Israel
Jim Carr, Canada’s Minister for International Trade Diversification, describes benefits of newly enhanced Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement
By BERNIE BELLAN
Speaking in front of an audience of businesspeople from the Winnipeg community at large and members of the Jewish community at the Asper Campus on Monday, June 24, Canada’s Minister of International Trade Diversification, Jim Carr, described the many benefits that will ensue as a result of the newly modernized Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement.
Now having been signed into law by Parliament, the new agreement will has received Royal Assent, and is about to implemented by both countries.
Carr, who is the Member of Parliament for Winnipeg South Centre, noted that “the economies of Canada and Israel are built on innovative and thriving business cultures that value the ingenuity and creativity of our entrepreneurs, which is why Canada remains committed to strengthening its economic partnership with Israel. Together, we will seize the opportunities to expand markets and create jobs for hard-working Canadians.”
Since the original Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement was first signed in 1997, Carr said, “Canada-Israel bilateral merchandise trade has more than tripled, reaching $1.9 billion in 2018.
“And while Manitoba’s share of Canadian trade with Israel may be small, it has seen recent growth with an increase of 35% of merchandise exports between 2017 and 2018,” he added.
In a fact sheet handed out by members of Carr’s staff, it was noted that bilateral trade between Canada and Israel includes:
• Merchandise exports to Israel: $451 million (2017)
• Merchandise imports from Israel: $1.3 billion (2017)
• Services exports to Israel: $406 million (2017)
• Services imports from Israel: $351 million (2017)
The fact sheet also noted that: “Israel, with a GDP of $454.5 billion, is the most competitive economy in the Middle East and ranks 20th globally on the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Index (2018). Its economy is growing at a higher than average rate compared to other OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Develop-ment) countries (3.5% compared to 2.5% in 2017).
“Science and technology are significant drivers of the Israeli economy. Israel invests more heavily in research and development than any other country in the world,” the fact sheet stated.
“Israel’s highly skilled workforce and innovation strengths have attracted significant investment from abroad. Foreign multinational corporations, including Canadian firms, have established more than 400 research and development centres in Israel.”
A member of Canada’s trade mission in Israel, Stanley Gomes, also spoke to Canada’s trade relationship with Israel. Gomes noted that “70%” of the food Israelis eat is imported from other countries. On top of that, on average, Israelis pay 19% more for food products than the OECD average .
Later, during a question and answer session moderated by Jewish Federation President Laurel Malkin (whose term, by the way doesn’t end until December, despite my premature description of Malkin as the “outgoing’ president in our last issue), asked Carr why the Canada Israel Free Trade Agreement (CIFTA) needed to be modernized?
Carr answered: “It was old. Just as it’s time to refresh the WTO (World Trade Agreement), it was time to refresh CIFTA.”
There were four specific areas which Carr said needed modernizing in the agreement: e-commerce, the roles of women and members of the LGBTQ2+ community, and cyber security.
Asked by Malkin what Canada can do to help Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), Carr said that the government “will share the cost” of an SME that wants to expand its markets, by paying for instance, for companies to participate in trade shows overseas.
“Canada and Israel have long been connected through the power of people-to-people ties, a shared commitment to democracy and a friendship that started 70 years ago when Israel became a nation-state,” Carr said. “It continues to grow with each passing year.
“Jewish people have been in Canada since 1759” Carr pointed out, “and now our community of more than 350,000 continues to contribute impressively to our national mosaic,” he said.
“In many ways Israel reminds me of Canada,” Carr added. “It opened its doors to immigrants from all over the world – immigrants who have shared values. Those immigrants have contributed in so many ways to the development of both countries. And, speaking of Winnipeg specifically, as a member of the Arab-Jewish Dialogue, I want to make mention of the contribution Palestinian immigrants have also made to Winnipeg.”
There is an “opportunity for citizens to share in the prosperity in both countries,” Carr said, and (referring specifically to Israel), “the most abundant benefit of prosperity is peace.”
“As our country’s first Jewish Minister with an international focus, I am proud of the partnership between our two countries, and will seek to continue to deepen the ties between us with each passing year,” Carr stated.
“Canada and Israel committed to a new and forward-looking framework for trade that expands meaningful access to each other’s markets and introduces chapters on gender, labour, environmental protections, and support for small and medium-sized enterprises,” Carr said.
“I am pleased to say the legislation for the modernization of CIFTA passed Parliament and received Royal Assent on May 27, 2019. We anticipate bringing the modernized deal into force very soon,” Carr added..
“Once in force,” Carr explained, “close to 100 percent of all current Canadian agriculture, agri-food and seafood exports to Israel will benefit from some form of preferential tariff treatment.
“This means that Canadian exports like cranberries, baked goods, animal feed, fish and seafood all stand to benefit from this modernized agreement.
