Whats New in Canada-Update on CA

[mayankpandya]

Canadian economy getting stronger as exports to U.S. zooms

The Canadian economy has got a leap in its development, due to boost in exports from U.S.

Canada economy is taking a leap with the support of increase in U.S. exports. According to the reports in RBC economics, the Canadian economy’s real Gross Domestic Product (GDP), is expected to grow by 3.2 percent in this year and will continue to follow the trend and will grow to 3.1 percent by the next year. It further elaborates that its disposable income will increase by 4.1 per cent, hence prop up customer spending in Canada.

This has been the biggest export period for the Canada since 2008.According to the economist; the scenario is giving bright indications that U.S. economy is also gaining momentum in recovering from depression. Due various deductions in taxes, the American importers have taken keen interest importing and helped the Canada to boost its exports by 10.8 percent. According to the statistics, around 25 percent gain is from the energy sales, followed 9.7 percent from forestry products, 8.2 percent from mechanical tools, approximately agricultural products contributed with 7 percent and Industrial goods by 7 per cent.

It has been found that, Alberta is likely to contribute as one of the top three placing, followed by the growth in Newfoundland and Labrador. Ontario and Manitoba will contribute as expected according to national average while both Quebec and British Columbia is predicted to fall behind. Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island may fall as least as expected from them in the year 2011.


This is seen as a good sign by the Canadian economists, as the strong dollar, will help the country businesses to import better capital equipments, hence leading to improvement in productivity and growth. Such a state will contribute to investments in mining, utility and oil and gas extraction industries.

The Bank of Canada is also working restricting campaign, that will lead to rise in interest rates by one or two percent by the end of 2011. The gradual speed of rate increases along with the secured inflation will lead help the Canadian economy to cover up long term interest rates.

According to RBC, the U.S. export trends are expected to flourish in this manner as it is now going. It is further predicting a firm growth in exports while helping Canadian economy to grow by 3.4 per cent by the end of 2011 and around 3.6 percent in 2012.

 

[mayankpandya]

Driving classes for new immigrants in Saskatchewan

Canada, 17th March: New immigrants coming to Saskatchewan will be provided with driving classes under a new immigrant initiative in Portage, Saskatchewan.

This pilot project by the Portage Learning and Literacy is for enabling new immigrants get prepared for driving on the roads of Canada.

According to the program co-ordinator of this immigrant program in Saskatchewan, Luis Luna, the project will offer lessons in driving for the newcomers not having experience in driving.

Immigrants usually hail from different nations and majority of these immigrants do not possess a driver license, hence, the aim of this pilot program in driving is to speed up the process of making the new immigrants ready for facing Canadian roads, Luna added.

There exists a gap in providing the driving services to the new immigrants and this program is meant to fulfill this, clarified Luna.

The first set of driving lessons for new immigrants in Saskatchewan is to begin shortly and if the project is a success, then it will lay the path for a regular service of driving lessons from this autumn, Luna asserted. Nearly 15 new immigrants have already been identified for providing driving lessons under this pilot immigrant initiative in Saskatchewan and the service will begin with five immigrants initially, Luna quipped.

Driving lessons at a nominal fee—

The new immigrants wanting to get driving lessons and training in Saskatchewan will have to pay a nominal fee of $50. The course duration of the driving lessons is not ascertained yet. The driving lessons will also include knowledge to driving successfully on icy terrain in this Canadian province.

The driving classes will be provided by certified trainer in driving.

Self-sufficiency through driving lessons for new immigrants in Saskatchewan—

The driving lessons under the immigrant resource scheme by Portage Learning and Literacy Center wants to make the newcomers in Saskatchewan self-sufficient by extending them the required training and knowledge needed for gaining driver’s license, he said. This will help them drive their vehicles to their work places, to shopping centers and for all the other things in their day-to-day life, Luna said.

This is a step forward towards economic development of the economy of Saskatchewan, he maintained.

 

[can_visa]

Thanks mayank for this information...its good to see...positive rays.

