#canada

I know this may not be the ideal place to ask, but I haven’t been able to find much information on Sparq or through my communications with HR, and was hoping this group might be able to share any relevant experience.

I’ve been with Optum Health for several years as a U.S.-based remote employee. Recently, I’ve been exploring the possibility of relocating to Canada. I’m a Canadian citizen, and through my own research I’ve seen that Optum has a few business segments in Canada, with many employees working remotely.

I’m wondering whether anyone has experience with, or insight into, transferring from a U.S. role to the Canadian entity while continuing to support the same U.S. team. I recognize this is a fairly niche scenario, but I’d really appreciate hearing from anyone who has gone through something similar or knows how this has been handled in the past.

Thanks in advance!

Everyone, I’m joining citi in Canada. The main office is in Mississauga, located in west end of the city. They do have an office in a relatively well connected Downtown Area. Will they let people work from the DT office? Can people in Canada chime in? Thank you!!

They're looking to downsize 19 full time employees serving healthcare workers. It's bad out here in Canada rn.

My question to Copiot,,,,,,,,So basically very little progress but a lot of plans no extra money coming in just money spent on planning or whatever.

Answer - That’s a pretty fair summary of where Canada stands right now. The country has rolled out ambitious frameworks—like the Clean Electricity Strategy and emissions reduction targets—but the tangible results are slower to materialize.

i have been working in canada location for more than 3 years and a half but i have not got any salary increase or promotion yet. And unlike previous years, HR has not sent out an email regarding those topics. Anyone knows what's going on?

The Canadian EDO program needs to go. I have worked globally including in Canada and always put in more hours than 40. Never took an EDO in Canada and was never offered one outside of Canada. Get rid of all the people putting in minimal hours. I am sick of doing their job for them.

Got a whopping 0%. Canada.

Thx ot

Curious if anyone in Canada has submitted a counter offer to the severance package. Did you get told to pound sand or did CPC negotiate?

Bell Canada says it's cutting approximately 690 employees, mostly managers, to help reduce debt and drive growth. The cuts follow thousands of company layoffs last year.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/bell-jobs-layoffs-9.6986533

Shell Canada builds a community focused on people - The Globe and Mail https://share.google/yPwIEITDo6nvknHvM

Is anyone affected from Vancouver? Waterloo?

I worked for IOL for close to 20 years, and I hardly ever saw the stock price touch $50 CAD. It was a bad idea to invest in IOL, so sold all my IOL stocks in RRSP. Bad decision!! But who knew this will happen!!

SGL 15-18 have had their total comp reduced, although the company has done a good job at dressing it up as no big deal with their slide show. Basically, your vcip % goes down and your RSU % goes up and to help offset inbetween until those elevated RSUs vest there is a lump sum payment. However when you do the math the reduction in VCIP for the two lost years outweighs the laughably small lump sum payment, and the bigger the VCIP amount the bigger the loss. Further to that you lose some pension on your VCIP since that’s a smaller number now and SGL 17 and up loses their perq bonus. This was all announced the day after layoffs were completed. Congrats now you work for less, enjoy.

Watch this clip. Around the 12 minute mark, they start talking about severance. Really useful info
https://youtu.be/qb6cmCqt-T0?si=w3kf34ySQephSN1y

Also - check out this severance calculator to see if you are owed additional severance. Probably not entirely accurate but it'll give you a general idea.
https://www.severancepaycalculator.com/
It's supplied by Simfuru|Tumarkin. Those lawyers who are on the employment law show on Global every Saturday morning.
Lawyer up. I've got calls in with numerous law firms to see who will give me the best price.
Don't let these sc-mbags get away with not giving you what you are owed/deserve.

MEG is closing soon. What’s next.

Wishing everyone well today.

• Irrespective of performance
• 3-6 month packages

Tip your servers well!

Did they start?

Are there any Canadians left to support customers in Canada? Who are we supposed to contact? Everyone we used to deal with has left the company.

Vancouver-based social media management-platform provider Hootsuite confirmed to BIV in an email Monday afternoon that it is laying off hundreds of workers.

The company said it would not "share" exactly how many people it was laying off, but it said the cuts would be for about 20 per cent of its global workforce.

https://www.piquenewsmagazine.com/technology/hootsuite-laying-off-hundreds-of-staff-20-of-workforce-11405954

Any information on severence?

Have they happened? Planned for Q4? Any news?

https://www.google.com/amp/s/boereport.com/2025/10/24/global-energy-layoffs-deepen-in-2025-as-crude-prices-weaken-ma-deals-surge/amp/

The article didn't have cons numbers but we have them now "ConocoPhillips to lay off Canada employees in November, company memo shows
Layoffs part of plan to cut global workforce by 25%"

Just announced...November 5.

Have those been affected by the planned reductions been notified yet or given clues? Here at Imperial and EM Canada? Asking for a friend...

How is severance calculated? Any news on Canada lay off's?

Anyone on here have intel on the goto/Canada site?

Another big layoff coming to cvs
Side mostly in Dearborn and canada. This time will include managers and supervisors spe ially. Be prepared.

As we continue to see high-performing Canadians increasingly targeted by their American managers for political reasons, a concerning disparity is also emerging in termination practices, with a disproportionate number of minorities being affected.

Poor MEG. I feel bad for their people. They will surely be taken over by CVE now. $8.6B really?? $17.6B to get out of FCCL. Phillips paying them $1.9B for their share of the refineries. The only thing this company is consistent at is overpaying, getting ripped off and then laying off. No wonder their stock is always in the toilet. Employees should get out now!!!! Go across the street. Go anywhere. What a dumpster fire.

