immigrantscanada.com

Independent topical source of current affairs, opinion and issues, featuring stories making news in Canada from immigrants, newcomers, minorities & ethnic communities' point of view and interests.

public institutions: They want the hijab banished from public institutions, especially from daycare centres and schools. They see it as a symbol not only of Islam and multiculturalism but also of gender inequality, according to The Star. She needs to be saved. And Quebec schoolchildren and babies need to be saved from her and A retired Supreme Court judge, no less, has come out in favour of the Charter of Quebec Values that proposes to ban public employees from wearing the hijab, the Sikh turban, the Jewish kippa or other ostentatious religious symbols. But Claire L Heureux-Dub is especially exercised about the Muslim scarf, just as Premier Pauline Marois and her hawkish feminist supporters are. They cant countenance that a woman would wear it by choice. She must have been coerced by father, brother, husband, etc. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Premier Christy Clark: Congratulations to Premier Christy Clark for recognizing the need for an action plan to help foreign workers get their qualifications recognized in B.C. and be encouraged to work in the liquefied-natural-gas industry. There are several thousand immigrants already in B.C. who have difficulty getting their qualifications recognized, as well as many under-utilized workers who have developed competencies and skills but have no recognized certification that would enable them to work in industries experiencing a lack of skilled workers. , according to Times Colonist. The B.C. Prior Learning Action Network is a non-profit association of public post-secondary institutions, community employment organizations and employer-sector representatives. Re: LNG plan boosts immigrant workers, Sept. 21. A process known as prior-learning assessment and recognition can help recognize both prior learning through the formal education system and demonstrated competencies through workforce participation. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

union members: The famed Solidarity banner, an icon of Poland's struggle against communism, has returned to the streets of late, carried by thousands of union members demanding change. Unlike 30 years ago, however, when protesters wanted an end to the one-party Communist state, they now have the country's freely elected, center-right government firmly in their sights. , according to Winnipeg Free Press. Starting on Sept. 11, Warsaw saw four consecutive days of union-organized protests, culminating in one of the largest marches Poland has seen in recent years. Jan Guz, leader of the All-Poland Alliance of Trade Unions, warned, if the government failed to draw the right conclusions from the demonstrations, "we will block the country." Czarek Sokolowski / The Associated Press Thousands of Polish union members take the streets to protest the countrys labor and wage policies. CP (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Obama: Yet Americans are hardly celebrating, according to Times Colonist. Republicans have waged an unrelenting battle to repeal the law, claiming the program will cost American jobs. They have had no success so far, with Democrats controlling the Senate and White House. But even without Republican actions, Obamacare, as the program is commonly known, is already off to a rocky start. Obama has had to delay a key part for one year: a mandate that large employers provide health care coverage. On Thursday, the government announced delays for small businesses seeking to buy insurance online and WASHINGTON - Starting on Tuesday, an estimated 50 million Americans who don't have health insurance can start signing up for coverage as the core of President Barack Obama's overhaul takes hold. Subsidies will be available to help those with lower-incomes pay for insurance. And on Jan. 1, people will no longer be denied coverage because of previous illnesses. Polls show most of them don't like the program. Many object to requirements that all Americans have health insurance or face fines. Some employers, the main provider of health insurance in the U.S., are citing the program as they cut back on coverage contrary to Obama's promise that people could keep their coverage without worrying about anything changing. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Amir Tariq Zaman: Irfanullah Khan, a legal adviser in the ministry of Inter Provincial Coordination IPC , told The Associated Press on Saturday that Amir Tariq Zaman, additional secretary for sports in the ministry, will take charge next week, according to Times Colonist. Najam Sethi is the interim chief of the PCB and has until Oct. 18 to conduct fresh elections and ISLAMABAD - A government official has been appointed secretary of the Pakistan Cricket Board with the task of reducing its number of employees. Khan says the appointment is in line with the Islamabad High Court order which instructed the IPC to remove all superfluous officials on the cricket board. The court said 68 employees were appointed unnecessarily during Zaka Ashraf's 20-month period as the PCB chief. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

