Canada facing labour shortages - Immigration can help fill the gap if done right

OTTAWA, July 7 /CNW Telbec/ - Immigrants can help to rescue Canada from a long-term slowdown in economic growth, but only if immigration policies are modernized, The Conference Board of Canada argues in an article published in the July-August 2010 edition of Policy Options.

"The recession gave employers only temporary relief from workforce shortages. Job creation has resumed in recent months, and the looming retirement of baby boomers will only erode the labour supply in the longer term," said Glen Hodgson, Senior Vice-President and Chief Economist, and author of the article. "Immigration can provide an important source of labour, if done right."

Canada's unemployment rate is expected to fall below eight per cent by the end of 2010, but it could fall to as low as six per cent in the years to come as the economy recovers and the large cohort of baby boomers leave the workforce.

The Conference Board's long-term economic forecast assumes that immigration levels will rise to about 350,000 annually by 2030. If Canada is to increasingly rely on immigrants as a source of labour, it needs a modernized, integrated and well-managed immigration policy. Such a policy would:

- Increase the weight given to economic factors, recognizing the
importance of skills-based immigration to address Canada's labour
market needs;
- Streamline the immigration system to reduce misalignment among
different levels of government;
- Expand the use of temporary foreign worker programs to fill
short-term gaps in labour markets;
- Increase upfront involvement by employers, so they are part of the
decision-making process;
- Create new and improved pathways to permanent residency for temporary
foreign workers and foreign students; and
- Improve foreign credential recognition.

For further information: Brent Dowdall, Media Relations, Tel.: 613-526-3090 ext. 448, E-mail: corpcomm@conferenceboard.ca

Peel Heritage Complex Expansion underway
By Peter Criscione
http://www.bramptonguardian.com/print/840593
June 29, 2010

Click image to enlarge

(Note: Goan Archives Canada –see http://sites.google.com/site/goanarchivescanada/ plans to archive the 500 plus items of Goan heritage it has collected in the Peel Heritage Complex when the facilities open in 2012)

A $10 million expansion and revitalization plan for Brampton-based Peel Heritage Complex (PHC) received an official blessing from community and government partners yesterday.
Federal and provincial politicians joined local dignitaries at a groundbreaking ceremony to celebrate work being done on the buildings located at 9 Wellington St. E.
The project, funded by the Region and provincial and federal governments, will see an expansive overhaul of the facility that houses Peel’s museum, archives and art gallery.
“The expansion of the Peel Heritage Complex buildings and programs will tell the marvelous stories of Peel — from our earliest recorded memories, to stories that put us on the front page (newspapers),” said Regional Chair Emil Kolb.
Kolb was one of several dignitaries to address the 20 or so people that converged on the front lawn of the Heritage Complex Monday morning.
Other speakers included John Baird, federal transport and infrastructure minister, Mississauga MPP Harinder Takhar, and Brampton Mayor Susan Fennell.
Each speaker stressed the importance of protecting and promoting Peel’s rich history, and pointed to the collaborative effort between all levels of government in getting the project off the ground.
“We will now be able to tell Peel’s story in a new and exciting way,” Kolb continued.
Mayor Fennell thanked Ottawa and Queen’s Park for contributing a portion of the money for construction.
“Thank you for investing in the city of Brampton again,” Fennell said.
When completed, officials say PHC site will be a climate-controlled site able to properly handle Peel’s growing inventory of art and artifacts.
The project will see PHC take over 50 Main St., the building that housed the former Housing Department and Peel Living operations.
There will be more storage space, a visitor’s lounge and a large exhibition area.
Chuck Scott, president of the board for PHC, said the expansion will allow for greater opportunities to engage schools and the public.
The expansion will also create opportunities for the PHC Art Gallery to host shows on a national and international level— something the facility has had to turn down because of limited storage space and substandard storage climates.
“It’s going to allow us to do more shows than we have ever done in the past and bring different types of things to the Region of Peel,” said Scott adding patrons “will be able to see the art in a way that’s different and see the history in a way that is different.”
Construction on the buildings started in March and will wrap up in September 2011.
Revitalization plans for the Heritage Complex include:
• 50 Main St. will become an enormous art gallery with exhibition space upstairs and a workshop, storage and community space downstairs. There will be at least double the exhibition space in the new facility, along with art gallery storage that is quadrupled and brought up to industry standards (in terms of climate control).
• The historic court house building will receive some aesthetic upgrades, but no major renovations are planned in keeping with heritage regulations. It will offer its second floor council chambers as an area for meetings, receptions, and the like, becoming a public use space that can be fully catered. The first floor historic court room will, for the first time, be open to the public for viewing.
• The current facility located at 9 Wellington St. E. will undergo major changes as well. The area currently used for the art gallery space and offices in the lower level, will become the new museum space (which doubles), reception area and gift shop. The archives, located on the main level, will also undergo a modest expansion and increase space by 50 per cent.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper Names Salma Ataullahjan. New Senator

