India finds a friend in Canada on outsourcing

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/547724.cms

<TIMES NEWS NETWORK< TUESDAY, MARCH 09, 2004 12:53:41 AM >
OTTAWA / NEW DELHI: Even as big brother US is busy carrying out an anti-outsourcing campaign, India has got support from unexpected quarters. America’s neighbour, Canada, has taken an independent stance, favouring business process outsourcing. With Indian IT companies eyeing Canada as a near-shore option to service their US clients, this comes as a welcome sign that the opposition to outsourcing is, in fact, US-centric. In fact, Canada is candid about the political motive behind the outsourcing backlash.

Canada’s foreign minister Bill Graham in an interaction with journalists emphasised that Canada believes in free trade. Economic adjustments have to be made to suit economic realities, he added. “Canada is a proponent of free trade, which was emphasised in the Doha and Cancun round of talks.”

Canada’s policy is bound to boost two-way trade. While India’s total exports to Canada in ’03 stood at Rs 3,342.6 crore, imports from Canada were about Rs 2,740.2 crore. India’s electronic & computer software exports to the country during the same period amounted to Rs 859.4 crore. Leading exporters include Wipro , Pentamedia Graphics, Infosys , Tata Consultancy, Kshema Technologies among others.

Says DK Sareen, executive director, Electronics & Computer Software Export Promotion Council, “Though there is an element of resistance from the US administration against outsourcing, CFOs in the US and countries in Europe, apart from Canada, are assuring us that they will not resort to curbs. The WTO has also criticised it as a trade distortion measure, and this will have a mellowing impact on the US once the elections are over.”>

I am a Canadian student who will be finishing my Computing Science degree next year, and I'm terrified of outsourcing. The concern may be US-Centric in that it's the only government making it an issue, but believe me that it's of concern to citizens of all westernized countries, especially those of us with science/tech backgrounds.

But don't expect to make a living out of it, honestly I have seen IT go from boom to bust in less than a decade. I know IT folks with years of experience that can't land an interview musch less a job.

Take Montreal for example the engineers with the highest demand are - civil engineers, who would a thunk that a few years back?

anti-outsourcing ideas that come up in the US. This guy is 100% for outsourcing. The more money corporations save, the more campaign contributions he gets.