Meta’s announcement in late March that it was putting down roots in Toronto with plans to hire 2,500 new workers in the city and across Canada was largely met with fanfare from politicians.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who announced the jobs himself at a press conference, touted the move as a boon for homegrown Canadian tech talent.
“Our tech talent no longer has to look elsewhere to pursue their careers,” he said at Meta’s announcement.
Ford’s economic development minister, Vic Fedeli, said in a statement the move will “strengthen the province’s innovation sector.”
But for the heads of Canadian companies watching the news of another U.S. tech giant putting more “high-paying” jobs into the pipeline, dreams of scaling up their own firms just became that much dimmer.
Canada’s tight tech talent pool
Hiring and retaining talent in Canada’s highly competitive market is a regular pain for Erin Bury, CEO of Willful, a 15-person startup founded in Toronto that makes software to streamline estate law.
Though Willful has made strides with early venture capital funding and a deal on CBC’s Dragons’ Den, Bury tells Global News she’s already had staff poached from tech giants hunting for Canadian talent.
“I know that my team is getting approached every single day by recruiters who represent these big firms or by these firms directly,” she tells Global News.
Meta, which already has a modest shop in Toronto, Montreal and a few other markets in Canada, is just the latest major firm to eye the Canadian talent pool over the past few years.
Microsoft, Google, Twitter, Pinterest, Reddit and Netflix all announced some level of Canadian hiring plans, largely for engineering roles, over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Employment growth in the tech sector has been undeterred over the course of the pandemic.
There were 855,000 people employed in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector last month, according to data provided to Global News from StatCan. That’s up from 780,000 jobs in the industry a year before that and 743,000 workers in March 2020.
Over that same time, hourly wages in ICT have risen to $40.98, up from $38.23 at the start of the pandemic.
“It’s become very competitive, and we’ve already seen Willful team members who have left to go to larger U.S. firms. We just cannot compete with the base salaries,” says Bury.
Though Willful still has a small office in Toronto, the company took the pandemic as an opportunity to go almost fully remote and expand its hiring pool outside Ontario to add employees everywhere from Vancouver to Halifax.
On the face of it, the move gave Bury access to a wider hiring pool. But on a relative basis, looking outside Toronto didn’t materially change the talent crunch.
“While we’ve widened our talent pool, so has everybody else. And you’ve seen a lot of companies who may have been more focused around the office in, say, San Francisco, open up their hiring to folks in Canada, folks all over.
“We’re now not only competing with other startups, we’re competing with the large companies we already were, like Shopify, and now we’re going to be competing with some of the new entrants, like Netflix and Pinterest and Meta.”
Will Meta create new jobs? Or reshuffle them?
Ben Bergen, the president of the Council of Canadian Innovators, says despite Toronto and other Canadian markets having strong tech talent, there was already a national labour shortage in the industry before Meta announced its hiring plans.
CCI estimates put the current number of open vacancies in Canadian tech at 200,000 positions.
“When you have a company like Meta or some of the other companies come to Ontario and say that they’re going to be creating jobs, that actually isn’t the case. It’s going to be actually a shuffling or a reshuffling of jobs,” Bergen tells Global News.
“All this does is apply additional pressure on the labour market, which is already extremely tight.”
While competition was previously tightest in Toronto and Vancouver, Bergen says companies in smaller markets such as Winnipeg and Saskatoon are now facing talent crunches in the remote-first era.
Meta, however, does not see its presence as a drag on Canada’s talent pool — the tech giant believes its presence will bolster Canadian talent.
Rachel Curran, Meta’s public policy manager in Canada, told Global News in an interview that the company’s hiring ambitions might put some “short-term pressures” on the labour market but disputed the framing that it will just end up as a talent siphon.
“I think that’s a pretty short-term and zero-sum view of things. We view this investment as helping build the ecosystem overall, we are expanding the total size of the sector,” she said.
Healthy tech sectors include companies of all sizes, Curran said, where today’s engineers can learn to be tomorrow’s startup founders.
She also distinguishes Meta specifically from other tech giants that have announced hiring plans in Canada, arguing that the company’s grand ambitions for the Metaverse will create new economic opportunities for global tech firms.
“We have a long-term vision for this sector, which is really going to expand the size of it,” she said.
‘Purpose’ as a hiring pitch
Whether Canada’s overall tech talent pool grows or contracts in the wake of Meta’s expansion, startups are already waking up to the need to reinvent their hiring and retention strategies.
