Toronto's decision to cut Google's expansion bad for Indian emigrants to Canada
Canada is seeking to attract about a million skilled immigrants a year to offset its rapidly aging population. Indian professionals increasingly view Canada as an attractive place to migrate, especially since President Donald Trump effectively cut the number of work and permanent resident visas granted in America.
But on October 31, 2019 Waterfront Toronto granted Sidewalk labs permission to build an office and residential complex on only 12 acres of land in the city’s port area. The real estate division of Google had originally sought to develop around 600 acres in the abandoned area into a major global technology center. Google’s proposal faced opposition from a wide range of Canadian interests - from tech companies to real estate developers and media like the Toronto Globe. Jim Balsillie, founder of Blackberry, is a vocal critic of Google’s plans on grounds of protecting privacy. Blackberry was decimated by the rise of Google’s Android mobile operating system, which is now used in a majority of cell phones worldwide.
Facing big opposition, in June 2019 Google said it would seek to develop only 190 acres in the Toronto port area. The decision by the Toronto agency to grant only 12 acres to Google is a big blow to Canada’s ambition to become a global technology center. As a result, demand for the skills of Indian engineers in Canada will be reduced.
Even the grant of the 12 acres to Google is not final. Toronto Waterfront is seeking input from the public and will vote to decide to go ahead with the project by May 2020. Then the local and federal governments have to approve the project.