Vancouver
Globe and Mail Update




U.S. technology giant Microsoft Corp. will skirt Washington's tough stance on immigration by opening a new software development centre in the Vancouver area this fall.

The Microsoft Canada Development Centre will serve as a base for the company's core business — software development. When the company initially opens its doors, likely in September, it plans to hire between 200 and 300 people from around the world. The facility could eventually employ as many as 1,000.

“It is about recruiting the best and brightest, and right now, the majority are coming from overseas,” Marc Seaman, a spokesman for Microsoft Canada, said in an interview.

“The U.S. has immigration quotas and some limitations for bringing in people from outside the country,” he said. “That challenge is an opportunity for Canada, in the sense that this will bring the top software developers to Canada.”

Mr. Seaman noted, however, that Canada is the third-largest source of Microsoft recruits, after India and Japan.

Microsoft, founded by billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates, is the world's largest software company. The company is based in Redmond, Wash., outside of Seattle. The proximity to the Vancouver area is one reason why it was chosen, along with its reputation as global gateway, its diverse population, solid infrastructure and high quality of life, Mr. Seaman said.

The company is in the process of negotiating a lease for up to 100,000 square feet of space in Richmond, Burnaby or the city of Vancouver. “It will be in the multi-million per year range,” Mr. Seaman said.

Microsoft said the Vancouver area facility will be one of a handful of development centres outside the company's Redmond base. The others are in North Carolina, Ireland, Denmark and Israel. The company also has research and development centres in the United Kingdom, India, China and Silicon Valley.

The company's Canadian operations are headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario, although it has eight regional offices scattered across the country.

wow , 1000 people that is Ausome .
BC is the place to be !

this is awesome!

i'm wondering what kind of software will they exactly be developing? Electronic Arts has a huge development centre here already...will it be a gaming development centre?

Let the floodgates open. US policies are hurting its people. In some ways they have the most backwards thinking and policies going. This has got to be a eye opener for them.
Vancouver is a great choice with the great talent pool as well as Canada's heathly policies towards immigration. Also today people want too chose where they live not have someone chose that for them.
It will be interesting to see what other companies open shop here?

This is another good example of backwards american thinking.
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=392312

It is good news for Canada that the US is damaging itself internally.

I certainly love the american people. I just hope for them a return to better and reasonable policies from there government.

You all haven't sorted out that most of the people hired by that centre will be people from India and China that are on waiting lists for H1-B visas, have you?

Microsoft is not going to hire Canadians, but use their corporate presence here to obtain visiting worker's visas for their offshore engineeers. Expect those "Canadian employees" to spend a lot of time in Seattle, and probably maintain offices (if not de facto residences) there.

Mind you, those people, were they to emigrate to Canada as software engineers without the assistance of Microsoft, would be driving cabs in Vancouver if they had to apply to actual Canadian companies for jobs.

To give you an idea, check out this article—http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/07/07/BUGQ5QSE7L1.DTL&type=business—all about graduates of Indian engineering schools who have made successful careers in California. They, too, would be doing construction or driving cabs had they chosen to come to Canada.

You all haven't sorted out that most of the people hired by that centre will be people from India and China that are on waiting lists for H1-B visas, have you?

Actually the article states this fact as being part of the reason Microsoft is opening in Vancouver because of our immigration policies.
These Indians and Chinese will fit right into the community as there is already a large population of both in Vancouver.


Microsoft is not going to hire Canadians, but use their corporate presence here to obtain visiting worker's visas for their offshore engineeers. Expect those "Canadian employees" to spend a lot of time in Seattle, and probably maintain offices (if not de facto residences) there.


Actually Microsoft has already hired many Canadians. They are living and working in Seattle right now.
Vancouver is known to have a very good talent pool for workers so I would expect that Microsoft will try to exploit this talent.


Mind you, those people, were they to emigrate to Canada as software engineers without the assistance of Microsoft, would be driving cabs in Vancouver if they had to apply to actual Canadian companies for jobs.


Anything is possible but I would expect that with Microsoft opening up in Vancouver because of the US policies that other companies will follow suit. Possibly Yahoo or Google.

My arguement is that the US policies are good news for Canada! With the proper talent pool and more open immigration policies Canada is in a good position to bring American companies who are in dire strait for employees.

I also posted another article in my prevous post about the port of Vancouver and the Dubai businesses that is coming because the US did not support it.

