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Newcomers Want More Reliable Information About New Lives in Canada - RBC Research http://smr.newswire.ca/en/royal-bank-of-canada/newcomers-want-more-reliable July 22, 2009 TORONTO, July 22, 2009 — Despite having access to multiple sources of information, many newcomers to Canada feel that they lack relevant and trustworthy information to help with decisions on their new lives in Canada, according to RBC research conducted recently in China and India with individuals poised to immigrate to Canada. “The people we spoke with in India and China indicated that they were often faced with conflicting and out of date information when researching their new lives in Canada and that this often made them feel anxious,” said Andrea Metrick, head, Client Strategy and Multicultural Markets at RBC Royal Bank. To help alleviate these concerns, RBC Royal Bank today released a new guidebook “Understanding banking in Canada” to provide practical financial information for new immigrants at key stages of their move to Canada. The new guidebook helps newcomers make important financial decisions upon arrival, as they get settled and when they start planning for the future. “We undertook this research before new immigrants arrive in the country to understand what more we could do to help make their move to Canada easier,” Metrick added. “As part of our RBC Welcome to Canada banking package, the new guidebook will help newcomers better organize their financial priorities and is designed to complement the financial advice that a newcomer receives from their RBC advisor.” The RBC Welcome to Canada banking package includes a suite of banking products and services, coupled with financial advice, fee-waivers, discounts and interest rate bonuses, tailored to meet the needs of newcomers who have been in Canada for less than three years. Information on moving to Canada, including financial advice and solutions can be found at RBC’s comprehensive web site for new Canadians at www.rbc.com/canada, accessible to consumers around the world. Details on the RBC Welcome to Canada banking package, the new “Understanding banking in Canada” guidebook, and branch locator that identifies representatives who speak a variety of languages, can be found at www.rbc.com/welcome.

US Employment Slow To Rebound After Recent Recessions http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/22/AR20090_pf.html By Annys Shin | Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, July 23, 2009: The recession is expected to end sometime this year, but it could take far longer before millions of unemployed Americans notice. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke told congressional lawmakers during two days of testimony this week that he expects the economy to start adding jobs by the end of the year but it will take a while for the unemployment rate to go down. Fed leaders in their latest forecast released earlier this month said the unemployment rate, now at 9.5 percent, could hit double digits by the end of the year. Unemployment typically keeps rising even after recessions end as employers hold back on hiring until they are sure a recovery is underway. But economists worry that the worst recession of the post-World War II era could be followed by what they call a "jobless recovery," where output, or the gross domestic product, increases steadily while employment lags behind. "We do expect to see positive job creation near the end of this year, early next year, but it's going to take a while, given the pace of growth, for the unemployment rate to come back down to levels that we would be more comfortable with," Bernanke told lawmakers Tuesday. "So, in that respect, it should take some time for the labor market to return to normal." Jobless recoveries followed the previous two recessions in the early 1990s and 2000s. In the 18 months that followed the 1991 recession, payroll employment increased less than 1 percent. In the same period after the 2001 recession, payroll employment fell by less than 1 percent. By contrast, over the 18 months after the 1982 downturn, payroll employment rose more than 6 percent. Economists are watching closely for any changes in productivity to see whether the pattern of the previous two recessions will be repeated. Surges in productivity followed the last two recessions, making it possible for employers to postpone hiring. "If productivity growth is rapid, it means employers have discovered ways to produce more goods and services in the same hours. They don't need to add to payrolls," said Gary Burtless, an economist with the Brookings Institution. "It takes a bigger increase in GDP in order to generate a robust improvement" in unemployment. It would take a booming economy to persuade Mark Scott, president of Mark IV Builders, to put out the help-wanted sign again. He has kept his home building and remodeling firm in Bethesda alive over the past 18 months by cutting his workforce from 26 to 10 people, getting rid of perks such as subsidies for continuing education courses and scrutinizing every payment that goes out the door. "We're more efficient. And the stress of that is pretty high," he said. "Can we do it long term? I guess we have to do it as long as we can." A jobless recovery is not necessarily inevitable, said Robert Shimer, an economist at the University of Chicago, who noted that the last two recession were much milder than the current one. The recession of the early 1980s, which is closest in severity and duration to the current one, was followed by strong job growth. "Why should we be sure that [the current downturn] will look more like the recent episodes?" he said. Some employers are gearing up to hire again. Jim Zawacki, the owner of GR Spring & Stamping, an auto supplier based in Grand Rapids, Mich., has had to lay off a third of his workforce, slash the workweek from 40 to 32 hours, give up his company car and take an 80 percent salary cut. But he has been able to pick up business from other competitors that have gone under. He said he could start hiring if business that has been booked for later in the year comes through. "As long as [customers] don't cancel or slow down . . . we should start seeing [improvement] in September," he said. Jobless recoveries might be easier to predict if economists better understood their causes. For now, theories abound. Some economists suggest such recoveries have something to do with structural shifts in