9 July 2010
Ottawa, Ontario
Message on:
http://news.gc.ca/web/
Prime Minister Stephen Harper today filled a vacancy in the Senate, announcing the appointment of Salma Ataullahjan.
"I am pleased to announce the appointment of Salma Ataullahjan to the Senate of Canada," said Prime Minister Harper. "A professional, artist, parent and strong activist for the South Asian community in the Greater Toronto Area, Ms. Ataullahjan brings a remarkable dedication and energy to her new role as a Senator for the Province of Ontario."
Ms. Ataullahjan fills a single vacancy in Ontario. She has also pledged to support the Government in its efforts to make the Senate more democratic and accountable, including legislation to limit Senate tenure and to allow provinces to elect their Senators.
"In addition to coming from a family of political activists on the Indian Subcontinent, Ms. Ataullahjan's political and social activism here in Canada has earned her a reputation of one who both stands against violence and stands for peaceful dialogue and consensus building," said the Prime Minister. "As our Government continues working to promote safety and security both at home and abroad, I welcome the addition of Ms. Ataullahjan's skills and experience to the Senate of Canada and look forward to working with her in the months and years ahead."
The appointment is effective immediately.
Backgrounder
9 July 2010 Ottawa, Ontario

Salma Ataullahjan immigrated to Canada from Pakistan 31 years ago, becoming a Canadian citizen in 1989. After settling in Toronto, she pursued a career in real estate, a profession in which she has worked for the last 21 years. Born into a family with a long-standing history of political activism, Ms. Ataullahjan has spent many years actively involved in the social and political affairs of her community.

A natural consensus builder, Ms. Ataullahjan has served many organizations including: on the executive of the Pakistani Canadian Professionals and Academics; as Founder and Chairperson of the Parent Council of David Lewis Public School; as a member of the South Asian Regional Council; as a former President and current Vice-President of the Canadian Pashtun Cultural Association; and on the executive of the Toronto chapter of the Citizens Foundation, a charity organization that builds not-for-profit schools in the poorest districts of Pakistan.

Ms. Ataullahjan is an accomplished artist and paints watercolours in her spare time. She and her husband Saleem have been married for 31 years and have two daughters, Anushka and Shaanzeh.

Canadian Intelligence Director Repeats Claims of Foreign Influence

By IAN AUSTEN
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/06/world/americas/06canada.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print

OTTAWA — The director of Canada’s intelligence service told a committee in Parliament on Monday that he thinks two provincial cabinet ministers, as well as some municipal politicians and public servants, are under the influence of foreign governments.

Richard B. Fadden, the director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, was summoned to an unusual summer hearing after making similar accusations during an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that was broadcast two weeks ago. Those comments provoked widespread criticism, particularly from the Chinese-Canadians.

While Mr. Fadden had initially issued a statement in which he appeared to backtrack from his claim, he repeated the accusation on Monday and said that his agency planned to file a report with the government about the situation “within weeks.”

