Three jobs in Canada, via JeffGaulin.com

Cowichan Valley Citizen

Kamloops Daily News

Guelph Mercury

 

Guelph is a nice city, not too big, not too small, very close to scenic rural areas as well as to larger centres like Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge, Hamilton, Brampton and Toronto.

The paper is okay, no great shakes, but there's a very active local sports scene which at this time of year includes Major Junior and Junior B hockey right in Guelph and lower levels, like Junior C, Senior AA and Senior AAA not too far away.

 

Someone on here somewhere (IJAG?) mentioned a law that says Canadian businesses are prohibited from hiring Americans if a qualified Canadian is available for the job. Is this true? Are there ways around it? Do papers actually pay attention to the law?

 

Well, the Toronto Star Blue Jays beat writer just got a gig a few months ago at the Seattle Times, so one would think an American wouldn't have too hard a time getting a Canadian gig.

 

Mert is correct. Canadian law (for newspapers and other businesses) forbids the hiring of foreigners when an equally qualified Canadian is available. Some sports sections have hired American columnists by persuading government officials the columnist is uniquely qualified. And of course there are exceptions, or the NHL would have a rough go of it in Canada. But, as an American, it would be difficult to get most sports reporting jobs in Canada.

 

It works the same way in the U.S. Technically speaking, if an equally qualified American is available, they can't hire you.
But if someone really wants you, there's always a way.

How else to explain how Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria brought both the Canadian clubhouse manager and the Canadian bullpen catcher/coordinator with him from Montreal? It's not like there aren't 100,000 former catchers of any level around who can do that job.

 

From what I understand of Geoff Baker's situation, he got a visa in a NAFTA category for people with exceptional or extraordinary ability. It's commonly used by athletes to play for pro teams in countries not their own (Canadian hockey players with U.S. teams, U.S. ball players in Toronto, et cetera).

Baker has won three National Newspaper Awards and also took first place in an APSE over-250,000 category last year (the first Canadian ever to win an APSE award), so he qualifies. Someone who doesn't have his track record is going to have a tougher time of it.

But ballscribe is correct. If someone wants you badly enough (and has enough money to facilitate the process), they can get you no matter which country we're talking about.

 

I went to the U.S. with an H1B visa. It took a few months, but it's hard to imagine there weren't other qualified candidates in the U.S. for the job, which was with the Sporting News. A lot of those visas go to foreigns working in the high-tech industry and are much in demand, so it's all about making the application before the quota runs out.

The hotshot Madison Avenue lawyer they hired to get it done was unbelievably sloppy, yet it still went through. But, as I said, I guess they really have to be motivated to hire you to see the process through. Far easier to hire an American.

Baker was at my paper when I was first hired there in 1998. He was a year ahead of me in J-school.
I have good stories, none of which I can share here.

 

Oh, sure you can. ;D

 

Nah, I can't. You're probably him.