be practicing it above a safety net of welfare, healthc

  • Cambridge/Kitchener/Waterloo (Score:3, Interesting)

    by gus goose ( 306978 ) on Thursday May 05, 2005 @04:31PM (#12445273) Journal
    Man you have some steep requirements.... eh!

    The market here is none-too-rosy, but for your peimary needs look first in the Subject areas.

    gus
    • Waterloo Region [waterloo.on.ca] is one of the best places in Canada to live. It has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country, plenty of successful businesses (e.g Research in Motion) and two universities. It is a smaller, more livable community but is withing commuting distance (1 1/2 hrs) to Toronto and surrounding areas. Lots of cycling trails and close to nature (The Grand River is beautiful).

      From the Regional Website: "Waterloo Region [waterloo.on.ca] is a vital, prosperous area, located in Southern Ontario in the cen

  • The technology centre of Canada is West, not East. You'll find plenty of opportunities in Calgary, Alberta and even further West on the coast of British Columbia. Calgary is the fastest growing city in Canada and has the best economy. We're in the only debt-free province in Canada thanks to oil. There are several options for commuting and Calgary doesn't suffer from the sprawl and clogged roads of other cities. It's very easy to take up cycling here.

    Each company is different, but I'll suggest that ex
    • Calgary is also one of the most expensive places to live in Canada (Toronto being another!).

      Shame because I was thinking of moving there until I saw the prices of homes.
    • I recently moved (back) to Vancouver after 10 years in San Francisco. I tried the consulting business for about 9 months, but found it extremely hard to get connected again. Most of the work I got was back in the Bay Area - it paid the bills but .... I finally got a full time gig about 8 months ago. Now there are tons of jobs in Vancouver. As far as the technical environment being "passe" on the west coast - I guess Ottawa is the center of the Universe. I noticed a big change in quantity of technology,

  • Depends on what you're doing (Score:3, Informative)

    by PixelCat ( 58491 ) on Thursday May 05, 2005 @04:36PM (#12445334)
    I'm in the US but I would imagine the situation is similar in Canada.

    I'm working for a recruiting company right now on a long-term contract. I'm working as an independent contractor and am self-employed. In this case, vacation is pretty much whatever I want it to be, as long as I make sure to give enough notice so as not to inconvenience the client--and, of course, I don't get paid when I'm not working.
    • I would like to talk to you a bit more about this subject if you don't mind. I am guessing that you don't feel like posting a bunch of info like that to slashdot so how can I send a message via a more quiet channel? I can setup a onetime email address if you want so you can send me an email without posting your address to a google searched page.
      Let me know.

  • I have a related question (Score:5, Funny)

    by avi33 ( 116048 ) on Thursday May 05, 2005 @04:48PM (#12445482) Homepage
    I was thinking of opening a popsicle stand in outer mongolia, but I'm not sure if the market will support it. I have considered moving there and working for an existing popsicle vendor until I can steal their customers.

    I am a little concerned that I won't be able to continue my lifestyle, so I would like some assurances in that regard. I am highly skilled in the area of popsicle enablement, and I am sure that my abilities will put me in the driver's seat when it comes to negotiating things like an annual unpaid sabbatical. Any prospective employer will have to accept that their need for 95% employee uptime will have to take a back seat to my traveling needs.

    Can someone here offer me some relevant advice about how to uproot my family and land my dream job without taking much risk or sacrificing much of anything?

  • I can't speak for Canada, but for everything else (Score:4, Interesting)

    by hrieke ( 126185 ) on Thursday May 05, 2005 @05:02PM (#12445648) Homepage
    First- do your research.
    Figure out where you'd like to live, figure out what types of industries are in that area (since most likely, those are going to be the ones that you'd be doing business with), figure out who you'd like to work for in that area.
    Then take a week long vacation in that area and see if it measures up to what you'd want. Talk to employees of companies you'd like to work at, etc.
    You should know the drill by now.
    As for the vacation- well, everything can be negotiated, just be ready to deliver on your side of the deal.
    BTW, I have 7 weeks a year of vacation, so it's not unheard of to get great benefits. Fairly standard in my company (a HMO company), actually.

  • Sure, it's possible (Score:5, Informative)

    by 2TecTom ( 311314 ) on Thursday May 05, 2005 @05:02PM (#12445649) Homepage Journal
    God dag, hallå

    Here's how. Incorporate yourself. Register with the best local temp agency. You can find out which agencies you should choose to represent you by researching who services the local companies you're most interested in working for. By sticking to six-month contracts, you'll usually end up with a month or two of slack time. This will allow for extended vacations or short-term skill developments via the local technical college.

    Link to one list of Canadian Temp Agencies.
    http://www.nextsteps.org/jobs/tema.htm [nextsteps.org]

    The best part is that as a consultant, I'm more autonomous, better compensated and generally more respected.

