Julie Towers: Towers and Executive Officer

julie towers: It a figure boosted by the one-time influx of Syrian refugees, but Towers says she confident the figure can reach the goal of 7,000 annually that an economic blueprint for the province has called for in hope of boosting a declining and aging population, according to CTV. Towers says one of the keys will be whether Ottawa -- which still vets the immigrants chosen through the province nominee program -- increases the current limits. Julie Towers, the chief executive officer of the province office of immigration, testified Wednesday at a legislature committee that 3,418 newcomers arrived in Nova Scotia in the first half of this year, slightly more than arrived in all of 2015, a record year. Lenore Zann, an NDP member of the legislature, says budget figures show small increases may not be keeping pace with rising demand for language classes, assistance to schools and job training. Zann also raised the issue of a request by the Halifax school board for additional funding to help it cover the cost of more english teachers and translation for schools that have seen sudden influxes of Arabic-speaking Syrian children. She said the party has heard from settlement agencies that funding isn't keeping up. "It just that the increased numbers of people has not been met with the increased provincial funding they actually need," she said. "That is concerning." Towers told the legislature committee that funding for settlement has increased from about $3.4 million in 2014-15 to $4.4 million budgeted for 2016-17. "It going up by a few hundred thousand dollars each year as the number of immigrants has come up as well," she said, adding that the funds go to various settlement agencies. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.