As he had before, Mr. Fadden cited national security laws in declining to identify the elected officials who he thought were under the influence of foreign governments. And while he did not explicitly name a country, he again broadly suggested that it was China.

While some members of the committee on public safety and national security asked Mr. Fadden to resign and questioned his judgment in making the remarks, he offered no apologies.

“This is not quite as extraordinary as everyone is making it out to be,” he told the committee, noting that past annual reports by the intelligence service have included general accusations about foreign nations’ influence in Canada.

Appearing to contradict himself at times, Mr. Fadden said he only regretted “the level of detail” in his earlier remarks. But, he said, they were part of a effort by the agency to publicize its concerns about foreign influence in Canada.

“We are dealing here with a spectrum of behavior by foreign entities that often start out innocently, but later veer toward something that actually harms Canadian interests,” he said. ”This is a very subtle process.”

Critics of Mr. Fadden’s remarks include Gordon Campbell, the premier of British Columbia, a province with a large population of Chinese immigrants several of whom are active in politics.

In a statement issued last week, the Chinese Canadian National Council said that Mr. Fadden’s comments “serve to stigmatize our entire community and specifically cast a shadow over public servants, municipal officials and provincial cabinet ministers.”

Several state-owned companies in China are investing in Canadian natural resource companies, particularly those involved in developing Alberta’s oil sands.

In 2004, an attempt by a Chinese company to acquire Canada’s largest mining companycollapsed because of a political backlash in Canada. That and other factors have caused several intelligence analysts to speculate that China has been working to build a base of support in Canada.

UK Asians 'feel neglected by Church'

Story from BBC NEWS
http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/mpapps/pagetools/print/news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8755761.stm?ad=1
By Dil Neiyyar
Mainstream churches in England are failing Asian Christian worshippers, according to the South Asian Forum.
The organisation was formed in March 2010 in order to better represent the views and needs of Asian Christians and to campaign on their behalf.
It claims many of Britain's estimated 75,000 Asian Christians do not feel welcome in the big churches.
Jagdish Singh from Wolverhampton is one of those who unsuccessfully tried to join his local church.
"They were all staring at me," he told BBC Asian Network. "They seemed to be wondering: 'Where has this coloured man come from?'
"Afterwards, nobody spoke to me except for the vicar. He was standing at the door, shook my hand and asked me who I was but nobody in the congregation spoke to me.
“Asian Christians want to join mainstream churches but if they are not welcome they will then form their own fellowship”
Ram Gidoomal, chairman of the South Asian Forum
"I went there for a few weeks but felt that I didn't belong there.
"I can speak English perfectly and I went to an English school but, although I had become a Christian, I didn't feel a part of them. To me they didn't look as if they wanted me there."
'Divided faith'
The South Asian Forum says Asian Christians are setting up more of their own churches in response to this feeling of rejection - a trend mirroring the growth and breakaway of the Afro-Caribbean community.
Ram Gidoomal, chairman of the South Asian Forum, said: "Asian Christians want to join mainstream churches but if they are not welcome they will then form their own fellowship.
"[It will be like] a phenomenon which happened with the Afro-Caribbean community when they came to the country in the 1940s and 1950s with Windrush.
"They found they weren't welcome and they then set up their own thriving churches.
"It is sad and it is a pity that those who are meant to be united by one faith appear then to be divided, that really is a tragedy."
“I think that (being made to feel) welcome is a problem for the church generally”
Simon Pothen, Canon Precentor at Chelmsford Cathedral
The Asian Calvary Church in Wolverhampton is typical of the sort of Asian churches that have sprung up in response to the difficulties with mainstream churches.
Its meetings were held in cramped living rooms when it started up and now more than 50 people regularly attend a fortnightly service at a redbrick community church, which worshippers hire.
Most of the Asian Calvary Church's service is in Punjabi, along with many of the hymns sung to music played on traditional Indian instruments like the dhol and harmonium.
National conference
Harjeet Singh, a taxi driver from Wolverhampton, is one of the worshippers.
"To the mainstream churches, I would say they should support us so that Asian Christians will have more freedom to worship," he said.
Robin Thomson, of Asian worshipper support group South Asian Concern, said: "There are no official figures for the number of Asian Christian churches in Britain.
"But what we do know is that there are definitely 90 Tamil churches or groups here, so I would say there are at least 200 Asian Christian churches."
Ahead of a national conference of Asian Christians from across Britain in Derbyshire this weekend, the Church of England acknowledges the problem and says it must improve relations with them.
Simon Pothen, Canon Precentor at Chelmsford Cathedral, said: "I think that [being made to feel] welcome is a problem for the Church generally.
"I think probably being Asian and coming to an all-white church heightens the problems of being welcomed."
Click here to hear more on this story
Story from BBC NEWS:
Published: 2010/06/25 07:33:22 GMT