Canadian economy getting stronger as exports to U.S. zooms

The Canadian economy has got a leap in its development, due to boost in exports from U.S.

Canada economy is taking a leap with the support of increase in U.S. exports. According to the reports in RBC economics, the Canadian economy's real Gross Domestic Product (GDP), is expected to grow by 3.2 percent in this year and will continue to follow the trend and will grow to 3.1 percent by the next year. It further elaborates that its disposable income will increase by 4.1 per cent, hence prop up customer spending in Canada.

This has been the biggest export period for the Canada since 2008.According to the economist; the scenario is giving bright indications that U.S. economy is also gaining momentum in recovering from depression. Due various deductions in taxes, the American importers have taken keen interest importing and helped the Canada to boost its exports by 10.8 percent. According to the statistics, around 25 percent gain is from the energy sales, followed 9.7 percent from forestry products, 8.2 percent from mechanical tools, approximately agricultural products contributed with 7 percent and Industrial goods by 7 per cent.

It has been found that, Alberta is likely to contribute as one of the top three placing, followed by the growth in Newfoundland and Labrador. Ontario and Manitoba will contribute as expected according to national average while both Quebec and British Columbia is predicted to fall behind. Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island may fall as least as expected from them in the year 2011.


This is seen as a good sign by the Canadian economists, as the strong dollar, will help the country businesses to import better capital equipments, hence leading to improvement in productivity and growth. Such a state will contribute to investments in mining, utility and oil and gas extraction industries.

The Bank of Canada is also working restricting campaign, that will lead to rise in interest rates by one or two percent by the end of 2011. The gradual speed of rate increases along with the secured inflation will lead help the Canadian economy to cover up long term interest rates.

According to RBC, the U.S. export trends are expected to flourish in this manner as it is now going. It is further predicting a firm growth in exports while helping Canadian economy to grow by 3.4 per cent by the end of 2011 and around 3.6 percent in 2012.

 

[mayankpandya]

News Release

New regulator proposed for immigration consultants

Toronto, March 18, 2011 — In order to improve the integrity of the immigration system, Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney today announced that a new regulatory body is being proposed to oversee immigration consultants.

“The Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council – or ICCRC – has committed to enhancing the protection of the Canadian public and those who use the services of immigration consultants,” said Minister Kenney. “I am confident that, with the ICCRC’s strong regulation of immigration consultants, people using our immigration processes will be offered quality consultation, representation and advice.”

A notice has been published on the website of the Canada Gazette, Part I, proposing to amend the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations so that the ICCRC becomes the regulator of immigration consultants. The official Gazette publication will be available on March 19, 2011.

The proposed amendments are open for public comment for a 30-day period. The current intention is that the final regulations would be published in the Canada Gazette, Part II, and would come into effect.

This proposed regulatory amendment is the culmination of a process that began in June 2010 when Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) announced its intention to launch a transparent public selection process to identify a body that could be recognized as the regulator of immigration consultants.

Immigration consultants are currently regulated by the Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants (CSIC). Reports by the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration in 2008 and 2009 pointed to governance issues and a lack of public confidence in CSIC. Based on the Standing Committee’s reports, CIC decided to launch this public process.

“I anticipate that the Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council will not only help ensure public confidence in the integrity of the immigration program, but also that immigration consultants provide their services in a professional and ethical manner,” added Minister Kenney.

A selection committee was established to examine all submissions received following a public process requesting submissions from parties interested in being the regulator of immigration consultants. The committee reported its conclusions to the Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism. Based on these conclusions, the ICCRC is being proposed as the regulator best placed to govern immigration consultants.

In its submission, the ICCRC committed to a variety of activities to foster a culture of transparency and openness and to protect the Canadian public and those using the services of an immigration consultant, while building a strong relationship with its members. It has also proposed innovative strategies to ensure accountability and transparency to its membership, including a hotline for members of Parliament for complaints and questions and a public awareness campaign.

