By Staff Reporter

Citizenship and Immigration Canada will re-open the Parent and Grandparent (PGP) program for new applications in January 2014, by which time the backlog and wait times in the program are expected to have been cut in half.

“The Action Plan for Faster Family Reunification is on track to meet the goals of cutting in half the backlog and wait times in the Parent and Grandparent program,” said Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney. “It is very important that we continue to make progress and not return to the old broken system with wait times as long as a decade that would be unfair to families.”

Only 5,000 new applications will be taken in PGP sponsorship program in 2014. The Ministry has assumed that there will be two people per application, so the intake of parents and grandparents will be 10,000.

In an interview with Generation Next Minister Kenney stated that almost 90 per cent of these applicants are given permanent resident cards.

In making this announcement, Minister Kenney presented the context in which the decision to pause sponsorship applications for parents and grandparents was made, and how it has helped the government to cut the backlog, so that the wait times for processing parental and grandparental sponsorship applications have been reduced to about 3.5 years to four years.

According to Citizenship and Immigration Canada’s website, currently CIC is working on parental and grandparental sponsorship applications received between September 11, 2007 to November 17, 2009, and is issuing acknowledgement letters for applications received on April 29, 2011. These processing times are global and may vary from country to country.

As of Jan 2014, new criteria will be set in place for sponsorship of parental and grandparental applications. The criteria is stringent and requires families to be financially strong to be able to take care of their elders. This includes:

First – the threshold for minimum income required to sponsor parents or grandparents for a family of two has been increased by 30 per cent, so the family of two (husband and wife) that wishes to sponsor two parents must have an income of about $55,000.

Second – the 10 year undertaking of sponsored parents or grandparents has been increased from 10 years to 20 years.

In response to the question won’t there be a backlash from the community on these financial measures that the Government is undertaking, Minister Kenney said “no, I don’t think so.”

Minister Kenney explains that almost 66 per cent of first and second generation Canadians are not in favour of any parental or grandparental sponsorship program. And almost quarter of sponsored parents and grandparents are seeking welfare and subsidized housing after 10 years of their arrival in Canada. In addition to this the healthcare costs of sponsored parents or grandparents is almost $200,000. Canadian taxpayers’ have to fund these costs, but they shouldn’t have to as sponsoring families should be able to take care of them.

Third – Sponsoring families will have to provide three years’ of notice of assessments issued by Canada Revenue Agency to sponsor parents or grandparents rather than one year’s.

Minister Kenney says that there have been situations where families come into money one year and “then go back to being poor.” The Government wants to ensure that sponsoring families have “sustainable levels of income” to care for their elders rather than “to dump the cost .. onto taxpayers.”

Fourth – the definition of dependent child has been changed in immigration law to mean kids of 18 years of age.

Minister Kenney said that Canada welcomes young economic migrants, however they should apply on their own to come to Canada.

Minister Kenney has repeatedly said that Canada has welcomed a record number of parents and grandparents in 2012 and is on track to admit record number of parents and grandparents in 2013. Each year almost 25,000 of parents and grandparents entered Canada as permanent residents.

The Government is making ‘Super Visa” a permanent feature for families to take advantage of. Minister Kenney clarified that parents and grandparents whose sponsorship applications are in cue can also apply for Super Visa and obtain Super Visa to come to Canada while they wait for a final decision on their sponsorship application.

By 2015, Citizenship and Immigration Canada expects to have “a working inventory” whereby intake of applications may correspond to number of parents and grandparents being welcomed to Canada told Minister Kenney to Generation Next’s readers.

Canada has one of the most generous family reunification programs in the world. The United States, United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand do not allow grandparents to be sponsored at all or only in very limited circumstances, and they have very restrictive criteria for the sponsorship of parents. Will Canada, at some point, consider doing the same given the enormous amount of resources that go into healthcare and other social services for elderly parents and grandparents?

” I actually considered doing that in these reforms,” says Citizenship and Immigration Minister. However, “only 1 per cent of the applicants in this category are grandparents .. and they are younger than what I thought .. so it was not worth the trouble at this point.”

Minister Kenney also reassures families whose applications are in cue with CIC that the new criteria will not impact the applications that are already in process. The new criteria will go in effect for applicants who will be applying as of Jan 2014.

Premier Kathleen Wynne highlighted the government’s strategy to help people lower their household expenses by reducing auto insurance premiums by an average of 15 per cent in Brampton. She was visiting NDP MPP Jagmeet Singh’s riding of Bramalea-Gore-Malton.

This strategy was outlined in the 2013 Budget. To achieve this reduction, the strategy would reward safe drivers and crack down on fraud.

If the Budget bill is passed and proclaimed, Ontario drivers could save on average up to $225 per insured vehicle each year. This, along with other elements of the government’s strategy, would benefit more than nine million drivers across Ontario.