“But it doesn’t just help traditional exports. This new trade agreement includes nine new chapters.
“The modernized CIFTA,” Carr pointed out, “includes updates to the dispute settlement mechanism, market access for goods, institutional provisions to enhance transparency, and rules of origin to streamline access to preferential tariff treatment.”
Carr explained that when he was appointed Minister of International Trade Diversification, most people thought that his mandate was “to diversify trade so that Canada would not have to rely upon the US for most of its exports,” but “diversification,” he noted, “refers not only to diversifying trade in goods and services, it refers as well to a ‘diversity’ of people becoming involved in trade, including women, Indigenous people, and members of the LGBTQ2 community.
“I have visited Israel many times but last September was my first trip as Canada’s Minister of International Trade Diversification,” Carr said.
“While I was there I was thrilled to address two organizations supporting LGBTQ2 businesses that are crucial for our Israeli and Canadian shared values.
“I was impressed by the commitment to hold the world to a higher standard and lead the way to change the face and culture of technology.
“I also had to opportunity to visit Ramallah and launch the Palestinian-Canadian Business Council, which has since brought two delegations of Palestinian businesspeople to Canada.
“Our government is working diligently and proactively to help Canadian business access new markets, new customers, and create new jobs.”
Canada has “950 trade commissioners working for Canada in 56 different countries,” Carr said.
As one of those trade commissioners, Gomes noted that his role is not just to encourage trade in goods and services, but in “innovation” as well. “Everything we’re doing these days is related to the technology of the future, to artificial intelligence. The majority of the new companies coming here (to Canada) from Israel are all about innovation.”
Asked by Laurel Malkin if there is anything in particular of which businesspeople thinking of doing business in Israel should be aware.
Gomes noted that “Israel is a very casual society. You’re only two phone calls away from making connections.”
Israel
Israel report by former Winnipegger Bruce Brown
10 minutes
(Posted Dec. 24, 2024)
02:11 AM: Sound asleep.
2.11.01 AM: Wide awake. Awoken by a blaring missile alarm. Incoming. Took me no time to react. Ivan Pavlov would be proud. I quickly scooped up my dog. Grabbed my glasses. An inhaler. My phone and power cord. And sprinted to the safe room. Right across the hall. My wife overseas on vacation. So did this one alone. Er with my dog. We have 90 seconds to reach safety so no real panic, relatively speaking.
2.11.09 AM: In my safe room. Slid shut the heavy steel slabs across the window. You can hear this happening throughout the building. Kinda like a horror movie. Screech. Slam. Screech. Slam. Screech. Slam. Then mine. Screech. Slam. Next I jumped across the room and slammed shut the heavy, reinforced, steel door. It also makes a slamming sound, a really loud one. Then slumped down on the couch with my dog. With some level of relief. Where is this missile coming from. Can’t be from Gaza, they don’t have the capability anymore…I hope. Nor Lebanon, living too far south…I hope. Yemen? Possible. Those dang Houthis?
2. 14 AM: Oh oh. Need to pee. Like really bad. Once in the safe room, you should stay there for ten minutes. Unless there is another siren. Each siren requires a ten minute respite. Respite? Odd choice of words as you are not really resting. Way too tense. Especially as you can occasionally hear the booms of intercepted missiles up above. Kind of unnerving. Back to my need to pee. Its quite dangerous leaving the room during this period. Should your place be hit by the missile or falling debris from the sky. You don’t want to be caught with your pants down, literally, hovering over your toilet. And condos have been hit in Rehovot with some death and much destruction. Hmmm. To pee or not to pee. That is the question. Whether tis better to suffer the pangs of having to pee or the missiles of outrageous fortune. You get the point.
2.14.10 AM: Peeing in the bathroom.
2.14.40 AM: Back in the safe room. With my dog. Sitting on the couch. Fiddling with the remote control. I work in hi tech. The semiconductor world which can be pretty complex. But I simply have not mastered the remote. Really want to see what’s going on. Where is the missile from. Are there more attacks elsewhere in the country. Pushing this button and that button But the TV still off. Okay. Will check my cell. Although the connection sometimes comes and goes when shuttered in the heavily reinforced concrete and steel safe room. Works! Ya! Showing three bars. Sometimes four. Checking my feeds. But no news yet.
2.17 AM: Seriously. I need to pee again. Like really bad. Dang prostate! To pee or not to pee. That is the question…. You get the point. I chose to pee. This time I don’t actually slam shut the heavy, reinforced, steel door. And my dog follows me out. This could get complicated. But first things first.
2.17.10 AM: Peeing in the bathroom.
2.17.40 AM: Chasing after my dog around the condo. Poncho!!! There he is. In the living room. Like master. Like pet. He too is relieving himself. Probably the tension. Dogs can sense these things. “Faster Poncho!. Faster!” I encourage him.
