Canada and the Globalized Immigrant

Abstract

As trade and investment become increasingly international and global in nature, there is growing pressure on Canada to keep up with globalization and to facilitate the international movement of skilled business people. Canada’s most recent and far-reaching immigration policy, the investor/entrepreneur program, is attracting entrepreneurs from countries such as Hong Kong, South Korea, and Taiwan. Canada had hoped that the new immigrants would provide capital, innovation, and jobs through high-technology firms and businesses. Yet studies show that rather than coinciding with provincial preference for manufacturing and technology businesses, recent entrepreneurs have followed ethnic business strategies resulting in coethnic and service-providing businesses. Fear of financial risk, bank loan refusals, and the familiarity factor all have contributed to entrepreneurial immigrants’ business patterns.