Uganda Bombing
By Elias Biryabarema
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE65T18920100712
KAMPALA, July 12 (Reuters) - Suspected Somali Islamists carried out two bomb attacks late on Sunday in the Ugandan capital that killed at least 64 people as they watched the World Cup final.
Uganda will become an oil-producing nation in 2011, allowing it to reduce its budget dependence on foreign aid and improve poor infrastructure. East Africa's third largest economy is seen growing between 7-8 percent in 2010/11 from 5.6 percent in 2009/10.
Here are some of the factors to watch:
BOMBING FALLOUT
The explosions ripped through two bars packed with soccer fans. Foreigners were among the dead including one American.
Al Qaeda-inspired al Shabaab militants in Somalia had threatened to attack Uganda for sending peacekeeper troops to the east Africa country to support its western and Ethiopian-backed government. An al Shabaab commander in Mogadishu welcomed to the attack while saying he did not know if they had carried it out.
Read more at …. http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE65T18920100712

Kenya outraged over parliament's $175K pay vote

http://www.metronews.ca/toronto/world/article/569003--kenya-outraged-over-parliament-s-175k-pay-vote--page0
Jason Straziuso, The Associated Press
02 July 2010 08:03

NAIROBI, Kenya - Kenyans have expressed outrage after members of parliament this week recommended giving themselves a $175,000 annual pay package, compensation decried as overly exorbitant in a country where farm workers earn only $40 a month.

The legislators' compensation package includes pay for housing, entertainment expenses, transportation, a constituency allowance and an extraneous allowance. The politicians will even be paid for attending parliament meetings.

It outpaces what many European parliamentarians make, and would pay as much as the U.S. Congress.

But Kenya's economy can't match those of the United States or Europe. Hundreds of thousands of Nairobi residents live in slums with no running water. The monthly minimum wage for farm workers is $40. In Kenya's capital, the monthly minimum wage for labourers is $82.

Kenya's members of parliament, by contrast, could soon take home a monthly pay package worth nearly $15,000.

"They are so selfish. I could grab them by their necks and strangle them," said Muthoni Njathi, 29, who works in a small Nairobi restaurant where workers average about $125 a month, on Friday. "There are so many people who go without food, so many people who walk kilometre after kilometre to go to work."

Kenya's 222 legislators currently make about $126,000. Parliament's vote on Wednesday came after a pay committee recommended the increases and that members pay taxes on their income for the first time. With the new taxes in place, the increase in members' take-home pay would be relatively small — about $1,500 a month. But newspaper headlines and public reaction has been scathing.

"NOT WITH OUR TAX MONEY," screamed the front page of Friday's Daily Nation, Kenya's leading newspaper. The Standard newspaper headlined one story the "Greedy pack of MPs." Labor groups, the teachers union, and civil society groups have angrily denounced parliament's recommendation, which is scheduled to be voted on in final form next week.

"It's robbery without violence. It's the height of impunity. I don't think my language can be strong enough on how disgusted we are," said Wanjiru Gikonyo, the national co-ordinator of the Institute for Social Accountability. "We are not that greedy culture that they have become."

Gikonyo noted that the retirement packages in the new pay structure are so generous that people will likely now run for parliament just for the salary, and may have no interest in governing.

