Monthly Archives: June 2012

Canadian Monthly Economic Growth Accelerates to 0.3% on Oil Output Increase

Canadian economic growth rose to 0.3 percent in April, from 0.1 percent in March, due mostly to an increase in oil and gas output and support activities for the industry, according to a report released by Statistics Canada today. The gross value of mining, oil and gas extraction increased 2.7 percent in April after maintenance-linked slowdowns in productions in February and March. […]

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Federal Government to Place Moratorium on New Skilled Worker and Investor Immigrant Applications

Postmedia News has reported that the federal government is going to place a moratorium on accepting new applications for permanent residence under the Federal Skilled Worker and Federal Immigrant Investor programs, which were set to begin accepting applications for the year on July 1st. Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) plans on revamping both programs to maximize their contribution to the […]

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Conservative Government Introduces ‘Faster Removal of Foreign Criminals Act’

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney last week introduced legislation to speed up the deportation of foreign criminals from Canada. Under current laws, some refugee claimants who have been convicted of crimes have been able to delay their deportation for years through repeated appeals of removal orders, while receiving welfare and other government benefits during their time in Canada. The new legislation, […]

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Federal and Ontario Governments to Spend $57 Million to Train Immigrants

The Ontario provincial government and the federal government hope to put an end to the adage of the immigrant taxi cab driver with a PhD, by spending a combined $57 million to train new Canadians to gain the credentials necessary to work in their field of study in Canada. Data emerging over the last few years has shown a growing […]

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Canadian Immigration Official Convicted of Fraud and Breach of Trust

Diane Serré, a former official at Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC), was found guilty of 15 counts of fraud and 12 counts of breach of trust by Ontario Superior Court Justice Catherine Aitken, for using her position at CIC to help 10 immigration applicants with their applications in exchange for gifts and cash remuneration. The investigation that led to the charges against Serré […]

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Inflation Drops to 1.2% in May, Reducing Likelihood of Rate Hike

Prices increased 1.2 percent in the 12 months leading up to May, a drop of 0.8 percent from the annual inflation rate in April, according to a report released by Statistics Canada today, a development that could keep interest rates low and help shore up housing prices in the near term. The slowdown in inflation was due primarily to declines […]

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Vancouver Trails Toronto as Canada’s Most Expensive City, but Canada still Cheap on International Stage

The latest annual Worldwide Cost of Living Survey by human resource firm Mercer places Toronto as Canada’s most expensive city, ahead of Vancouver, for the second year in a row. Both cities are relatively cheap by international standards though, placing 61st and 63rd most expensive in the world, respectively. Ottawa has the lowest cost of living of Canadian cities included […]

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Federal Government Loses Legal Battle over 900 Cases in Application Backlog

The federal government’s efforts to wipe out the 280,000 Federal Skilled Worker Program application backlog through legislation had a major setback today, as a court ruled that the government must process the applications of 900 people who sued the federal government for the delay in the processing of their application, and whose applications were among the 280,000 closed as part of […]

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Health Workers Associations Lobby against Cuts to Refugee Health Care

Health workers groups held several rallies across Canadian cities yesterday to protest government cuts to health care programs for refugees. As part of its deficit reduction program, the federal government is cutting medical services provided at no cost to refugees through the Interim Federal Health Program, limiting free services to emergency health care and treatment of chronic conditions that pose a public […]

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