Monthly Archives: September 2012

New Language Requirements For Canadian Citizenship Coming into Effect November 1st

Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) announced today that the majority of citizenship applicants will be required to demonstrate language proficiency in English or French when they apply, effective November 1st, 2012. Currently, CIC assesses applicants’ language proficiency through the interaction their staff have with the applicant, and from the applicant’s citizenship knowledge test results. Under coming changes, citizenship applicants will […]

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Canada Has Fastest Population Growth in G8, Driven By Immigration and Led by Prairies

A Statistics Canada report released today estimates that Canada’s population grew by 1.1 percent in the year ending June 30 2012, giving it the fastest population growth among the G8 countries. In comparison, the second fastest growing population in the G8 was that of the United States, which grew by 0.7 percent over the same period. Japan, with its shrinking […]

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Canadian Government Considering Electronic Bracelets For Refugee Claimants

The federal government is considering requiring asylum seekers who are in Canada and awaiting a decision by the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) on their refugee claim to wear electronic tracking bracelets as a condition of being released from detention. On Tuesday, parliament was presented with the findings of a study conducted by the Standing Committee on Public Safety and […]

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Canada Most Tax Competitive For Corporations Among Developed Countries

Canada’s corporate taxes are the second lowest overall, and lowest of any developed country, among 14 large economies included in a KPMG survey of international tax competitiveness. At the other end of the scale, Italy and France had the least competitive corporate tax rates in the survey, while the US was in the middle of the pack, at eighth most […]

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Recent Immigrant Feared for His Life After Call From Crooked Immigration Official

An article in The Star recounts the experience of an applicant for permanent residence in Canada who was called by an immigration official who was recently convicted of breach of public trust. George Gonsalves Barriero, who worked for Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) for a total of 12 years, was promoted to a senior position with the authority to approve […]

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Economist Tells Business Forum That Canada Faces Labour Shortage

In a talk that could nudge policy makers toward increasing immigration levels, Toronto economist and demographer David Foot told an audience of business executives, academics, diplomats and government leaders that Canada will face a severe labour shortage over the next two decades as millions of Canadians enter retirement. “Canada will have more old than young people and no amount of […]

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Scam Targeting New Canadians By Threatening Deportation

According to a report by the CBC, a new fraud is being perpetrated against new Canadians by scam-artists pretending to be lawyers with the Supreme Court of Canada. The scam involves fraudsters contacting recent immigrants by phone and telling them that they had failed to fill out a form during their immigration application, and were therefore facing charges of immigration […]

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Italy to Represent Canadian Government in Iran

Italy announced this week that it will represent the Canadian government in Iran following the departure of Canadian diplomats from the Middle Eastern country. The Harper government announced on September 7th that it had closed the Canadian embassy in Tehran and ordered the Iranian embassy in Canada closed and Iranian diplomats to leave Canada within five days. Canadian Foreign Minister […]

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Canada Ranks 5th in World Ranking of Economic Freedom, US Falls to 18th

Canada tied Australia for fifth freest economy in the world in the Fraser Institute’s annual Economic Freedom of the World report, released yesterday. Canada improved its position by one spot while the US saw its ranking drop by ten spots from last year’s index. The Fraser Institute’s economic freedom index scores countries’ degree of economic freedom by five criteria: Size […]

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Edmonton and Calgary to Have Fastest Economic Growth in Canada

The Albertan metropolises, Calgary and Edmonton, will have the fastest economic growth in Canada this year, followed closely by Regina, Saskatchewan, according to a forecast by the Conference Board of Canada’s Metropolitan Outlook-Autumn 2012, released today. Alberta is expected to benefit from high levels of energy-industry-related investment for the next four years, which will help fund economic growth of 3.8 […]

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