Existing studies show immigrants who settle in smaller places experience labour market advantages over those in the larger gateway cities.
In British Columbia, for example, recent immigrant men who settled outside the large cities earned several thousand dollars more annually than their urban counterparts in
Vancouver or Victoria. In addition, the labour force participation rates of newcomers in non-metropolitan areas are similar to those of locals and higher than those of immigrants in Vancouver or Victoria.
A final interesting component of Volpe's proposal is that he wants to "put in place a process that allows for the integration process to begin at the moment an application is deemed to be ready."
This component of Volpe's plan should include foreign credential recognition, job search and settlement assistance. When immigrants can apply their skills and receive decent wages on the day they arrive in Canada, they will not have to rely on the low-wage labour market of large cities as a survival strategy.
Instead, they will have greater flexibility of settling in a wider range of communities.
Canada's current immigration levels would rise 40 per cent within five years under a plan that will soon be presented to the federal cabinet, The Canadian Press has learned.
Prime Minister Paul Martin described immigration in a speech this week as key to Canada's economic success in an era defined by low birth rates, an aging population and an ever-deepening shortage of skilled workers.
(Immigration Minister Joe Volpe) said his department has focused on five themes: Increasing the overall numbers. Providing better service both in bringing in immigrants and issuing visas. Matching immigrants with jobs needed to fill gaps in local markets. That also means allowing potential immigrants to get matching credentials in Canada before they apply, or before they are accepted. Regionalizing so that areas outside major centres can recruit people they need. Mr. Volpe said that many communities envy the numbers that head to Toronto, because they see it as a “wealth-creation dynamic.” Keeping people who are already in Canada, for example by making it easier for people with student visas to stay after they graduate.
The second quarterly NBI report analyzes the brand values of more countries (25 compared to 11) than the first report published in May 2005. Australia, a new entry in the NBI, has replaced Sweden as the world’s strongest nation brand.
Canada is ranked number two, Switzerland three and the UK is fourth, with Sweden fifth. Overall, the U.S. is now eleventh, rather than fourth; Russia and Turkey remain at the bottom of the overall ranking at 24th and 25th, respectively.
"Quebec's homeownership costs improved as a combination of weaker housing demand and rising supply put the brakes on house price growth," said Allan Seychuk, RBC economist. "Across our four housing types, prices rose one perc cent or less from the first to second quarter, dragging the annual rate of growth down to the single digits from the double-digit range that prevailed at the end of 2004."
Yesterday evening, coming back from work I see a big white envelope sticking out of our mailbox. My heart beating faster I rush inside and rip open the envelope… scanning the first lines of the cover letter I quickly understand: we just received our
Wow! Even though it has only been 56 days since we sent in our application we were kind of impatient to get some news. This is probably the best news we could expect… and we don’t even have to go through a selection interview!
However, I quickly discovered that my name was misspelled on the certificate so I called the Quebec Immigration Office in
While waiting for this correction we’ll probably get our federal application ready.
This morning I called the BIQ Paris because it has been 50 days since we sent in our selection certificate application and were starting to get worried because we still haven't received the acknowledgement of receipt. The lady I spoke to was very kind and confirmed that they have received our application and were currently reviewing it. She said that the processing times are up to four month for Quebec selection certificates and that we should not worry and will hear from them in time.