Just outside parliament on Friday, street vendor Charles Nzioka tried to sell bottles of Coke and cakes. Like many day labourers here, Nzioka can only afford a small home for his wife and three children. He pays $30 a month in rent, a far cry from the nearly $2,000 housing allowance parliament recommended for its members.

Waving his arms in a fit of anger, Nzioka said parliament's pay was costing the nation dearly.

"It does not make sense, because you can see here we are struggling," said Nzioka, who often walks the 6 miles (10 kilometres) from his house to downtown Nairobi.

Kenyans noted ruefully that next week's vote on the pay hikes will take place a little less than a month before the nation votes on a new constitution, which if passed will take away lawmakers' ability to regulate their pay. Instead pay issues would be handled by an independent salary committee.

"I think the public is justified in being outraged," said Millie Odhimabo, a member of parliament who is appointed. But she said that since MPs will soon have to pay taxes for the first time, the changes will benefit the country in the long-run.

Odhimabo said that members of parliament often must spend their own salaries — beyond the $1,600 "constituency allowance" they are paid — to address the dire needs of the people they represent.

"When you wake up in the morning you probably receive around 50 to 100 phone calls from your constituents, and more than half of those phone calls are from someone who had a child die and has no money to bury the child, or someone else has a child in the hospital and has no money for medicine, another is for education," Odhimabo said.

"If you don't give out money nobody is going to elect you," she said.

But the Kenyans standing outside parliament on Friday complained that they can never successfully reach their representatives, and only see them once every five years, during the campaign period.

"Yeah, we're angry. Life is really hard compared to their lives," said Joe Kirui, 37, who makes $63 a month as a security guard in the Rift Valley. "You get your salary at the end of the month and in one week it's gone."

World Cup - FIFA urged to review prices

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/print?id=807841&type=story
Soccernet staff
FIFA has been accused of putting money first and pricing out ordinary fans after many matches at the World Cup failed to sell out.
Kevin Miles, the Football Supporters' Federation's director of international affairs, told the Sunday Mirror that FIFA must review the costs of tickets and accommodation before the next World Cup in Brazil.
"Overall, it was a rewarding experience for those lucky enough to be able to afford it," Miles said. "But a World Cup being played out in front of so many empty seats was a cardinal sin. The pricing structure excluded large sections of the local population. They have to learn the lessons from South Africa before the next World Cup in Brazil in four years.
"It will require a different mindset as to how they deal with the tickets and accommodation pricing structure that is fixed at too high a level for many grass-roots fans of the game, especially when you take the tournament to a developing nation.
"FIFA must learn the lessons about pricing quickly. They must ensure that we have far fewer empty seats and more enthusiastic Brazilian fans in the stadia. FIFA need to ensure locals and visitors alike are not deterred by high prices."
Miles, like many others, has reservations about the role of MATCH, the agency which exclusively handles World Cup ticketing and corporate hospitality rights. It has been lambasted for pricing out fans and has said it will use Brazil to make up losses from South Africa.
"It's beyond belief that an organisation that has exclusive rights to sell tickets for a World Cup managed to make a loss. But FIFA needs to look at this whole area again to ensure future tournaments are more fan-friendly."

Forlan wins Golden Ball as best player

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/print?id=807841&type=story
Associated Press

JOHANNESBURG -- Uruguay striker Diego Forlan has been awarded the Golden Ball as the World Cup's best player, and Germany forward Thomas Mueller won the Golden Boot as the tournament's top scorer with five goals.
Forlan was voted the most outstanding player of the tournament by accredited media after leading his team to the semifinals.
The 20-year-old Mueller helped Germany take third place with his five goals and three assists, and also won the Best Young Player award. Forlan, Spain striker David Villa and Netherlands playmaker Wesley Sneijder also scored five times but each had only one assist. Villa and Sneijder both failed to score in Sunday's final, won 1-0 by Spain.
Spain's Iker Casillas won the Golden Glove as the top goalkeeper.