2,18.02 AM: We’re back in the safe room. The heavy, reinforced, steel door slammed shut. And then I start worrying. What if I have to pee again. Its really dangerous out there. Idea! I’ll bring a cleaning pail in here. And if worse comes to worse. Well, I am alone. Sans my dog.
2.18.22 AM: I dart for the cleaning cabinet in the bathroom to grab the pail. Making sure the heavy, reinforced, steel door is shut less my dog run out again. Wait! As it dawns on me at 02.18.22 AM. This is not the smartest thing to do. At least I could have combined grabbing the pail with actually having to pee again. Like maybe I could hold out for the next three minutes or so in the safe room. No urgent need for the pail. But I am already there….
2.18.25 AM: Grab the red cleaning pail
2.18.28 AM: Back in the safe room. The heavy, reinforced, steel door slammed shut again. Siting on the couch with my dog again. Red pail glaring at me from the side of the room…daring me. But my bladder is relaxed. I try the remote again. I feel like my 85 year old mother who often complains about getting her remote to work. I console myself thinking that it must be the batteries. Hmmm. Maybe a mad rush for the utility room to get some new batteries. But that would be mad. I’ll take care of it in the morning. Only a few more minutes and I can safely leave the safe room and go back to bed.
2.19.45 AM: I pour myself a glass of mineral water. This I store in the safe room per Homefront commands. Fresh batteries not, hrmph. As I down the water I realize this is probably not the best idea. Less it creates the urge to pee…. Alas no. Start surfing my feed again. The intercontinental missile was fired by those crazy, dang Houthis from Yemen. All of central Israel sent to their safe rooms. Dang Houthis! The next couple minutes go by pretty smoothly. Although seems like an eternity.
2.21 AM: Back in bed. Albeit sleep comes slowly as my adrenaline starts to reside.
As it were. Israel bombed the dang Houthis that night. For the third time since the outbreak of the war. In retaliation for them firing over 200 ballistic missiles and 170 drones at Israel, which fortunately had not resulted in much damage. We struck them with over 60 bombs in two air raid sorties. Destroying mainly military targets as well as ports and energy infrastructure. Maybe that will teach them for waking me -and a million other Israelis- in the middle of the night.
As it were. Falling debris from the dang Houthi attack landed on a school in central Israel, forcing its collapse. Fortunately and thank G-d it was the middle of the night. Sometime between 2:11 AM and 2.21 AM. So no casualties. Can’t even imagine the tragedy had this strike occurred mid-day.
As it were. I changed the batteries in the remote. It works just fine now. And I left the red cleaning pail in the safe room….just in case. But I hope the dang Houthis finally learned their lesson. Although probably not.
As it were. Two nights later. Another 2:00AM missile from the dang Houthis. . They just wont let me sleep….
As it is. Please continue donating to the Israeli war and revival efforts. You may have given earlier. But give again. The financial costs to Israel are and will be billions. Billions! Sderot and Metulla and Tel Avi and Haifa are Israel’s front lines. Israel is the diaspora’s front line.
Bruce Brown. A Canadian. And an Israeli. Bruce made Aliyah…a long time ago. He works in Israel’s hi-tech sector by day and, in spurts, is a somewhat inspired writer by night. Bruce is the winner of the 2019 American Jewish Press Association Simon Rockower Award for excellence in writing. And wrote the 1998 satire, An Israeli is…. Bruce’s reflects on life in Israel – political, social, economic and personal. With lots of biting, contrarian, sardonic and irreverent insight
Israel
Join the Masa Canadian Professionals Volunteers Program!
You are invited on a 4-week volunteer program in Israel from October 14th to November 10th. Help rebuild Israeli society post-October 7th over Canadian Thanksgiving, Sukkot, and Simchat Torah. Spend three weeks based in Tel Aviv and one week based in Eilat!
This program is exclusively for Jewish professionals aged 22-50, working at Jewish organizations or remotely in any field.
The cost of the program is $150 USD to the organizer and $50 USD to Masa. Participants will receive a Masa grant of $2650 USD that is applied to participation and to cover additional costs. The cost of the program includes housing, meals while volunteering, transportation on travel days, health insurance, leadership training, and more. Volunteers are required to commit to the volunteer schedule, with the understanding that there will be the flexibility to work remotely for 8 specific days during the program. Flights are not included but you get a 15% discount from El Al.
Sign up here: https://www.masaisrael.org/go/canada-jp/ space is limited!
Don’t miss this unique opportunity to make a difference and connect with fellow professionals. For more information, contact Mahla Finkleman, National Manager of Partnerships and Outreach, Masa Canada, atmfinkleman@ujafed.org and/or Sam Goodman, Senior Manager of Israel Engagement, sgoodman@ujafed.org.
