Dual Citizenship a Bonus for Canada, says NDP

Canada benefits from the many Canadians who hold dual citizenship says Canada’s NDP, in response to reports that the Harper Conservatives are considering denying Canadians the right to hold two passports. "Immigration has been key to Canada and our role in the world," says NDP Citizenship and Immigration Critic Bill Siksay, MP for Burnaby-Douglas. "Revoking dual citizenship would hurt our country, be a major blow to many Canadian citizens, decrease mobility, make international travel more difficult, hurt tourism and immigration, and impact negatively on trade and Canada’s international relationships." "Dual citizenship is a distinct advantage - not just for individuals but for the country," said Siksay. "Many immigrants chose Canada over other potential destinations because Canada has recognized dual citizenship since 1977. Forcing these citizens to make a choice between Canada and their country of origin now makes no sense," said Deputy Critic Olivia Chow, an immigrant herself and MP for Trinity-Spadina in Toronto, where many residents hold dual citizenship.

"All immigrants face the risk of being made to feel like second class citizens. This summer, during the war in Lebanon, we saw the loyalty of many dual citizens questioned most inappropriately during a time of crisis when Canadians were actually dying. That is shameful,” said Chow. Chow also noted that at that time, two young girls from her riding were visiting relatives in Lebanon. "Fortunately, they were safely evacuated. Ensuring the safety of all Canadians should never have been an issue. There is only one class of Canadian citizen so citizens are citizens, no matter where they were born. And they should receive Canada's assistance during a crisis." "Narrow-minded members of the government should open their eyes and get a grip on the essence of Canada’s advantage in the world," MP Peter Julian concludes. "We should celebrate our international bonds, not discourage them. Canada is well respected around the world, and dual citizens are among our most passionate ambassadors when they travel in other countries."

Minister to Launch Citizenship Week on October 16

The Honourable Monte Solberg, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, will take part in a special citizenship ceremony to launch Canada's Citizenship Week 2006. Approximately 110 youth participants from across Canada, who are attending a week of activities at the Terry Fox Canadian Youth Centre, headquarters of Historica Encounters, will attend the ceremony. The ceremony is open to the media.

Date: Monday, October 16, 2006

Time: 9:30 a.m.

Location: Historica Encounters
Terry Fox Canadian Youth Centre
1805 Gaspé Ave.
Ottawa, Ontario

For further information: Pema Lhalungpa, Press Secretary, Minister's Office, Citizenship and Immigration Canada, (613) 954-1064; Marina Wilson, Spokesperson, Media Relations, Communications Branch, Citizenship and Immigration Canada, (613) 952-1650

Alberta, Canada Experiencing Economic Boom, needs Unskilled Workers

The Canadian province of Alberta is experiencing some of the strongest economic growth in all of Canada. Canada in general is one of the prime western nations for immigrants seeking relocation and work permits, and the government attributes the strong, steady economic outlook of Canada to the diversity of its migrant population. Many jobs are going unfilled in Alberta, and the province is looking hard to match up foreign-born workers with vacancies. Recent analysis by financial institutions place Alberta as one of the top locations in Canada's economic boom. While the growth is about to experience a slight planned and expected slowing during 2007 and 2008, Canada will continue to grow at a pace faster than its neighbour, the United States during 2007 and beyond. Driven largely by the oil and gas reserves of Alberta, the lowest unemployment rates in over 20 years are being experienced. The service sectors are positioned to require many more workers than can be provided locally, with unemployment already at 3.9%.