the economy; others blame the burden of rising health-care costs on employers. This recession has its own quirks that lead some economists to think a jobless recovery is more likely. The economy has shed more than 6 million jobs since the downturn began in December 2007. Taking population growth into account, the economy will have to add about 8.8 million jobs to restore employment to pre-recession levels, the Economic Policy Institute has estimated. But many of the usual engines of economic growth are stalled. Businesses have more capacity -- equipment, locations, inventory -- than they know what to do with and thus little reason to invest. Consumers who have lost a record amount of wealth have shut their wallets. The global slump means less demand for U.S. exports. In addition, the collapse of the housing market has also slowed migration in the United States, which in the past has helped bring down unemployment as workers relocate for jobs, said Harvard economist Larry Katz. Falling home prices have made it harder to sell and forced more people to stay put. And the housing meltdown has hurt Sun Belt economies such as Florida and California that until recently were a haven for Rust Belt refugees. The recession has also produced a record number of so-called "involuntary" part-timers who would work more hours if they could. That could delay hiring, economists say, because employers tend to increase hours of existing employees before adding workers. Scott, the owner of Mark IV, said that is what he will do if business picks up. "I would put my guys on overtime before I'd hire additional for quite a while," he said. Staff writer Neil Irwin contributed to this report.

Bank of Canada Says Recovery Muted by Strong Dollar http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601082&sid=azdCPxI2Xb0Y# By Greg Quinn July 23 (Bloomberg) -- The Bank of Canada said today the country’s recession is ending as commodity prices and consumer confidence improve, while the pace of the recovery will be muted by a strong currency. Output will expand at a 1.3 percent annualized pace in the July-September period, the central bank said. That replaced the prior estimate of a 1 percent contraction, marking the end of a recession that started in the fourth quarter of last year. “This recovery isn’t as robust as previous recoveries have been,” Governor Mark Carney told reporters today in Ottawa after publishing its Monetary Policy Report. “The dollar is an important brake on the pace of growth.” Carney kept his main interest rate at 0.25 percent two days ago, the lowest since the central bank was founded in 1934, and repeated he plans to leave it there through June 2010 unless there is a shift in the inflation outlook. The economy won’t operate at its full potential until the middle of 2011, today’s report said. This, and a stronger Canadian dollar, will help keep inflation below policy makers’ 2 percent target. “It’s not like this has been an easy time for the economy,” said Charmaine Buskas, senior economics strategist at TD Securities in Toronto. “It’s just not as if the world is going to collapse anymore.” Dollar, Stocks Rise The Canadian dollar appreciated 1.2 percent to C$1.0867 per U.S. dollar at 4:16 p.m. in Toronto, compared with C$1.0997 yesterday. Canadian stocks also rose, as the Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index added 243.33 points, or 2.3 percent, to 10,675.68, the highest since June 11. The yield on the overnight index swap due in 10 months, a security based on investor expectations of where the Bank of Canada’s rate will be at that point, rose to 0.39 percent today, the highest since April 3. The central bank’s forecast assumes Canada’s currency will average 87 U.S. cents through 2011, and the report said recent strength reflects higher commodity prices and “generalized weakening of the U.S. dollar.” Carney told reporters the currency’s strength is an important risk to the economy and that he’s watching it “very closely.” Inflation to Slow Consumer prices will decline 0.7 percent on a year-over- year basis this quarter, the report said. The core inflation rate, which excludes eight volatile items and is used by policy makers as a guide to future price trends, will slow to 1.4 percent in the fourth quarter. Consumer prices will climb at an annual rate of 2 percent in the second quarter of 2011, one quarter earlier than the bank predicted in April. Canada’s economy will shrink 2.3 percent this year, and then grow 3 percent in 2010 and 3.5 percent in 2011, the report said. The bank’s previous predictions were for a contraction of 3 percent this year, then growth of 2.5 percent and 4.7 percent in the next two years, respectively. If the central bank is correct and the recession ends after three quarters, it would be the shortest such contraction since at least 1957, according to Statistics Canada. “This somewhat more favorable short-term outlook reflects a more modest retrenchment in household and business spending, as negative effects on confidence dissipate, financial market conditions improve, and the terms of trade increase more quickly than previously anticipated,” the report said. U.S. Economy at ‘Trough’ A “nascent” recovery in the global economy will help support Canada’s future exports, the report said. The U.S. economy “is at its trough,” the report said, and “Canadian exporters will benefit disproportionately from the U.S. recovery in 2010-11” as the U.S. housing market and automotive industries resume growth. The report said that financial markets in Canada and elsewhere are improving, while noting that much of the improvements abroad “are linked to government interventions” and further progress depends on U.S. and European banks fixing their balance sheets. The bank made no direct mention of plans to implement so- called quantitative easing. Asked if the Bank of Canada has ruled out using the policy, Carney said the “extreme financial risk from beyond our borders” has eased. Quantitative easing creates new money to purchase government or private assets to encourage new bank lending. Senior Deputy Governor Paul Jenkins also said he is satisfied with Statistics Canada’s investigation into reports some data may have been leaked and used to trade the Canadian dollar. The Bank of Canada learned about suspected leaks of economic data weeks before unusual movements in currency markets triggered a security review by Statistics Canada, according to documents obtained by Bloomberg News.

