Head west, Sask. premier tells new Canadians
TORONTO — Saskatchewan’s Premier Brad Wall hosted a barbecue of lamb curry and halal chicken biryani in one of Toronto’s most multicultural neighbourhoods yesterday, hoping to lure immigrants fed up with menial jobs, smog and ill-mannered drivers to fill a growing labour shortage in his booming province.
Mr. Wall admitted with a chuckle that it’s the first time a provincial premier has set out to recruit newcomers from Thorncliffe Park, a low-income northeast Toronto neighbourhood where three-quarters of the 17,000 residents are visible minorities.
“We have a great story to tell,” he said, of Saskatchewan’s unprecedented economic success, led in part by surging commodity prices.
“Last time [in 2007], we came back with the Grey Cup. This time we hope to come back with a whole lot of newcomers.”
Immigration system overhaul on hold till election
The Conservative government seems to be waiting for a majority government before it revolutionizes Canada’s immigration system the way the Australians have, pollster Michael Adams said.
Wholesale and “highly controversial” changes to the immigration system have the potential to alienate foreign-born Canadians and, as a result, little has been done to address the country’s steadily deteriorating system, Adams said last week after a three-country forum on the competition for skilled migrants. “And they were wise to do so,” said Adams of the Conservative approach so far. “They aren’t a majority government.”
Tracking has shown skilled immigrants to Canada are poorer and underemployed compared with decades past and also compared with Australia – where a massive overhaul in 1999 resulted in more rigorous screening of immigrants, applications handled in three months, and an atmosphere where 81 per cent were working in appropriate jobs six months after they arrived, all under the conservative government of John Howard.
Lesley Ciarula Taylor
Immigration Reporter
Immigration feeds the increase, especially in Prairie provinces, P.E.I.
Immigration accounted for a spike in the Canadian population during the second quarter of 2008, the largest increase in 17 years, according to a Statistics Canada report released Monday.
Of the 125,800 additional Canadians during the quarter, 91,600 were from another country. That total was the highest number of immigrants Canada has experienced since the late 1980s.
Immigration increased in every province and territory, with new second-quarter records being set in Prince Edward Island, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta.
Canwest News Service
Published: Monday, September 29, 2008
Reach out to new Canadians to battle tech talent crunch, urges Microsoft exec
Fact: Canadian graduates with computer science, math and engineering degrees are rapidly declining.
If this trend continues there will be more than 90,000 unfilled positions in the next three to five years, cautions Sharif Khan, vice-president, human resources at Mississauga, Ont.-based Microsoft Canada Co.
Our inability to fill these jobs will cost us around $125,000 per year, he says.
“I don’t think this [talent shortage] was anticipated,” said Khan in his keynote address at TorontoTech Week on Wednesday.
TechWeek is a multi-day conference that provides a forum for technology professionals in the Greater Toronto Area to share insights, challenges, and best practices.
The tech talent crunch is very real but a Microsoft Canada executive offers a strategy to tackle it head on. It involves harnessing the potential of new Canadians, women and Gen Y.
9/25/2008 5:00:00 AM By: Kavita Gosyne
Former Tory candidate fired after women’s group goes broke
HALIFAX — Former Conservative candidate Rosamond Luke has been suspended without pay over “accounting irregularities” at the federally-funded Halifax-area social services group she founded, say the group’s board members.
The board says thousands of dollars in federal grant money is unaccounted for and Ms. Luke has not properly explained where it went. As a result, the women’s organization is shutting its doors.
Just two weeks ago, Ms. Luke was forced to step down as a Conservative candidate over revelations she had a criminal record for uttering threats.
Now, both the Liberals and NDP are calling on Auditor-General Sheila Fraser to investigate.
BILL CURRY
Globe and Mail Update
September 24, 2008 at 6:33 PM EDT
Canada’s Tories see the value of ethnic voters
Within four days of calling a general election earlier this month, Stephen Harper, Canada’s prime minister, had visited a Chinese family in Vancouver and spoken at an Italian old people’s home, a Polish community centre, and a lunch hosted by the Indo-Canadian Chamber of Commerce in suburban Toronto.
Mr Harper’s message was the same. As he told the Polish group: “Just as the story of Canada is the story of immigration, the story of the Conservative party is one of supporting immigration [and] welcoming new Canadians.”
The idea of the Tories wooing visible minority votes seemed unlikely before they took office in early 2006. The westerners who make up much of the party’s leadership, including Mr Harper, have long been identified with policies akin to US Republicans.
By Bernard Simon in Toronto
Published: September 24 2008 03:00
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