Workers from all of Canada are migrating to the work boom in Alberta, but more from the international community are still needed. At least 233,000 job vacancies went unfilled during 2005. By 2014, it is projected that 100,000 more jobs will be created than there will be people in Alberta to take. Given this, local government and businesses are making requests to the federal government to make provisions in Canadian visa law to let in semi-skilled and non-skilled workers to fill the gap. Canada already offers some of the most generous immigrant options in the world, and has recently taken steps to make the country even more attractive toward students. Among recent initiatives, students may now obtain work permits so they may work while at school and pay for their schooling. Permanent residency fees were slashed by 50% a bare two months ago. Job growth is expected to continue at approximately 5% throughout 2006, while wages across Canada are increasing at approximately twice the rate of inflation, with Alberta leading in this statistic. The service sector (hotels and restaurants, for example) is reporting that business is being inhibited by lack of labour. Infrastructure in general (pipelines, roads, refineries, etc.) is also not being completed at required rates. Average weekly income is growing at more than four times the pace of only three years ago, due to nearly zero slack in the availability of new workers. Skill shortages remain prevalent, while the province attracts workers largely from Saskatchewan and Ontario. Worker in-flows are inadequate to meet this need, and international labour pools face Canadian immigration targets currently set too low to compensate fully. It is expected that Alberta will remain the leader in growth of the western provinces for several years, with other provinces competing for second place.

Canada Has Jobs A Plenty

If you are thinking of getting a job in Canada, this is a great time to do it. With over 500,000 jobs available every year and with the trend expected to continue over the next ten to fifteen years, more and more people are now emigrating to the land of the maple leaf. Highlighting this, Col B S Sandhu, at a press conference today, said, ‘‘Countries like Canada and Australia are facing a huge skill shortage today.’’ The aging population in Canada coupled with low birth rate has meant that in 20 years time, there will be three retired persons for every young, working person. The resultant manpower shortage has meant that over 2,62,000 immigrants entered Canada last year out of which around 30 per cent were Indians. Some of the job opportunities, Col Sandhu said, were in the field of civil engineering, construction, oil sector, healthcare and the hospitality industry.

There is even a shortage of around 25,000 truck drivers in Canada, he said. He added that with an amount of around Rs 50 to 60 lakh, one could even start a business in Canada. This could be in any field ranging from manufacturing to services or hospitality industry. One drawback, however, is that there are no special tax concessions available to immigrant businessmen. Meanwhile, Curtis Panke, added that Australian Immigration too was attracting people in great numbers. ‘‘Australia has a booming economy to the extent that 1,50,000 jobs are advertised every week. Moreover, its immigration process is also very fast,’’ he said. Meanwhile, there are also some great opportunities for farmers as well. Three times the size of India but having a population of just around three crore, Canada has large areas of fertile land that are lying unused. The government is now inviting people to set up farms, and with land being comparatively cheap, more and more farmers from India are now jumping at the offer. However, one of the conditions is that the immigrant must have a net worth of Rs 1 crore

Population Drop Worries Officials

by: Brian Flinn bflinn@hfxnews.ca

Nova Scotia isn't attracting enough newcomers to make up for the thousands of people moving to Alberta. The province's population dropped by 1,863 over the last year, according to census data released this week by Statistics Canada. The oil-fuelled economic boom in Alberta drew people from most provinces, the agency said. In Nova Scotia's case, 3,930 more moved west than moved in from other parts of Canada. Immigration was up, but it still only drew 2,199 to the province. Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick and Saskatchewan also lost population.

Finance Minister Michael Baker said he's concerned. But there's not much the province can do. He said the economy is doing well and employment is strong. "The factors we are seeing are factors faced by almost every other Canadian province: outmigration, particularly to Alberta and somewhat to British Columbia," Baker said. Three years ago, Nova Scotia had to pay back $160 million to Ottawa when the population dropped. Equalization payments are based on population. Baker said the equalization formula has changed, so he's not anticipating much of a hit. But the province needs to reverse the population trend. The minister said the province is working on a program to encourage Nova Scotians who have resettled in other provinces to return. It is also trying to boost immigration.

"Those two strategies, in the short term, are the best we can do," he said. NDP immigration critic Leonard Preyra said thanks to the population decline, the province could end up with less money to maintain services. The outlook is worst for rural areas, he said. Young people and skilled workers are leaving. Communities shrink and lose services like schools. Then there's less reason for young families to stay. "We just can't afford to lose them," Preyra said."We're undermining the future." Immigration has increased since the provincial nominee program was created in 2002. But it's still tiny compared with other provinces. Last year, Nova Scotia got less than one per cent of Canada's immigrants. Preyra said the province isn't attracting enough new Canadians and does too little to encourage them to remain in the province after they arrive. "We're having a tremendous amount of trouble coming up with simple things such as literacy programs."