Transitional measures would be put in place to ensure continuity of service for both existing members in good standing of CSIC and their clients during the transition to the ICCRC. This process could take a few months to complete and it is anticipated that the ICCRC could become the regulatory body this summer.

This process is part of a broader strategy to protect from immigration fraud people wanting to immigrate to or stay in Canada. Included in this strategy is Bill C-35, which aims to crack down on crooked consultants. As well, a multilingual domestic advertising campaign warning prospective immigrants, permanent residents and Canadian citizens not to be taken in by crooked immigration consultants was launched in February and an overseas advertising campaign, with the support of Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States—members of the Five Country Conference—was launched earlier this week. They can be viewed on YouTube.

Minister Kenney raised the issue of immigration consultant fraud in meetings with officials in China, India and the Philippines last fall and more recently in Pakistan. He has urged those governments to protect their citizens from exploitation and abuse by crooked immigration consultants.

Follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/CitImmCanada

 

[Baloo]

Good news, and the twitter feed is worth following.

 

[mayankpandya]

Canada's immigration policy questioned by critics on reunification visas

The Canadian Government is being confronted by claims of delaying the immigration process in the country.

The critics claim that the government has banked tens of millions of Canadian dollars from applicants, but has not processed the applications yet. These documents were released by Amir Attaran, an Ottawa University Professor, under Access to Information. Attaran, an immigrant himself, has been trying to get his parents application cleared since summer 2009, without luck, and sued the Immigration Agency.

These claims, against the immigration practices, come after the Conservative Government released that in 2010, Canada accepted the highest number of immigrant application in the country, since the past 50 years.

The Immigration Minister Jason Kenney revealed in a report on 13th February 2011, that Canada had admitted about 280,636 immigrants last year. These numbers of new permanent residents in Canada, reflected an increase by 60,000 from the annual figures of immigration each year since the 1990’s. It is also six per cent more than the Government had planned.

Jason Kenney pointed out that: “We have improved the immigration system, we have reduced the backlog in the federal skilled worker category by 33 per cent.”

The Canada Immigration Department says that for applications from the Asia and Pacific region, submitted before February 27, 2008, the number of months for the complete processing, ranges from 57 for Sri Lanka, to 79 for India and 77 for Pakistan. On the other hand, the applications received between November 28, 2008 and June 25, 2010, the processing time in months is 11, 10 and 11 for Sri Lanka, India and Pakistan respectively.

Kenney had also released in a press statement that: “While other Western countries cut back on immigration during the recession, our government kept legal immigration levels high. Canada’s post-recession economy demands a high level of economic immigration to keep our economy strong.”

Kenney pointed out that the high number of new permanent residents allowed in 2010 will help the Canada’s post-recession economy to meet the needs of the labour market. The critics cry foul as they believe the plan for skilled immigrants comes at the cost of reunification immigrants, coming to join their families.

In documents released by the Government recently, it is revealed that the Conservatives plan to bring about a reduction in the number of reunification visas from 15,000 last year to 11,000 this year. It was also revealed in the documents obtained through Access of Information that about 147,769 reunification visas are in the waiting list.

 

[Baloo]

IMO people like Amir Attaran will end up prompting the Canadian government to cut back family programs.

 

[qorax]

IMO people like Amir Attaran will end up prompting the Canadian government to cut back family programs.

That's already done Sir.
The proposal is on the table & is [very] likely to be thru by Jul this yr.

With that the 'Reunification Visas' get cut-down by 25%/yr. And given the backlog -- we could expect our parents joining us in 10-13 yrs henceforth. No wonder someone opined that many of our elderlies might hit their graves before seeing a Canadian shore!

Qorax

 

[fariza]

No wonder someone opined that many of our elderlies might hit their graves before seeing a Canadian shore!
Qorax

unfortunately it is the most "Ugly truth"!!!

 

[Baloo]

That's already done Sir.
The proposal is on the table & is [very] likely to be thru by Jul this yr.