economic growth: But Winnipeg is at the bottom of the list of western cities. , according to Winnipeg Free Press. The Ottawa think-tank is forecasting 1.4 per cent economic growth in Winnipeg in 2013 compared with 1.5 per cent in 2012 and 1.5 per cent in Manitoba compared with 2.7 per cent last year . Nationally, the economy is expected to grow by 1.7 per cent. Cities in Western Canada are expected to lead the country's metropolitan areas in economic growth this year, a report by the Conference Board of Canada says. The Conference Board says the continuing slow recovery of the manufacturing sector and weak employment gains influenced by public-sector belt-tightening will keep the city's economy in the middle of the pack of the 13 largest metropolitan centres in the country. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Toronto Centre: The races in Provencher and Brandon-Souris in Manitoba are not expected to be very competitive. Though there are some rumblings about how the Conservative candidate was selected in Brandon-Souris, neither riding is likely to go any other way than Tory. That will give Conservatives two pieces of good news on a night that will not go very well for them in either Bourassa, a Montreal riding, or Toronto Centre, according to Huffington Post. With Trudeau having boosted the Liberals to first place nationwide, as well as in Ontario and Quebec in most polls , it would seem that these two ridings should be easily won by the party and The tables are mostly set for byelections that will soon be called in the ridings of Toronto Centre and Bourassa, along with two others in Manitoba. They have been called a test for both Justin Trudeau and Thomas Mulcair but just how much of a challenge are these two urban ridings? Those two seats are being primarily contested by the Liberals and New Democrats. Both were occupied by well-known Liberal MPs: Bob Rae in Toronto Centre and Denis Coderre in Bourassa. Both have a long history of voting Liberal, and both were retained by relatively comfortable but closer than usual margins in a very poor election for Liberals in 2011. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

intellectual property rights: Nearly $315 million in trade and services occurs between the two countries every year. A free trade agreement could benefit Canadas banks, the intellectual property rights sector and the oil and gas industry, according to The Star. The letter implied Canada was dissatisfied with Ukraines attempt to renegotiate hundreds of tariff reductions at the World Trade Organization and unless changes were made, free trade talks would not proceed, said Prystaiko. Most of the 371 tariffs in dispute have to do with agriculture and After three years of talks and five rounds of negotiations, the Canadian government suddenly suspended free trade negotiations with Ukraine leaving a nearly complete deal in limbo, charges Ukrainian Ambassador Vadym Prystaiko. But suddenly in June, after rounds of meetings in Kyiv, Ottawa and Geneva, International Trade Minister Ed Fast fired off a letter to his Ukrainian counterpart saying the talks were essentially over, Prystaiko said. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Liberal government: VICTORIA - British Columbia's New Democrat Leader Adrian Dix says he forwarded information to the RCMP in connection with the Liberal government's discredited plan to court ethnic voters, but he refused to provide details while saying his actions had nothing to do with losing the provincial election. , according to Winnipeg Free Press. "As part of our work, we uncovered new information that we believe to be serious evidence of wrongdoing," he said. "This isn't about the election campaign. This is about serious misconduct over time that the Liberal party has been engaged in." British Columbia NDP Leader Adrian Dix speaks to the media in Vancouver, on May 22, 2013. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck Dix said Friday that the NDP found evidence after the May 14 election and that party lawyers advised him to submit a letter to the RCMP. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.

Ryan Detrick: NEW YORK - With a possible U.S. government shutdown days away, Wall Street still hasn't come down with a critical case of fiscal fever despite forecasts that failure to resolve the federal budget standoff could be catastrophic. , according to Reuters. "Part of the calmness comes from the fact that investors have seen this before," said Ryan Detrick, senior technical strategist at Schaeffer's Investment Research in Cincinnati, Ohio. By Angela Moon The benchmark S P 500 is up more than 3 percent for September, which has traditionally been described as the worst month for stocks and was just 2 percent off its all-time high. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.