Shawn Hewat is the CEO of Vancouver-based Wavy, a 20-person startup that helps other companies track their workplace culture. Hewat says Wavy has tripled its headcount in the past year by shifting its hiring approach in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic and the talent crunch.
First, the company immediately went remote when the pandemic began, looking to the United Kingdom and India to fill positions.
Though Wavy has expanded rapidly, Hewat says it’s also scaled-down hiring plans to stretch the company’s payroll as far as it can go.
Companies often have to “do more with less,” Hewat says, by paying a core team of workers more to meet the surging market rates for talent.
But the biggest recruitment tool Wavy has is its own specialty: workplace culture.
Making sure employees feel valued and excited to come into work requires careful attention from managers from the get-go, both to attract and retain talent.
Hewat says she’s received messages from new hires that Wavy has given the “most warm welcome” any of her staff have received at a remote-first company.
“You can’t compete compensation-wise and perks-wise the same way you can with a Netflix or Meta or Shopify, even,” she says. “It really does come down to finding people who are vision and values aligned, who want to come in at an early stage and make that big impact.”
Meta, too, makes the value argument in their hiring pitch, calling on prospective employees to help them “build the metaverse.” Curran says the company’s virtual realm ambitions could see new hires play a hand in crafting a “whole new economy for internet creators.”
But Bury says startups can sell themselves as the anti-Big Tech to stand out from the crowd. Employees who care about “more than just the number on the paycheck” can be wooed into joining early-stage companies if they’re looking to get in on the ground level of something they believe in, she says.
“They don’t necessarily want to go work at the Fortune 500 brands because they feel like they can make more of a difference (at a startup),” Bury says.
“There’s more purpose.”
1:49 How are companies attracting workers in a tight labour market?
How are companies attracting workers in a tight labour market? – Mar 11, 2022
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — The Tampa Bay Lightning selected Victor Hedman as the team captain on Wednesday as training camp opened, making the big defenseman the successor to Steven Stamkos.
Hedman, who is going into his 16th season with Tampa Bay, was considered the obvious choice to get the “C” after the Lightning did not re-sign Stamkos and their longtime captain left to join Nashville.
“Victor is a cornerstone player that is extremely well respected by his teammates, coaches and peers across the NHL,” general manager Julien BriseBois said. “Over the past 15 seasons, he has been a world-class representative for our organization both on and off the ice. Victor embodies what it means to be a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning and is more than ready for this exciting opportunity. We are looking forward to watching him flourish in his new role as we continue to work towards our goal of winning the Stanley Cup.”
The 33-year-old from Sweden was a key contributor in the Lightning hoisting the Cup back to back in 2020 and ’21, including playoff MVP honors on the first of those championship runs. Hedman also took home the Norris Trophy as the NHL’s top defenseman in 2018 and finished in the top three in voting five other seasons.
Ryan McDonagh, who was reacquired early in the offseason in a trade with the Predators, and MVP finalist Nikita Kucherov will serve as alternate captains with the Lightning moving on to the post-Stamkos era.
TORONTO – While Toronto FC is looking to improve its position on the pitch, general manager Jason Hernandez is trying to do the same off it.
That has been easier said than done this season.
Sending winger Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty to CF Montreal for up to $1.3 million (all dollar figures in U.S. funds) in general allocation money before the secondary transfer window closed in early August helped set the stage for future moves.
But there have been plenty of obstacles, which Hernandez has been working to clear.
“We feel a lot more confident going into this upcoming off-season that we did the one prior,” said Hernandez. “There’s a level of what I would say booby-traps that were uncovered when I first got the (GM) role at the end of last summer.”
The club is paying off departed forwards Adam Diomande and Ayo Akinola as well as a $500,000 payment due in 2024 to Belgium’s Anderlecht for Jamaican international defender Kemar Lawrence. That payment was part of the transfer fee for Lawrence, who joined TFC from Anderlecht in May 2021 and was traded to Minnesota United in March 2022.
Diomande was waived while Akinola’s contract was terminated by mutual agreement.
“That comes to an end in ’25, which is nice,” said Hernandez. “We had to suffer from a salary cap perspective this season. But those things coming off, the Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty money coming in, we’re going to be in a position to make some good additions, which is positive.”
While MLS clubs are allowed one contract buyout per year, Toronto had already used its on former captain Michel Bradley, who retired after last season. Bradley had previously restructured his contract, deferring money.
