Maritime climate, local hospitable dwellers and affordable living price are essential reasons for immigrants who decide to settle down in Nova Scotia rather than other provinces. Since 2014, the number of Permanent Resident (PR) nominees has doubled in Nova Scotia from 630 to 1,350. In 2016, the number grew to 1,383 nominees.

According to the Labour Market Classification of Nominees, in the last five years the lead job for newcomers working in Nova Scotia is cooking, which accounts for 7 per cent of the total labour market. Food service supervisors is the second choice, accounting for 6 per cent. Computer programming, and software engineering both come in as the third choice, each taking up 5 per cent of all immigrants’ occupations.

From 2011 to 2016, the Nova Scotian population rose by a mere 0.6 per cent, with 949,5000 people in the province. This is lower than the national average at 1.2 per cent. To combat this, last year Nova Scotia government kicked off several programs to bring in more immigrants like Stay in Nova Scotia, which helps international students stay after graduating, and Atlantic Immigration Pilot, which is an employer-driven immigration program between Government of Canada and the four Atlantic Provinces.

Pranav Sharma, an Indian student in the computer networks masters program at Dalhousie University, plans to take part in the Atlantic Immigration Pilot next year.

“Computer science is the first preference for students in India” says Sharma. “After the Common Entrance Exam, only top students are able to enter computer science programs in India.”

However, Sharma says if Indian students want further and more specific study, they have to turn to countries like the United States and Canada.

“Though the bachelor courses are very good (in India), for the Masters, colleges are very few,” admits Sharma.

Sharma says he has a student loan issued by a bank in India. If he gets back to India, he needs to work seven or eight years to pay it off. However, if he works in Canada, it may only take him two years. The PR visa will allow him stay here and work.

According to the 2016 skill level criteria by the National Occupational Classification (NOC), if computer science students like Sharma successfully get university degrees, including bachelor’s, master’s or doctorate, and find a relative job, their skill level is graded as ‘A’- professional jobs.

“As soon as you have your permanent residency, like a landed immigrant, you can register here as our client for free,” says Josephine Chica, who works for Immigrant Services Association of Nova Scotia (ISANA). “If you are looking for a job, tell us. ISANA offers workshops on resumes, cover letters and networking.”

Chica was originally from Philippines and lives in Halifax with her two children. She used to be a client in ISANA and got her citizenship in 2015.

“Nationally, it is clear that Asian countries dominate immigrant source countries. This is the case across [labour market] categories…” and has remained consistent over time, says the 2016 annual report from Immigrant Services Association of Nova Scotia.

For most Chinese people, a good way to start their lives in Canada is running a restaurant. Jane Fan, a Dalhousie student studying electronic business, is the co-owner of Panda Buffet, a Chinese restaurant in Bedford. She decided to become a co-owner in 2016 as an investment.

“If they want to put what they’ve learnt into practice, to stay here and make living, an easy way is starting a food business, or taking over a restaurant”, says Fan. “You can see there are a lot of restaurants in Halifax being run by Chinese, even some are Japanese sushi restaurants or Thai food restaurants.”

Like Fan, a big proportion of Chinese students in Canada are studying business. She is currently applying for the PR visa as her common-law partner who has been working in Halifax for more than one year. Fan says she will be satisfied with the PR visa and has no desire for citizenship in Canada, or she will lose her Chinese citizenship.

For Lisa Roberts, a rookie Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) in Nova Scotia, one year is too short for her to learn “how to spend money”.

Roberts, the MLA for Halifax Needham district, only spent $29,581 for 22 items between the months of October 2016 and March 2017, according to the MLA expanse report. This is 22 per cent lower than the average of all MLAs. Her expenses included advertising, postage and office rental.

“With all MLAs now, their expenses are reimbursed after they make the expenses,” She said. “Apart from major things that are directly paid for by the office speaker, like grants, all other expenses I pay for and the province pays me back. As MLAs, they are supposed to account for how they spend money related to their official duties.”

In Nova Scotia, each MLA is entitled to claim up to a maximum of $4,282.00 in expenses per month, plus an additional annual amount $14,059 to $18,558, from depending on the MLA constituency, says the MLA Member’s Manual. So the public can access the monthly expenses report online.