Canada - 778,000 Receive Employment Insurance Benefits http://www.statcan.gc.ca/start-debut-eng.html http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/090728/c090728a.gif July 28, 2009: In May, 778,700 people received regular Employment Insurance (EI) benefits, up 65,600, or 9.2%, from a month earlier, with Alberta and Ontario showing the fastest rates of increase. This rise followed an increase of 3.7% in April. The number of people receiving regular benefits in May was the highest since comparable data became available in 1997. Following two months of small declines, the number of initial and renewal claims received in May increased 5.2% to 332,800, the highest number of claims since 1997. Since employment peaked in October 2008, the number of regular EI beneficiaries has risen by 278,300, or 55.6%, with increases in all provinces and territories. The largest percentage growth in the number of regular beneficiaries over the seven-month period was in Alberta, followed by British Columbia, Ontario, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. In May, each of these provinces recorded their highest level of beneficiaries since comparable data became available in 1997.

'Papal Encyclical is of great importance to Goans' http://www.indiancatholic.in/news/storydetails.php/12808-1-1--%27Papal-Encyclical VATICAN (Indian Catholic): Fr. Theodore Mascarenhas SFX, hails from Goa and is presently the in charge of the Asia Desk in the Pontifical Council for Culture. He compares the problems faced by the present-day Goans and the subjects discussed in ‘Caritas in Veritate’ (Charity in Truth) the recent encyclical by Pope Benedict XVI. Fr. Theodore say that the third encyclical by the present Pope ‘expounds the Church’s Social Doctrine in a series of earlier similar documents beginning with Pope Leo XIII's Rerum Novarum of 1891, to John Paul II's Centesimus Annus of 1991. According to him the encyclical is “addressed to the Catholic Church and to people of goodwill, concerns the integral human development in charity and truth.” But he is struck by ‘how pertinent the encyclical for the state’ of Goa. He sees three great challenges faced by the Goan society today. political instability, a severe crisis of cultural identity and sweeping globalization threatening traditional, social, ethical and religious values. He then talks about the ‘burning problems of our day’ namely the wide gape between the haves and have-nots, the lack of respect for life and humans, unemployment, and corruption. He says that the encyclical is important as it lays down important guidelines for inter cultural dialogue, harmonious living and charitable giving. According to Fr. Theodore, “Many Goans today feel let down by their political leaders. Corruption is rampant, leaders change parties, as frequently as one changes clothes and certainly not for the sake of ideology, communal and caste tensions are created or exploited for votes, self gain rather than common good seems to be the motto of those in public office. The pope in the encyclical, while pointing out that the church does not claim in any way to interfere in the politics of the states, reminds that "she does, however, have a mission of truth to accomplish, in every time and circumstance, for a society that is attuned to man, to his dignity, to his vocation". Fr. Theodore makes an attempt to draw a clearer picture of the encyclical and the importance of the document to Goans. The priest who heads the Vatican council penned the article for one of the leading dailies in India in an attempt to make it clear for the laity how important is the encyclical as far as India is concerned. He adds that the encyclical while specifying that corruption and illegality are ‘evident” in the political class, the Pope says that “its not the instrument that must be called to account, but individuals, their moral conscience and their personal and social responsibility.” And Fr. Theodore continues, “We in Goa need not condemn the political system but we should hold responsible our elected representatives and extract accountability from them. Elections are a good occasion to sort the good mango from the rotten one.” He sees the second challenge that the Goans face today is the “grave crisis of cultural identity.” According to Fr. Theodore, the Cultural identity of the Goans had been “in a flux over the last 30 years with massive emigration of Goans for "better prospects" abroad and a massive immigration of "other Indians" into Goa for "greener pastures". Goans think they risk becoming strangers in their own land, are not sure of their cultural identity and in conflict even over the official language of the state.” The encyclical offers a remedy in inter cultural dialogue. As the Pope writes “a dialogue that, if it is to be effective, has to set out from a deep-seated knowledge of the specific identity of the various dialogue