I do find it rewarding that with the soft wood lumber dispute the Canadian Artic dispute that the US is shooting itself in the foot with its policies at Canada's gain.

why do you live in canada yank in exile? i have yet to to read something you say be positive

I move that the administrators delete the last few posts pertaining to the constant annoyances of internet bravado. Those of us casual forumers have had enough of these endless anti-US/Canada tirades whether valid or not. Let's actually enforce people to stick to the topic at hand please?

Richmond welcomes Microsoft Canada Development Centre

RICHMOND, BC, July 26 /CNW/ - The City of Richmond, British Columbia is
pleased to announce it has been chosen as the home for the new Microsoft
Canada Development Centre.

Scheduled to open in the early fall, the Microsoft Canada Development
Centre will focus on software development and will eventually employ hundreds of highly-skilled workers from around the world. Earlier this month, Microsoft Corp. announced its intentions to establish a centre in the Greater Vancouver area. Microsoft has now reached an agreement to lease two buildings totalling 80,000 square feet located in the Crestwood Corporate Centre, which is owned and operated by Bentall Capital, and is acknowledged as one of the leading business parks in the Greater Vancouver area.

"We are extremely pleased to welcome Microsoft to Richmond," said Mayor
Malcolm Brodie. "Microsoft is recognized as a worldwide leader and they are a
perfect match with Richmond's vision and own commitment to excellence."

"This is an exciting opportunity for the Crestwood Corporate Centre,"
said Doug Reid, Senior Vice President, Bentall Capital L.P. "We have a
world-class facility in Richmond, and we are very proud to be working with
Microsoft to establish a Canadian software development centre and support its growth in the coming years."

Richmond is already home to some of Canada's leading international
technology firms including MDA, Sierra Wireless, Sage Software, Ventyx and
McKeeson Medical Imaging. The addition of Microsoft will ensure Richmond
continues to develop as a nexus for technology industries in Western Canada
and the Pacific Northwest.

"The new Microsoft Canada Development Centre in Richmond will be one of
only a handful of development centres outside the company's Redmond, Wash., headquarters," said Phil Sorgen, President of Microsoft Canada. "Richmond and the Greater Vancouver area are a global gateway with a diverse population. In addition, the close proximity to Microsoft's corporate offices in Redmond will allow for close collaboration with other development efforts. We are tremendously excited about this new facility and look forward to setting up our new office in Richmond."

In addition to location and access to global markets, Microsoft cited
quality of life for its employees as an important consideration in its
selection of Richmond. A modern city with a full array of recreational,
cultural and commercial amenities, Richmond was recently named as "Canada's
Healthiest City" by Canadian Living magazine and is one of Canada's most
culturally diverse cities.

The City quickly assembled a team to work with Microsoft throughout its
process of choosing a location within the Greater Vancouver area for the new
facility. City staff will now focus on working with Microsoft to ensure the
new facility is in operation as soon as possible.

http://www.space4lease.com/files/Buildings/BC/280-Office/BuildingPhoto.jpg

http://www.space4lease.com/files/Buildings/BC/279-Office/BuildingPhoto.jpg


Google map: http://maps.google.ca/maps?ie=UTF8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&q=13800+Commerce+Parkway+Richmond&ll=49.178197,-123.070779&spn=0.011586,0.028839&z=15&iwloc=addr&om=1

Somehow I knew they were going to pick Richmond over Burnaby or Vancouver...more office parks to pick from, I guess. I had hoped that it would be rapid transit accessible but meh.

Great...one more place that I won't be able to get a job at. Seriously, the last thing we need is people willing to work for minimum wage coming over here and lowering everyones pay.
This is globalisation at it's best...

aberrate, I agree they should have made it in a place which was more transit accessible, especially if part of the workforce will be new to Canada. One would have hoped a company like M$ could have set a bit greener of an example, but their ethical track record speaks for itself.

zivan56, maybe it is as simple as "dem guys is lowerin our pay", but I'm not so sure about that. Microsoft is new to Vancouver so they are increasing the demand for workers in Vancouver's labour market which should increase wages. To expand beyond Vancouver's/Canada's labour market, Microsoft still would need to get approval to be able to hire foreign workers - they have to prove they can't find enough Canadian workers with the requisite skills. But as we saw with the Canada Line's foreign workers, the requirements for proof might not be too difficult.

This would make a good globalisation case study, for sure.

^^ The new workers, according to the article, will be mostly from outside of Canada. So that is placing a restriction on the classic employee demand/supply and wage curve, which will not increase the pay for people here. Since their expectations for a wage are lower and the expectations here are higher, Microsoft will hire only them. Theoretically, it could increase the wages of the foreign workers coming in. So no, it's not as simple as that, but it is IMO a realistic guess as to what will happen once they start up...