    As well, why Ontario? Alberta is booming and is rapidly becoming one of the most wired places on the planet.
    http://www.albertasupernet.ca/benefits/default.htm [albertasupernet.ca]

  • Start here (Score:1, Informative)

    by GRW ( 63655 )
    Immigrating and Working in Canada [canadainte...onal.gc.ca] (Canadian government site)

  • SImple (Score:4, Funny)

    by SunFan ( 845761 ) on Thursday May 05, 2005 @05:49PM (#12446105)

    Just say you found a mouse in a beer bottle, and you can get a job at the local brewery!

  • 6 weeks of vacation?!? (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I'm in the US, not laid-back Canada, but I can't imagine that you'd be able to get 5 or 6 weeks vacation even up there.

    If you plan on moving out of Europe, you may as well get ready to join the rest of the world, where you're lucky if you can realistically take 5 consecutive no-holiday business days off per year.

    Regardless of what the law might say about accrued vacation time, etc, most employers implement some kind of "performance review" scheme which will rank you lower (and thus deny you career advance

  • Vacation...? (Score:3, Informative)

    by CohibaVancouver ( 864662 ) on Thursday May 05, 2005 @05:59PM (#12446199)
    I work as a product manager in a software company in Vancouver. Salary is negotiable, as is title etc. Vacation almost never is negotiable, as, unlike salary, it's impossible to keep 'secret' from your co-workers. Here in Vancouver three weeks for a "new" hire is fairly standard, moving to four weeks after three years and maybe topping out at five weeks eventually.

    One option to consider might be unpaid leave, which might be negotiable.

  • Negotiating vacations (Score:3, Insightful)

    by darnok ( 650458 ) on Thursday May 05, 2005 @06:01PM (#12446218)
    > How hard is it to negotiate a 5 week vacation at
    > an employer even if 3 weeks are unpaid?

    I've never been to Canada, so I can only speak as someone who's done contract work for many years.

    My normal year has 11 weeks off - I'm a single dad and I choose to take my kids for every school holiday.

    I've had no trouble negotiating this as a contractor - most long-term contracts have busy and quiet periods, and I commit to doing overtime or whatever to try to keep projects going. I make it very clear that, not only am I not at work, I'm also uncontactable while I'm away; again, no problems negotiating this, because it's all done up front.

    As a permanent, I don't think anyone I've worked for would put up with this. Employers of permanent staff have obligations such as training, career planning, etc. that would make it highly unlikely they'd be able to cope with giving someone 11 weeks off; employers of contractors, however, don't have these obligations.

    Bottom line: if you want extra time off, do it as a contractor.

    • For god's sake, why? (Score:3, Interesting)

      by lorcha ( 464930 )

      I make it very clear that, not only am I not at work, I'm also uncontactable while I'm away

      I love it when my clients call me on vacation! The smallest billing increment I have is 30 min, and I just call back during downtime.

      I've made back my lift ticket money while on the chairlift. I've made back my car rental money driving from OAK to Napa.

      Although, I guess there are vacations and there are vacations. My clients had no way to get ahold of me during either of my vacations last winter since my c

  • Here's what I did (Score:3, Informative)

    by itwerx ( 165526 ) on Thursday May 05, 2005 @06:09PM (#12446275) Homepage
    I had a similar situation awhile back. I moved to a new town on the other side of the country and tried to stay independent and fell flat on my face.
    So then I went to work for a couple of consulting firms in fairly rapid succession (useful for cranking your salary up while you're biding your time) with a sharp eye on the size of their customer base and the duration of the non-compete agreements. Once I felt I had a large enough number of potential customers that were no longer restricted by the non-compete's I went back to doing my own thing.
    YMMV, IANAL, TIS, HTH, ETC
  • Hm... I am Austrian and worked in Australia for a few years and I am now in Canada. In terms of leave this place is the worst. Unless you work in a government place you can count yourself lucky if you got more than 2 weeks to start off. Somehow companies seem to make a fuzz about your absence even if you take the hit in salary ... bums on seats seems to count and there is just no culture to work around with better resource/staff management.. just my 2c.

  • Ontario... (Score:1, Insightful)

    by heistgonewrong ( 808413 ) *
    If you're looking in Ontario, all the tech is happening in Ottawa, or Mississauga. IBM, Microsoft, Sun, etc, etc, etc. None of the rush of Toronto, and you can even live in Hamilton, Oakville, or Burlington and jump on the GO Train for a 30 minute ride into Mississauga, Markham, Toronto, North York.
    • Hamilton mmmm.. You can get some type of cancer from all that black smog they pump into the air!
      Not that Toronto is any better with all the cars downtown :)

      I used to commute from Across Toronto and into mississauga on transit and it was far from fun :)
    • Mississauga pales in comparison to Markham when it comes to IT activity. Pretty much all the huge tech companies are located in Markham.. IBM, Apple, CGI, ATI. The list goes on.
  • As an owner of a small business that does consulting and other computer related work, I will say that the flexibility is great, but usually only for a few hours at a time.