TFC’s only other move during the summer transfer window was the signing of free-agent defender Henry Wingo. Hernandez said the club knew going into the window that it was likely limited to the one acquisition “unless other business happened”
“We knew we had this bucket of money and we knew we were going to go get Henry,” said Hernandez.
While the sale of the highly touted Marshall-Rutty opened up other possibilities, it came on the eve of the transfer window closing. And the team did not like what it saw in the free-agent market.
“A lot of the opportunities we were presented in the free agency space felt more like a short-term, Band-Aid decision versus what actually the club probably needs.”
Hernandez was not willing to take in players who came with a “club-friendly” salary cap charge in 2024 and a much bigger number in 2025.
Instead, Toronto promoted forward Charlie Sharp and wingback Nate Edwards to the first team from TFC 2 ahead of last Friday’s roster freeze.
MLS teams are operating on a salary budget of $5.47 million this season, which covers up to 20 players on the senior roster (clubs can elect to spread that number across 18 players). But the league has several mechanisms that allow those funds to go further, including using allocation money (both general and targeted) to buy down salaries.
Designated players only count $683,750 — the maximum salary charge — against the cap no matter their actual pay. Toronto’s Lorenzo Insigne is actually earning $15.4 million with fellow Italian Federico Bernardeschi collecting $6.295 million and Canadian Richie Laryea $1.208 million.
Hernandez says Laryea’s contract can — and “very likely” will — be restructured so as to remove the designated player status.
There are benefits in going with just two designated players rather than three.
Teams that elect to go with two DPs can sign up to four players as part of the league’s “U22 Initiative.” The pluses of that structure include a reduced salary cap charge for the young players and up to an extra $2 million in general allocation money.
Hernandez says the club is currently pondering whether that is the way to go.
Captain Jonathan Osorio who is earning $836,370 this season, restructured his deal to allow the team to sign Laryea as a DP. In doing so, Osorio had his option year guaranteed so his contact runs through 2026.
Hernandez and coach John Herdman will have decisions to make come the end of the year.
The contracts of goalkeeper Greg Ranjitsingh ($94,200), defenders Kevin Long ($277,500), Shane O’Neill ($413,000) and Kobe Franklin ($100,520), midfielder Alonso Coello ($94,050) and Brandon Servania ($602,710), and forward Prince Owusu ($807,500) — all on the club’s senior roster — expire at the end of 2024 with club options to follow.
While there is more work to do, Hernandez believes TFC is on the right road.
Toronto, which finished last in the league at 4-20-10 in 2023, went into Wednesday’s game against visiting Columbus in a playoff position at eighth in the East at 11-15-3.
“By every metric, we are miles ahead of where we were at this point last year,” said Hernandez.
“That’s a low bar, so that’s not saying much,” he added.
But he believes TFC is “quite competitive” when it has all its players at its disposal.
“To get results in this final stretch, we’re going to need our prominent players to really show up and have big performances, and be supported by the rest of the cast.”
After Columbus, TFC plays at Colorado and Chicago and hosts the New York Red Bulls and Inter Miami. The club also travels to Vancouver for the Canadian Championship final.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2024
Mackenzie Hughes might just be what the International team needs as this year’s Presidents Cup.
Hughes, from Dundas, Ont., is one of three Canadians on the squad competing in the match-play event at Royal Montreal Golf Club next week.
His putting skills, cool demeanour under pressure, pre-existing connections with teammates and clubhouse leadership could help the team — made up of non-American players outside Europe — end a nine-tournament losing skid to the United States at the biennial event.
“I’ve had this one circled on the calendar for a few years now,” said Hughes on joining fellow Canadians Taylor Pendrith and Corey Conners as captain’s picks on the 12-player International team. “I pretty much knew that when it was announced the tournament would be in Canada and that Mike Weir was going to be the captain, you pretty much knew where that was going to go.
“To get that call from (Weir) is really special because he’s the guy that I looked up to, we all looked up to, as Canadian golfers.”
Pendrith and Conners are returning to the team after a disappointing 17 1/2 to 12 1/2 loss to the United States at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, N.C. in 2022.
Hughes was ranked 14th on the International team standings in 2022 and could have easily been included on that squad after Australia’s Cameron Smith and Chile’s Joaquin Niemann were ruled ineligible after jumping ship to the rival LIV Golf circuit.