Appears that there is a smaller reorg in CIG Canada. No specific details at this time.

We are in massive non-compliance by getting engineering services from non-registered engineers from not only out of province, but out of the country.

Report this while you can.

This is a legitimate question. I think I know the answer, but I want to see if there’s anything I’m unaware of before making the obvious conclusion.

Layoffs in Europe I get. We probably won’t own any assets there for much longer anyways, and I’ll be surprised if the continent hasn’t regulated every bit of heavy industry out of business by 2030.

Singapore I get. It’s been a money pit. High cost energy plus the cost of importing all feeds and exporting all products does not make for good performance in a commodity sector.

I feel for all of my colleagues in these locations. It’s not your fault this is happening, but I can understand why the company would do this.

But why Canada?

A quick discussion with ChatGPT shows me Imperial made between $4.5-7.3 billion yearly since 2022. Yes, refining margins were pretty good over that period, but I don’t see anything in the top line numbers to suggest our Canadian business is in dire straits. So why are we laying off 20% of the company?

I don’t know what functions sit in Calgary. Tax? Engineering? The inescapable conclusion is we hit a critical mass of people at KLTC and BTC that we thought could do their jobs and decided to rip the bandaid off.

Assuming that’s true, why wouldn’t I expect the EXACT SAME thing to happen to the US in a couple years? Aside, of course, from our CEO telling us the US is off limits (lmao).

Here are some examples of how courts have ruled on severance (reasonable notice) for long-service professionals, especially in Alberta’s oil & gas industry. Use these as reference points when estimating your own range.
• O’Reilly v. Imperial Oil (2000) – 20-year professional employee, management-level role, awarded over 20 months due to long service and limited comparable opportunities.
• Leduc v. Canadian Natural Resources (2016) – 16-year senior technical employee, age 57, awarded 22 months, court noted downturn in oil & gas job market.
• Lukacs v. Shell Canada (1998) – 23-year senior engineer, awarded 20 months, long service in specialized technical position.
• Stevenson v. Suncor Energy (2017) – 18 years of service, management role, mid-50s, settled for around 20 months pay.
• Bishop v. Galleon Energy (2013) – 11 years of service, VP-level, awarded 18 months notice based on seniority and leadership responsibility.
• Shaw v. Acurex Corp. (2003) – 14 years of service, professional-level employee, age 48, awarded 18 months reasonable notice.
• Elliott v. Imperial Oil (1996) – 23-year supervisory employee, awarded 22 months; Imperial Oil case confirming upper-end notice for long-service roles.
• McKinley v. BC Tel (2001, Supreme Court) – key ruling establishing that employees dismissed without cause are entitled to reasonable notice under common law.
• Recent Alberta energy-sector settlements (2022–2024) – professionals with 10–20 years’ service commonly receive 18–24 months pay depending on seniority, age, and job market.
• Typical trend: Alberta professionals with long tenure (10–20 years) and senior roles receive between 18 and 24 months’ pay, sometimes higher if relocation or constructive dismissal applies.

Summary:
Energy-sector professionals with long continuous service, strong performance, and senior roles consistently fall in the 18–24 month common-law range, often translating to $400K–$550K+ total when benefits, pension contributions, and bonuses are included.

Google gemini helped me realize that if you are considering a constructive dismissal claim you likely want to consider working under protest within 10-15 days from the announcement. See below for more details. But if you don’t want to forfeit you right to a constructive dismissal claim, you must notify the company that “you considers the unilateral relocation a fundamental breach of the employment contract amounting to constructive dismissal and that the employee reserves the right to initiate legal action for wrongful dismissal damages”. But don’t take my word (I’m not a lawyer), hire a lawyer and look into it yourself if are seriously considering this route. Make sure you make it to section 3.2 below.

Gemini Output:
3.1 The Doctrine of Condonation and the Critical Timeline
The doctrine of condonation remains the primary procedural hazard for the employee. To qualify for termination pay related to constructive dismissal, the employee must resign "soon after a change in employment conditions". Failure to act promptly is interpreted as acceptance of the new conditions, thereby forfeiting the claim. 
As detailed in Section I.2, the Alberta Court of Appeal's ruling in Kosteckyj v. Paramount Resources requires the employee to act within a window of approximately ten to fifteen days to register an objection and make a determination regarding resignation. Missing this window is likely to be fatal to the claim. 
3.2 Executing the Formal Objection: The "Work Under Protest" Strategy
Given the strict window for objection, employees often face a dilemma: quit prematurely and risk having no income, or stay and risk condonation. The strategy of "working under protest" offers a mechanism to preserve legal rights while minimizing the duty to mitigate damages (by remaining employed). 
Legal Requirements for "Working Under Protest"
For this strategy to be legally effective in Canada, the protest must be documented rigorously. The employee must unequivocally notify the employer in writing that they do not consent to the change and that their continued presence in the workplace, even under the new conditions, is done specifically to mitigate potential losses and does not constitute acceptance or condonation of the breach. 
Documentation should be explicit and formal, detailing that the employee considers the unilateral relocation a fundamental breach of the employment contract amounting to constructive dismissal and that the employee reserves the right to initiate legal action for wrongful dismissal damages. It is advisable to reissue this formal protest, potentially with every subsequent pay statement, to maintain a continuous, undeniable record of non-acceptance.