partners." And Fro Fr. Theodore, its for the Goans, the piece of advise “to affirm their cultural identity not in opposition to other identities, nor for political gain, nor for polarization as "us against them", but that they may preserve their traditional values, their deep rooted cultural traditions, their language and literature while at the same time being in dialogue with cultures around them.” The third great danger that Fr. Theodore points out in his writing among the Goan Community is “eroding of their ethical and moral values and the risk that this may accelerate with the onslaught of globalization” He sees a piece of advise for the Goans in the Encyclical by Benedict XVI. The Pope’s writings on Tourism and the danger posed by it say “Tourism can be a major factor in economic development and cultural growth, but can also become an occasion for exploitation and moral degradation” Hence the Pontiff calls for a different type of Tourism, “to develop a different type of tourism that has the ability to promote genuine mutual understanding, without taking away from the element of rest and healthy recreation" And Fr. Theodore conclude saying “What the pope is telling us is of great importance. Societies should work for the integral development of man, which has the human person at its center.”

Canadian wife faces 18-month separation under Forced Marriages Act MPs intervene on behalf of Welshman and Canadian wife who could be forced apart by new minimum age for spousal visas Excerpts: Mark Tran and agencies http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/jul/24/adam-wallis-rochelle-roberts/print guardian.co.uk , Friday 24 July 2009 Adam Wallis and Rochelle Roberts Adam Wallis and Rochelle Roberts are finding the threat of her deportation 'very stressful and upsetting'. MPs have taken up the case of two young newlyweds who are being forced apart as an unintended consequence of a new immigration law aimed at protecting Asian women from forced marriages. Adam Wallis and Canadian Rochelle Roberts, who married in the UK a week after her visa ran out, face an enforced year and a half of separation until she is 21. Their plight stems from changes in immigration rules that increased the minimum age for spousal visas to 21 in an attempt to reduce the possibility of forced marriages. Keith Vaz, the chairman of the Commons home affairs select committee, said last night the case could prompt a change in the law, adding: "This is clearly a case which needs to be looked at by a minister." "What needs to happen is the government needs to say, ministers in the Home Office need to say, that this is not what we intended with this act," Vaz told the BBC's News night. "This is clearly not a forced marriage. What we now have to do is look at what has happened. "Legislation shouldn't be set in stone. If there are mistakes, if there are amendments that need to be made, then we should make them and ... I'm very happy to take up this case and pass it on to the home secretary." Wallis said he would fly to Canada to be with his wife if she was thrown out of the UK, but would only be allowed to stay there for six months on his visa. The 28-year-old recently found a job as an electrical technician, but said he was not sure whether he could commit to it long-term because of the threat of his wife's deportation. "It is deeply stressful for both of us," he said. "It is a very upsetting time and very hard to deal with." The couple met in Canada more than two years ago and remained in close contact before she decided to visit him at his home in Aberystwyth, Wales, last March. They decided to marry and applied for permission from the Home Office a month before her visa ran out. Arrangements for the wedding were delayed after the authorities lost the couple's passport photos. Permission was finally granted a week before the visa ran out, but the couple were unable to arrange the wedding at such short notice. By the time they married a few weeks later, and sent forms applying for Roberts to remain in the country, she had technically overstayed her visa. The 18-month separation set to be imposed was described as an "inconvenience" in a letter from the UK Border Agency to the couple's local MP, Mark Williams. A spokesman for the Home Office said: "Rochelle Roberts was refused permission to remain as a spouse because she came as a visitor and remained here illegally after her visa expired. "The immigration rules are clear that those people who arrive as visitors and those that remain here illegally cannot remain in the United Kingdom as a spouse. Rochelle Roberts's age was not the reason her application was refused. "As a measure to protect young people from being pressurised into sponsoring a spouse from overseas, we have raised the age for sponsorship for a marriage visa from 18 to 21 ... overall, we believe there are various benefits outweighing the drawbacks."