However, captain Trevor Immelman of South Africa instead chose the lower ranked Christiaan Bezuidenhout (16th) of South Africa, Pendrith (18th), South Korea’s Kim Si-woo (20th) and Australia’s Cameron Davis (25th).
“I certainly wanted to be on that team but also I understood the picks,” said Hughes, who lives in Charlotte and plays at Quail Hollow regularly. “I think that like a lot of guys that don’t get picked you more so look back on your own play and I wish I had made that selection easier for them.
“I didn’t do myself any favours in the six weeks leading up to it and that’s a hard pill to swallow.”
It may have been a costly oversight on Immelman’s part, as finishing holes was an issue for the International team in 2022 and Hughes is one of the best putters on the PGA Tour. This season he’s third in shots gained around the green and fifth in shots gained from putting.
“It doesn’t mean that just because I was there it would have turned the tide, but I’d like to think maybe I could have helped,” said Hughes. “That’s why you play the matches. You have to get out there and do it.”
This year Hughes made it easier for Weir, the Canadian golf legend from Brights Grove, Ont., to choose him. Hughes is 51st in the FedEx Cup Fall standings and has made the cut seven tournaments in a row, including a tie for fourth at last week’s Procore Championship.
“Mac played very solidly all year. Really like his short game, an all-around short game,” said Weir on Sept. 3 after announcing his captain’s picks. “He’s one of the elite and best short game guys on the PGA Tour
“I also love Mac’s grit. So that was the reason I picked him.”
Hughes’s intangible qualities go beyond grit.
He, Pendrith and Conners will arrive at Royal Montreal as a unit within the International squad, having become close friends while playing on Kent State University’s men’s golf team before turning pro. They’re also part of a group of Canadians, including Nick Taylor and Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, B.C., that regularly practice together before PGA Tour events.
“To have those guys with me is really icing on the cake, it’s very special,” said Hughes. “Opportunities like this don’t come around very often: to play this kind of team competition, which is already hard to do, but to play with some of your best friends, it almost seems scripted.”
An 11-year professional, Hughes has also been a member of the PGA Tour’s player advisory council the past two years and has been an outspoken advocate for making professional golf more accessible to fans.
Although Weir relied heavily on analytics to make his captain’s selections, Hughes’s character came up again and again when asked why he was named to the team.
“I just have a gut feeling with Mac that he has what it takes in these big moments,” said Weir. “They’re big pressure moments, and I have a feeling he’s going to do great in those moments.”
DP WORLD TOUR — Aaron Cockerill of Stony Mountain, Man., continues his chase for a spot in the Europe-based DP World Tour’s playoffs. The top 50 players on the Race to Dubai standings make the DP World Tour Championship and Cockerill moved eight spots up to 39th in the rankings after tying for ninth at last week’s Irish Open. He’ll be back at it on Thursday at the BMW PGA Championship at the Wentworth Club in Surrey, England.
KORN FERRY TOUR — Myles Creighton of Digby, N.S., is ranked 38th on the second-tier Korn Ferry Tour’s points list. He leads the Canadian contingent into this week’s Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship. He’ll be joined at Ohio State University Golf Club — Scarlet Course in Columbus, Ohio by Edmonton’s Wil Bateman (53rd), Etienne Papineau (65th) of St-Jean-Sur-Richelieu, Que., and Sudarshan Yellamaraju (99th) of Mississauga, Ont.
CHAMPIONS TOUR — Calgary’s Stephen Ames is the lone Canadian at this week’s Pure Insurance Championship. He’s No. 2 on the senior circuit’s points list. The event will start Friday and be played at Pebble Beach Golf Links and Spyglass Hill Golf Course in Monterey, Calif.
LPGA TOUR — There are four Canadians in this week’s Kroger City Championship. Savannah Grewal (97th in the Race to CME Globe Rankings) of Mississauga, Ont., Hamilton’s Alena Sharp (115th), and Maude-Aimee Leblanc (142nd) of Sherbrooke, Que., will all tee it up at TPC River’s Bend in Maineville, Ohio.
EPSON TOUR — Vancouver’s Leah John is the low Canadian heading into the Murphy USA El Dorado Shootout. She’s 54th in the second-tier tour’s points list. She’ll be joined by Maddie Szeryk (118th) of London, Ont., and Brigitte Thibault (119th) of Rosemere, Que., at Mystic Creek Golf Club in El Dorado, Ark.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2024.
