Please, information about Jobs in Toronto for Quality Engineers

Somebody on one of the professional forums (fora?) that I subscribe to asked this question. Here is my slightly edited version of the question:

I am thinking seriously about moving to Canada in order to find a job as a quality engineer or quality manager or supervisor. I have broad experience in the automotive and railway industries for both positions.

A few days ago I read an article which said Toronto is a primary centre of industry and that the city and its surrounding area produces more than half of Canada's manufactured goods. On the other hand, someone told me that there were no jobs over there and that the unemployment rate is very high.

What is the real truth?. 
Are there real possibilities for me to find a job in that city and country?

My response is as follows:

I don't know what family ties and responsibilities you have but as an immigrant Canadian myself I would say, Don't come to Canada in order to find a job. 

Certainly, come to Canada because you like Canada, you like it's cosmopolitan make-up, you like its people, life-style, standard of living, geography, cold winters and hot summers, vacation opportunities, having the USA as your back yard, but don't come just in order to find a job. The immigration process is very arduous and you will not be allowed to work without a work permit (difficult to get) or landed immigrant status (even more difficult). 

Winter in Toronto

Come for a look-see. Do your Internet research on the immigration process. The Ontario unemployment rate is just under 7%. A LinkedIn job search will show that there are QA/QE jobs available in the greater Toronto area but there are typically a few dozen applicants for any one job so you will face competition. 

However, your basic question should be: do you really want to come to Canada or do you just want to find a job? There have to be easier ways to find a job.

Photo credit: CBC.ca

Xenophobia in South Africa. Does 'Mississippi Burning' Help Us Understand?

Earlier this week Daily Maverick published an op-ed by Stephen Grootes covering the horrific xenophobic violence currently hitting South Africa under the title, When the economy suffers, xenophobia thrives. I agree with everything Stephen Grootes has written there, most especially what he says about impunity, poverty and feelings of hopelessness in bad economic times. I strongly recommend that you link to and read that op-ed before reading this blog any further.

Insightful and enlightening as the piece is, I can't help getting the feeling that Grootes is holding back, perhaps understandably. It's as if he has set the stage for an explanation; all the props and actors are there and even some historical context, but the dialogue is missing.

Perhaps the missing dialogue can be found in the following dialogue from the movie Mississippi Burning.

Ward: Where does it come from, all this hatred?

Anderson: You know, when I was a little boy, there was an old Negro farmer lived down the road from us, name of Monroe. And he was, uh, - well, I guess he was just a little luckier than my Daddy was. He bought himself a mule. That was a big deal around that town. Now, my Daddy hated that mule, 'cause his friends were always kiddin' him about oh, they saw Monroe out plowin' with his new mule, and Monroe was gonna rent another field now they had a mule. And one morning that mule just showed up dead. They poisoned the water. And after that there was never any mention about that mule around my Daddy. It just never came up. So one time, we were drivin' down the road and we passed Monroe's place and we saw it was empty. He'd just packed up and left, I guess. Gone up North, or somethin'. I looked over at my Daddy's face - and I knew he'd done it. And he saw that I knew. He was ashamed. I guess he was ashamed. He looked at me and he said: 'If you ain't better than a n****r, son, who are you better than?'...He was an old man just so full of hate that he didn't know that bein' poor was what was killin' him.

Quality Management: Corrections, Corrective Actions and Preventive Actions

Corrections, corrective actions and preventive actions: What is the difference between them? When should you do which?

In under 10 minutes this light-hearted presentation addresses these questions with examples from the auto industry and a long-term care nursing home.

Are we betraying the true Charlie Hebdo legacy?

What has happened in Paris with Charlie Hebdo is horrendous.

It is unfortunate that news outlets have allowed coverage of that shocking event to eclipse reporting of other happenings that we really ought to be told about. In particular there has been a second attack in a week on the town of Baga, Nigeria.

Soldiers walking in the street in the town of Baga, Nigeria in 2013.
Photograph: Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP/Getty Images

The death toll from both attacks is thought to be around 2,000. Nearly 600 others have been stranded on an island on Lake Chad without food, water or shelter. There are countless refugees on a hopeless march to nowhere: women seperated from their husbands and children, not knowing whether they be dead or alive; bewildered children severely traumatised by the unspeakable savagery upon their loved ones that they have witnessed.

It is understandable that we Western Europeans and Americo-Canadians will be transfixed by an event in Europe or the Americas such as the Charlie Hebdo attack but if we allow our world to shrink to one view of the globe what will we become? That would not be the true Charlie Hebdo legacy but the legacy of our fears.

(With material from The Guardian, 10-Jan-2015)

Gloria In Excelsis Deo

Everyone at Kwa-McCann wish all our family and friends who celebrate Christmas a merry and blessed Christmas.

And to those of you who just like to celebrate at this time of year, we wish you safe and happy holidays.

Gloria in Excelsis Deo