Asian Nations Could Outpace U.S. in Developing Clean Energy American Markets' Slump Feeds Worry By Steven Mufson | Washington Post Staff Writer | washingtonpost.com Thursday, July 16, 2009 President Obama has often described his push to fund "clean" energy technology as key to America's drive for international competitiveness as well as a way to combat climate change. "There's no longer a question about whether the jobs and the industries of the 21st century will be centered around clean, renewable energy," he said on June 25. "The only question is: Which country will create these jobs and these industries? And I want that answer to be the United States of America." But the leaders of India, South Korea, China and Japan may have different answers. Those Asian nations are pouring money into renewable energy industries, funding research and development and setting ambitious targets for renewable energy use. These plans could outpace the programs in Obama's economic stimulus package or in the House climate bill sponsored by Reps. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) and Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.). "If the Waxman-Markey climate bill is the United States' entry into the clean energy race, we'll be left in the dust by Asia's clean-tech tigers," said Jesse Jenkins, director of energy and climate policy at the Breakthrough Institute, an Oakland, Calif.-based think tank that favors massive government spending to address global warming. Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Commerce Secretary Gary Locke are visiting China this week to discuss cooperation on energy efficiency, renewable energy and climate change. But even though developing nations refused to agree to an international ceiling for greenhouse gases last week, China and other Asian nations are already devoting more attention to cutting their use of traditional fossil fuels such as oil, natural gas and coal. South Korea recently said it plans to invest about 2 percent of its GDP annually in environment-related and renewable energy industries over the next five years, for a total of $84.5 billion. The government said it would try to boost South Korea's international market share of "green technology" products to 8 percent by expanding research and development spending and strengthening industries such as those that produce light-emitting diodes, solar batteries and hybrid cars. China and India are kick-starting their solar industries. India aims to install 20 gigawatts of solar power by 2020, more than three times as much as the photovoltaic solar power installed by the entire world last year, the industry's best year ever. And China's new stimulus plan raises the nation's 2020 target for solar power from 1.8 gigawatts to 20 gigawatts. (A gigawatt is about what a new nuclear power plant might generate.) "China is trying to catch up in a global race to find alternatives to fossil fuels," the official China Daily said in an article last week. "A lot of people underestimate how focused China is on becoming a global leader in clean technology," said Brian Fan, senior director of research at the Cleantech Group, a market research firm. China now provides a $3-a-watt subsidy upfront for solar projects, he said, enough to cover about half the capital cost. Fan said it is "the most generous subsidy in the world" for solar power. China is also expected to boost its long-term wind requirement to 150 gigawatts, up from the current 100 gigawatt target, by 2020, industry sources said. Jenkins said China could provide $44 billion to $66 billion for wind, solar, plug-in hybrid vehicles and other projects. Fan said China also plans to make sure that many of the orders go to its own firms, Gold Wind and Sinovel. The big Asian research and investment initiatives come as U.S. policy makers boast about their own plans, giving ammunition to those who say this country needs to do more. "That R&D represents America's chance to become the world's leader in the most important emerging economic sector: energy technology," said House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) in a May 13 speech to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "In the years to come, I hope that America will be selling clean technology to China and India and not the other way around." Confident that the United States will develop top-notch technology, the House voted overwhelmingly on June 10 to oppose any global climate change treaty that weakens the intellectual property rights of American green technology. "We can cede the race for the 21st century, or we can embrace the reality that our competitors already have: The nation that leads the world in creating a new clean energy economy will be the nation that leads the 21st century global economy," Obama said on June 29. But countries in Asia are not standing still waiting for U.S. advances. That both excites and worries U.S. manufacturers torn between opportunity and fear of a boost for Asian competitors at a time when the world's biggest market, the United States, has slowed down sharply. "This is heavy manufacturing business. The U.S. has had a great position over the last several years," said Vic Abate, vice president of renewables at General Electric, the world's number two wind turbine company. "If it slows down and if investment doubles down in China, it will be a lot harder to catch up." "We have already been left behind in some areas," said Mark Levine, director of the environmental energy technologies division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. "But . . . there remain many opportunities," he said, adding that "the U.S. can carve out key areas in clean energy technology." Although GE is the only U.S. company among the world's top 10 wind turbine makers (China has two, Germany has three), Levine said "there are areas in wind energy where we are likely to develop crucial technologies that we will both exploit and likely license to others." He cited advanced materials that would permit stronger rotors and techniques for taking advantage of higher wind speeds at greater heights. Levine said the United States is unlikely to "become the or even a leading photovoltaic manufacturer. But our scientific talent . . . has a good chance of developing the next-generation PV systems which we could either manufacture in China or another country . . . or license to foreign companies. . . . Even if the manufacturing is done abroad, this will lead to very real and large benefits to the U.S. from licensing fees, not to say sales in the U.S. and elsewhere."