The average travel expense is $3,629, overall MLAs who had travel records between Oct. 2016 and March 2017. But Roberts’ travel expense is only one-fourth of the average travel expenses.

Roberts lives in Young St. in downtown Halifax, which is very close to the Nova Scotia Assembly House. Half of time Roberts takes bus, and half of time she rides her bike, so she doesn’t need to charge mileage when travelling inside Halifax.

Before she was elected MLA, Roberts was the Executive Director of Veith House, a non-profit neighbourhood hub in the North End of Halifax that provides several services and programs for local residents.

“I really used to be frugal because I don’t want to buy things that are wasteful,” says Roberts. “As a new MLA, it took me a little while to organize my own finances to be able to have sufficient credit to pay those expenses, and to feel comfortable spending a lot money.”

“I feel good spending advertising revenue to support non-profit organizations because there are so many non-profit organizations doing good work in Halifax,” says Roberts.

Members must complete the Finance Direct Deposit form along with the submission of a void cheque, original invoice and proof of payment.

Graham Steel, a Business Law professor in University of Dalhousie and former member of NDP in Nova Scotia, is not surprised that Roberts spent much less than other MLAs.

“There are definitely some MLAs that spend more than others,” says Steele, “They spend as much as allowed to, but some are very proud of that they don’t spend a lot of money.”

Steele says if MLAs are not sure about how to do their expenses, they can consult with the staff in the Speaker office.

After the general Provincial Election on May 30, other newly-elected MLAs like Alana Paon for PC and Susan Leblanc for NDP are supposed to learn how to figure out their monthly expenses as well.

Though it’s still earning profits, Canada’s leading theatre chain is looking for other ways to generate revenue in order to make up for its declining sales at the box office, according to an analysis of its more recent financial statement.

Cineplex by mckied on TradingView.com
Cineplex’s shares have been recently declining.

Cineplex‘s box office sales accounted for $712 million of total revenue in 2016. The proportion of sales as a percent of total revenue has declined 48 per cent since 2011.

In 2016, box office and food services  accounted for 77 per cent of Cineplex’s $1,478 million in total revenue.  Another two components, “media” and “other”, made up the rest.

“They are in a generally stagnant business (not much growth in movie attendance)”, says Christopher Hartt, a professor of Department of Business & Social Sciences in Dalhousie University in an emailed interview. In 2016, Cineplex attendance was $74,594 million. In 2016 the fourth-quarter, the attendance was 12 per cent down compared with the same period in 2015.

“They are essentially dependent on their suppliers to produce movies that the public wants to see”, says Hartt, “they try to control this by having long term arrangements with the more successful movie companies.”

Cineplex has refused to respond to requests for an interview about declining box-office sales. “We’re in our quiet period right now,” said Sarah Van Lange, the Director of Communications, Cineplex Entertainment, in an emailed statement.

To deal with declining box-office sales, Cineplex is trying to pivot from movies to other services like games and on-screen art exhibitions. “They(‘ll) create an experience, and create a reason for you to go”, says Rick Nason, a professor at the Rowe School of Business.

“They have tried to expand through acquisitions in related industries (gaming etc.),” says Dalhousie’s Christopher Hartt.

From the 2016 financial report, revenues from other column was doubled. Other revenues contain money from games, the Rec Room, Cineplex exhibition and others.

The Rec Room, a location based entertainment, which was kicked off in 2016, brought $2.36 million new income.

Games excluding Cineplex exhibition and The Rec Room are expanding as well. Compared with 2015, games brought near four times revenue than 2015. However, this is a tiny contribution to offset  their whole expenses, $1,369 million, in 2016.

“Movie theaters in general are under attack, it is not just about Cineplex,” said Nason, “so that is why they want to create more experience, like having drink service, having a restaurant experience, having the gaming experience, having seating areas, having pre-seating area. But Nason says these experiences are “mediocre”.

Revenue from food services has been steadily been declining since 2015. For the first three months of its most recent fiscal year, revenue from selling popcorn, chocolate bars and chips made up 28.8 per cent of revenues.