With that the 'Reunification Visas' get cut-down by 25%/yr. And given the backlog -- we could expect our parents joining us in 10-13 yrs henceforth. No wonder someone opined that many of our elderlies might hit their graves before seeing a Canadian shore!

Qorax

My meaning was, cut them back further than the current cuts.

 

[mayankpandya]

Jobs on Hike for students

The students are now set to experience boost in job offerings as Internship and trainings.

With the improvements coming in the ways of Canadian economy, universities and the students are most expected to experience job boost in coming times. According to the experts, as the economy is on recovering phase now, it is expected from it to produce various job opportunities for the students.

This would come in the form of internships and summer jobs to the students in their particular field. Such opportunities will help students to not only earn while studying, but will also gain confidence and experiences of different jobs at their resume even before getting them a graduate degree.

During this internship period’s students get an opportunity to explore different positions in a sector, which helps them to learn from the experts in the job and experience different stages of a particular job.

Personal growth and networking with the employers and experts comes as add on benefits for the students.

Recently it was found that there is increase in number of job fairs in universities, providing its students exposure to the market.

Summer jobs have gained its momentum in this year; the more and more employers are participating in the fairs in order get competent trainees and interns.

According to the career consultants, the job offering scenario is improving modestly. Experts are also of the view that the economy is leading to balanced employment growth.

As previously recorded, part time job opportunities have gone experienced a lump in 2010 where only around 10 t0 15 jobs per posted a day, as compared to the boom period that was in 2007 which was approximately 40 to 50 jobs a day. The figures now show that, it is improving modestly, at around 20 to 25 jobs a day.

The demand in sectors dealing in health care, oil and gas, business, computer sciences, accounting and information manager are at hike these days. Employers from these sectors are found more in market as compared to others.

Even the employers believes that employing young new people, adds to their benefits, as the youngsters are fully equipped with latest digital technologies, training for which could be saved. The students believe more in learning rather than earning.

Experts advise ambitious students to get ready for such experiences and prepare fully well to make full use of such available options. The further encourages them to go for the researches for the jobs they particularly interested in, look for prospective employers, follow the guidelines and the steps given by them.

They are counseling them to freshen up their resumes, working on their presentation and interview skills, so that they get ready for coming up summer jobs.

 

[mayankpandya]

Visible minorities still struggling for their fair share in Canadian economy

minorities are facing racialism and are not getting their share in economy.

Racism has not left spare any country in the world. Visible minorities always find it difficult to survive in such kind of environment. They face a lot of problems whether related to getting jobs, salaries and other social status, they always lack behind in it. Opportunities don’t come easily for them; they are made to fight for it.

They still face racial inequality in workplaces, administrative places, they are also hard off even in those areas where equality rules are supposed to be implied. In administration racial minorities comprises of only 8.1 percent of administration jobs, whereas they contribute total of 16.2 percent of the population.

Recently a study conducted in Canada for visible minorities shows shocking results. The study was carried out by the Canadian centre for Policy Alternatives and the Wellesley Institution, came to the conclusion that minorities are obtaining their hard earned share in Canada’s economy.

The study further discusses their earning and found out that according to statistics available in 2006 visible minority earned approximately 81.4 cents for every dollar a white person had earned. A white person is blessed with better pay for the same kind of work done as compared to non-white. This brings about the earning disparities among the two communities, which further contribute in their standards of living.

Even the employment figures proved the part that minorities are no way equal to the whites in the country. According to a study “The Heyday of the economic boom”, the figures of 2006 showed, that employment rate is higher among the visible minorities as compared to whites.

It showed that, unemployment rate among the minorities was around 8.6 percent as compared to whites Canadians which was just 6.2 percent. The differences of around 2.4 percent stresses on the result that whites are preferred more over the non- whites. It reflects that non-whites have difficult access to job opportunities available in the market.

According to the statistics, it was seen that in spite that visible minorities showed more interest and willingness to work rather than the whites. The conclusion was based on the figures that around 67.3 percent of non-whites contribute to labor force as compared to whites its less around to 66.7 percent.

