Canadian Auto Workers: The Canadian Auto Workers union and the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada have merged to form a new group called Unifor, which is Canada's largest private sector union, according to Huffington Post. "Unifor is here because it's time to stop playing defence and it's time we started to play offence,'' said Dias in his fiery inaugural address at Unifor's founding convention in Toronto. "It's time to stop reacting and it's time to start setting the agenda.'' TORONTO Jerry Dias, a veteran of the Canadian Auto Workers, is the first president of the new Unifor union. Dias says he plans to use Unifor's size to influence change labour relations in Canada. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

convention centre: The Palais des congres, the city's largest convention centre, announced Saturday it won't hold next weekend's event for security reasons, according to Times Colonist. A spokesman for the convention centre said in an email that no one would be available for comment until Tuesday and MONTREAL - A Muslim youth conference in Montreal, which had drawn criticism from the Parti Quebecois government, has been cancelled by the convention centre where it was supposed to be held. The decision was made after a "security review," the Palais des congres said in a brief statement. No specifics were offered about the finding of the review. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Caterpillar Inc: PEORIA, Ill - Caterpillar Inc CAT.N: Quote has put workers on notice that its short-term incentive plan, the centerpiece of a performance-based, profit-sharing program, will make its smallest payout since the recession when the payments go out next March, according to Reuters. In updates to the plan's roughly 60,000 participants, and in quarterly disclosures to investors, Caterpillar said it expects outlays related to the program to be down as much as 40 percent from last year, reflecting sharply reduced payments to employees and By James B. Kelleher Like a lot of companies, the world's largest maker of mining and construction equipment has adopted what is known as a "pay-at-risk" compensation system, which ties a percentage of nearly every non-union employee's income to Caterpillar's financial performance. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Bob Goodenow: I can still hear Bob Goodenow saying, This is whats going to happen when you accept a salary cap your buddies arent going to have jobs, Cammalleri said. And sure enough, here we are, and this is exactly the world we re living in under the cap system, according to The Star. Less than two weeks until the opening of training camps, plenty of men who fit the description have yet to find NHL jobs, among them Brenden Morrow, Dan Cleary, Ron Hainsey, Simon Gagne, Brad Boyes, Damien Brunner and David Steckel. In a previous decade all of the above would have likely lived out their playing days as fully employed greybeards, and certainly all of them may find a dressing-room stall with their name on it soon enough. Still, with the salary cap shrinking from about $72 million to $64 million for the upcoming campaign, many teams with budget concerns appear more inclined to forego the premium salaries of experienced hands to take a chance on younger, cheaper options and Surveying the NHL landscape in the waning days of summer, Mike Cammalleri was invoking a voice from hockeys past. Goodenow, of course, was the head of the NHL Players Association around the time that the union lost both the 2004-05 season and the battle to beat back the much-dreaded cap. And though we re nearly one decade and two collective bargaining agreements into life under a payroll ceiling, Goodenows cautionary words seem particularly poignant to a certain kind of pro specifically, the veteran role player. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

National Research Council: The National Research Council, which operates the centre, had the unenviable choice this year of cutting outreach or cutting even deeper into research. , according to Times Colonist. Applied research is important. It can lead to patents, jobs, manufacturing and all that good economic stuff. No lights shine in the Centre of the Universe today. The staff who ran the interpretive centre at Little Saanich Mountains Dominion Astrophysical Observatory cleaned out their desks Friday, turned out the light and vacated the building. So ends 12 years of educational programming about astronomy and Canadas place in scientific research. It was one of many challenges the federal agency faces. The government recently adjusted the NRCs research priorities to match private-sector goals that focus on applied, or practical, research. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

flooding in Alberta: The numbers weren't as bad as advertised, however, according to Huffington Post. It could have been worse, but economists said the spillover shocks from flooding in Alberta and the Quebec strike turned out to be less severe than anticipated and OTTAWA - The economy swooned in June as the twin shocks of damaging floods in Alberta and a construction strike in Quebec led to the biggest monthly output retreat since the recession, and dragged down quarterly growth to an unimpressive 1.7 per cent. June's fall was limited to 0.5 per cent still the worst result since March 2009 and the quarter's growth were better than the Bank of Canada's gloomy prediction for one per cent. As well, Statistics Canada downgraded its early reading for first-quarter growth from 2.5 to 2.2 per cent. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Ajay Shirke: After nearly two decades cutting a path together through an uncertain world, Ajay Shirke knew what would convince his wife to settle in Pictou County and EDITOR S NOTE: The entirety of our 26-part series, Nova Scotia: A to Z, will be published in The Novascotian every Saturday until we reach the letter Z. Todays feature is on a couple from Indias Gujarat province. To see other stories in our series, click here . NEW GLASGOW He won her over with a house. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

convention centre: MONTREAL A Muslim youth conference in Montreal, which drew criticism from the Parti Quebecois government, has been cancelled by the convention centre where it was supposed to be held, according to The Chronicle Herald. The decision was made after a security review, the Palais des congres said in a statement and The Palais des congres, the citys largest convention centre, announced Saturday it wont hold next weekends event for security reasons. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

economic growth: The Commerce Department said Friday that consumer spending rose just 0.1 per cent in July from the previous month. That's slower than June's 0.6 per cent increase. Consumers cut their spending on long-lasting manufactured goods, such as cars and appliances. Spending on services was unchanged, according to CTV. Consumers' spending drives roughly 70 per cent of economic activity. The weak spending report led some economists to sound a more pessimistic note about economic growth in the current July-September quarter. It follows July data showing steep drops in orders for long-lasting manufactured goods and new-home sales and WASHINGTON -- U.S. consumers barely increased their spending in July as their income grew more slowly, held back in part by steep government spending cuts that reduced federal workers' salaries. The tepid gains suggest economic growth is off to a weak start in the July-September quarter. Income rose 0.1 per cent in July following a 0.3 per cent June gain. Overall wages and salaries tumbled $21.8 billion from June -- a third of the decline came from forced furloughs of federal workers. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Idil Timayare: Misfortune follows the North End single mom with six kids everywhere. , according to Winnipeg Free Press. When Idil Timayare was reunited with her parents in Winnipeg in 2011, her troubles didn't end. She was run down by a cab this past winter, days before a crucial refugee hearing. As luck would have it, the Immigration and Refugee Board member hearing her case had a track record of rejection -- saying no to 180 refugee claimants out of 210 cases heard in 2011. With a busted foot and fuzzy on prescription painkillers, 31-year-old Timayare testified on behalf of herself and her six young kids and lost. Idil Timayare and her six children at home in the North End. She holds daughter, Samira, and is surrounded by sons from left Salman, Zakariya, Soyan, Harrun and Ahmed kneeling . When she was nine, her family fled mayhem in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu. They took shelter in a refugee camp in Kenya that locals torched, scattering many families, including hers. At 15, she was alone and fled to South Africa, already flooded with unwelcome refugees. By the time she was 28, she was a single parent of six and driven out again by locals who beat her husband until he fled and burned down their small shop. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.