Save the Dates for Info Sessions:
- Thursday, September 5th, 12:00 – 12:30 EST
- Wednesday, September 11th, 12:00 – 12:30 EST
Join us in Israel for a meaningful and impactful experience with Masa!
weeks based in Tel Aviv and one week based in Eilat!
This program is exclusively for Jewish professionals aged 22-50, working at Jewish organizations or remotely in any field.
The cost of the program is $150 USD to the organizer and $50 USD to Masa. Participants will receive a Masa grant of $2650 USD that is applied to participation and to cover additional costs. The cost of the program includes housing, meals while volunteering, transportation on travel days, health insurance, leadership training, and more. Volunteers are required to commit to the volunteer schedule, with the understanding that there will be the flexibility to work remotely for 8 specific days during the program. Flights are not included but you get a 15% discount from El Al.
Sign up here: https://www.masaisrael.org/go/canada-jp/ space is limited!
Don’t miss this unique opportunity to make a difference and connect with fellow professionals. For more information, contact Mahla Finkleman, National Manager of Partnerships and Outreach, Masa Canada, atmfinkleman@ujafed.org and/or Sam Goodman, Senior Manager of Israel Engagement, sgoodman@ujafed.org.
Save the Dates for Info Sessions:
- Thursday, September 5th, 12:00 – 12:30 EST
- Wednesday, September 11th, 12:00 – 12:30 EST
Join us in Israel for a meaningful and impactful experience with Masa!
Features
New website for Israelis interested in moving to Canada
By BERNIE BELLAN (May 21, 2024) A new website, titled “Orvrim to Canada” (https://www.ovrimtocanada.com/ovrim-en) has been receiving hundreds of thousands of visits, according to Michal Harel, operator of the website.
In an email sent to jewishpostandnews.ca Michal explained the reasons for her having started the website:
“In response to the October 7th events, a group of friends and I, all Israeli-Canadian immigrants, came together to launch a new website supporting Israelis relocating to Canada. “Our website, https://www.ovrimtocanada.com/, offers a comprehensive platform featuring:
- Step-by-step guides for starting the immigration process
- Settlement support and guidance
- Community connections and networking opportunities
- Business relocation assistance and expert advice
- Personal blog sharing immigrants’ experiences and insights
“With over 200,000 visitors and media coverage from prominent Israeli TV channels and newspapers, our website has already made a significant impact in many lives.”
A quick look at the website shows that it contains a wealth of information, almost all in Hebrew, but with an English version that gives an overview of what the website is all about.
The English version also contains a link to a Jerusalem Post story, published this past February, titled “Tired of war? Canada grants multi-year visas to Israelis” (https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-787914#google_vignette) That story not only explains the requirements involved for anyone interested in moving to Canada from Israel, it gives a detailed breakdown of the costs one should expect to encounter.
(Updated May 28)
We contacted Ms. Harel to ask whether she’s aware whether there has been an increase in the number of Israelis deciding to emigrate from Israel since October 7. (We want to make clear that we’re not advocating for Israelis to emigrate; we’re simply wanting to learn more about emigration figures – and whether there has been a change in the number of Israelis wanting to leave the country.)
Ms. Harel referred us to a website titled “Globes”: https://www.globes.co.il/news/article.aspx?did=1001471862
The website is in Hebrew, but we were able to translate it into English. There is a graph on the website showing both numbers of immigrants to Israel and emigrants.
The graph shows a fairly steady rate of emigration from 2015-2022, hovering in the 40,000 range, then in 2023 there’s a sudden increase in the number of emigrants to 60,000.
According to the website, the increase in emigrants is due more to a change in the methodology that Israel has been using to count immigrants and emigrants than it is to any sudden upsurge in emigration. (Apparently individuals who had formerly been living in Israel but who may have returned to Israel just once a year were being counted as having immigrated back to Israel. Now that they are no longer being counted as immigrants and instead are being treated as emigrants, the numbers have shifted radically.)
Yet, the website adds this warning: “The figures do not take into account the effects of the war, since it is still not possible to identify those who chose to emigrate following it. It is also difficult to estimate what Yalad Yom will produce – on the one hand, anti-Semitism and hatred of Jews and Israelis around the world reminds everyone where the Jewish home is. On the other hand, the bitter truth we discovered in October is that it was precisely in Israel, the safe fortress of the Jewish people, that a massacre took place reminding us of the horrors of the Holocaust. And if that’s not enough, the explosive social atmosphere and the difference in the state budget deficit, which will inevitably lead to a heavy burden of taxes and a reduction in public services, may convince Zionist Israelis that they don’t belong here.”
Thus, as much as many of us would be disappointed to learn that there is now an upsurge in Israelis wanting to move out of the country, once reliable figures begin to be produced for 2024, we shouldn’t be surprised to learn that is the case – which helps to explain the tremendous popularity of Ms. Harel’s website.
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