It has also been observed that Public policy including the regulation concerns, are more hard for non- whites. Thus, such acts encourage racial differences among the society.

 

[mayankpandya]

Canada proposes new regulations to prevent immigration scams

A new body to supervise and control the consultants helping out Canadian citizens with immigration will be set up.

According to the latest release by the Government of Canada on immigration policies, a new government body has been proposed to help people out with the immigration system.

In the recent years, the Canadian Government has received many complaints against many fake consultants. These fake consultants offer the citizens a ‘foolproof guarantee’ for a visa and other services related to immigration for a fee, by using illegitimate or illegal manners. But instead people are denied the visa because of the lack of a number of requisite documents needed for the visa. The governance of such consultancies has been criticized since 2008-09 as the citizens could not tell the difference between the real and fake.

In June 2010, the government decided to tackle the issue more seriously and come up with new proposals to clamp down on the fake consultants. To help improve the regulating system, the Government of Canada proposed on Friday, a new body to supervise the process of consulting for immigration and prevent people to lose money in such scams.

The government issued a notice on its website, inviting suggestions from people on the new proposals. The proposals have been invited by the public for a period of a month starting from March 19th.

The proposals include a helpline for addressing the complaints, besides a new governing body. The government believes these measures will restore the faith of the people and rely on the consultants for help with the immigration process.

Jason Kenney, the Citizenship, Imigration and Multiculturalism Minister commented on the proposal and said: “The Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council – or ICCRC – has committed to enhancing the protection of the Canadian public and those who use the services of immigration consultants…I am confident that, with the ICCRC’s strong regulation of immigration consultants, people using our immigration processes will be offered quality consultation, representation and advice.”

Kenney also went on to say: “I anticipate that the Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council will not only help ensure public confidence in the integrity of the immigration program, but also that immigration consultants provide their services in a professional and ethical manner.”

The Government of Canada also issued a national advertisement warning to help raise awareness among the general public against such scams.

 

[mayankpandya]

Canada to scrap one option for resettlement of refugees

Canada, 22nd March: A new proposal has been made by Canada immigration minister Jason Kenney for abolishing one of the three options for resettlement of refugees in the nation.

As per the current Canada immigration rules, foreigners residing in designated nations are allowed to make direct application for seeking refugee status in Canada from those nations under the source-country class.

The government of Canada has clarified that the changes in the rules for resettlement of refugees in Canada will have a highest affect on Eritreans and Colombians.

And the changed rules mean reallocation of refugee spaces earlier allotted to the source-nation class back to the convention-refugee-abroad class. Under the convention class, resettlement of refugees residing outside their nation of origin is done by Canada under the UN (United Nations) human rights commissioner.

Who is eligible now under the source-country class---?

Processing of the applications approved under the source-country class will be done. Applications of the candidates who successfully fulfill the criteria will be granted visas.

In case of the applications not approved in principle, reassessment of such applications will be done under the remaining classes of refugee resettlement. Applicants who are not successful in getting visas but feel they require refugee protection will get referred to the UN human rights commissioner.

Aim of the change in refugee resettlement rules—

The aim of the Canadian government is to make source-country class more efficient and effective. The government had written in a review done in the year 2009 of the source-country class that the source-country class was meant to be flexible for allowing humanitarian intervention enabling to respond to varied circumstances and populations.

Eliminating the class will shut the door for many---

Executive director of the Canadian Council for Refugees, Janet Dench, said such a step will shut the door for those who have difficulties in moving out of their nations for applying for refugee status in Canada. It will leave them with the only option of moving into the hands of human-smugglers.

Under the source-country class, prospective refugees from few designated nations are allowed to seek refugee status in Canada even without leaving their respective nations.

Among the nations designated for the source-country class include Sudan, EI Salvador, Guatemala, Columbia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone and Sudan. Dench maintained that the fault lies not in the source-country class but in the inefficiency of the government for its proper functioning.

 

[deep_pan]

Thanks mat for your ongoing efforts for news on canada.

+1 for you.