    For example I have a lot of time to spend with the kids after school. I can go on field trips, etc. What I as a business owner do not have time and flexibity for is extended vacations. Maybe a week if I am lucky, and even then I am constantly checking in with clients.

    If you are going to run a small business your clients will expect yo

    • Eh (Score:2)

      by lorcha ( 464930 )

      If you are going to run a small business your clients will expect you to be there for them when they need you.

      I dunno. I took two "extended" vacations last winter (10 days and 15 days) and my clients didn't really care. I just told them in advance and left things in a happy state before I left.

      You'd be surprised. Most companies realize that their consultants need time off as well. Of course, you've got to be smart about when you plan your trips to minimize client impact. In one of the trips, one w

  • West coast (Score:5, Interesting)

    by __aaaaxm1522 ( 121860 ) on Thursday May 05, 2005 @09:25PM (#12447711)
    We moved from Ontario (Ottawa) to the west coast and are much happier here.

    The tech industry is much better out here, more opportunities than back east. Vancouver is good, but homes are pricey. Kelowna, BC has a decent IT infrastructure and is more affordable.

    If you're looking for 6 weeks of vacation, good luck! It can be done however. My girlfriend works in IT here in BC and has 9! The trick? She took a job at a local university, and her job is officially a "faculty" position (even though she only has a bachelors and works in IT). As a result, she gets the same vacation that faculty does - 45 days. Paid. Oh yeah, and since I'm her immediate family, I can take courses for free. So I consult on the side, and study physics full-time.

    Ottawa was especially hard-hit by the dot-com fallout a couple years back. Funny story: In December we were visiting friends in Ottawa during the holidays. I happened to notice that one of our "regular crowd" was missing.

    "What's Jim doing these days?" I asked ...

    "Working with windows" was our host's reply.

    "Windows? I thought he was a die-hard Unix guy!"

    "No, you don't understand. He couldn't find a job in IT after the layoffs. He's installing energy-efficient windows in new homes."

  • My friend moved from Russia to Sweden, worked there for several years, and then moved to Toronto. And he is happy about that.

    Sweden was not bad for him, but I guess Canada is better for many reasons.

    1. Permanent residence is waaaay easier to get. Let alone citizenshop.
    2. The company he worked for in Sweden came through series of lay-offs. He is not Swedish citizen and he is young, so in European tradition, he always was the first in line for a lay-off. He is smart, so he held on for several rounds, but ev
  • Forget 5 weeks... 2 weeks, moving towards three once you've been on board for a few years is fairly standard.

    Unpaid extra time above that *does* happen, but unless you're just as likely to be replaced.
  • Just stay wherever you are. Canada sucks for I.T., proven by the fact that I now earn a living assembling bargain Celeron systems for $7.50/hr, 75 hours a week. Oh, I'm a hotshot programmer BTW, but you wouldn't know by the way I wield that screwdriver... up until I fire up Debug.com and bang out a ghetto disk utility out of thin air. And then I go back to the screwdriver.

    Canada sucks. All of us ex-dot-commies talk of moving to the states for some fast cash, then realize we can't even afford the bus ri
  • spend them where you'd like to live..

  • Any large city in Canada should be able to sustain a private consultancy business, cities like Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver have a large enough client base that you might be able to do well, emerging cities like Halifax, Winnipeg, and Edmonton might be a good place to look at as they are emerging markets that have yet to reach their potentials.

    When in doubt contact the local Chambners of Commerce and use the contacts garnered there to get your foot in the door. They are an invaluable re

  • Markham, Ontario (Score:3, Interesting)

    by CaptCanuk ( 245649 ) on Sunday May 08, 2005 @12:48AM (#12466056) Journal
    Considered the "High Tech Capital of Ontario", Markham is only 27 kilometres from Lake Ontario (downtown Toronto specifically). It houses a large set of companies from IBM/CGI/ATI to many other 4 and 5 acronym letter companies. Most of the communities are growing and are beginning to offer a suburban lifestyle as the GTA expands. I believe most of the companies offer 3 weeks on start and you might be able to negotiate 2 more unpaid weeks. A lot of companies are liberal with their compensation if they really want you (cash, stock, vacation).

    As for if you should move: Don't until you have some contacts. I for one believe that the IT industry (much like other business sectors) is run through who you know. See if you can get some contacts in Markham or perhaps Toronto or ask your current contacts to see if they can get you in.

    I'd prefer not to see an "Ask Slashdot" next year with a disappointing failure story :P

Slashdot Top Deals

He has not acquired a fortune; the fortune has acquired him. -- Bion

Close