This strategy is part of the government’s plan to create jobs and help people in their everyday lives. The government also wants to support small business, invest in roads and transit, and help build strong communities, where people receive the health care they need when they need it.

Staff Writer

In his 2013-14′s budget, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has proposed to amalgamate Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) with Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT). The Government of Canada is suggesting that it is natural to have international assistance objectives align with foreign affairs policies’, so that the Canadian government’s policies remain coherent.

Deepak Obhrai, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Department of Foreign Affairs, told Generation Next in an interview that the Government is ensuring that ” both the agencies – DFAIT and CIDA – were achieving the same objectives.”

However, the Opposition parties are alleging that there are a lot of unknowns when it comes to this merger. NDP and Liberal Party of Canada are not necessarily opposed to the amalgamation of CIDA with DFAIT, however the Opposition parties are afraid that there are too many questions that the Government has left open for speculation.

“We are not opposed per se with the idea of merging. What we are worried about is that in recent years, particularly in recent months we have seen the change of focus [of CIDA],” said Hélène Laverdière, NDP MP from Laurier – Ste-Marie and Critic for Americas, Consular Affairs and International Cooperation.

NDP MP Laverdière noted that the Minister himself has said that our aid money should go to opening markets for Canadian businesses which should not be the work of international trade department.

Liberal MP Bob Rae echoed the same sentiment. He said that it remains unclear to what extent CIDA’s work will be incorporated with DFAIT.

“The idea of greater integration between various parts of the government working on foreign policy is not a bad idea. The problem is the degree of political control and partisan control, and interference in the ongoing work of CIDA,” stated Liberal MP Bob Rae. He further added that “We don’t know if CIDA’s money will be reallocated to DFAIT, will there be change in countries of focus .. so it’s all speculation.”

MP Obhrai noted that the CIDA’s projects will go on as they are. CIDA’s budget of $4.3 billion will remain as it is, and that the savings asked of DFAIT and CIDA have already been achieved.

MP Rae is critical of reduction of CIDA’s budget overtime. He cites an example of United Kingdom where all three political parties have agreed not to lower the aid money to countries that need international assistance.

NDP has concerns regarding the real mandate of Department of International Cooperation. MP Laverdière says that if the merger was taking place “with the strong minister and the strong minister, there will not be such a big problem. Problem is the context in which it is being done .. Canada’s role is being weakened .. The government has provided no answers. There is a rumour that there will be change in the countries of focus. But the Government hasn’t said anything about it. There is a big big lack of transparency.”

MP Laverdière says that the rumour is that Pakistan will be removed from “countries of focus” list which may mean that the aid money flowing into Pakistan will be impacted.

All international assistance to India has also been eliminated. MP Obhrai says that this measure has been taken on Indian Government’s request.

“It was done on Indian government’s desire .. India doesn’t need any aid from us .. India is an emerging market .. India is doing very well,” stated the Parliamentary Secretary.

MP Laverdière says that ” we should respect decision of the Indian government, it is in the best place to know what it needs .. but we should also take into consideration perspective of poor.”

“There are areas of common interest in India with respect to economic development; areas like governance, improving rural development .. the poorest of the poor still live in India,” says MP Rae in response to the question whether the Canadian Government has lost its leverage by eliminating its aid to India.

The Government acknowledges that it is not easy to measure performance on aid money delivered to various countries, however accountability of taxpayers’ dollars is crucial.

“We can’t count the performance absolutely, but definitely there is an accountability process,” said MP from Alberta. He went on to say that the Government takes it seriously that there are still power problems, education delivery issues in Pakistan.

“Efficiency is very important, international community is working very very hard to ensure that the aid money is dispersed in efficient manner .. Lots of work is being done to ensure that the money is used wisely .. but we have to realize that some activities will have very long term results, education for example. Of course we can count the number of children going to school .. but the real result can be seen in 20 or 30 years,” stated NDP critic for international cooperation.

“I don’t like what’s called a cookie cutter approach,” stated Liberal MP Rae. “There are a number of ways of assessing that you are making progress .. Reasons for making no progress is doing more and not doing less .. only statistics shouldn’t be used to measure” the performance to continue to give assistance and aid.

MP Obhrai said that the Canadian projects in Afghanistan will be committed after “re-evaluation” and “seeing how the ongoing projects go.”

NDP MP says that there should be ” a better balance in Afghanistan not only on security issues but on poverty reduction. We should work with Afghan people to build institutions – which we do – but we can do more.”

MP Rae agrees stating that all evidence suggests that Canadian help is needed in Afghanistan.

The Government has been accused of hiding CIDA’s amalgamation with DFAIT on 433rd page of the budget document. MP Obhrai dismisses all such criticism stating that it makes sense to merge the two departments “to achieve efficiency and that’s what we have done.”

MP Rae retorts ” Of course they were hiding it. There was no white paper, no warning, no indication, no presentation, there was nothing. How can one lead to any other conclusion but this that the Government wanted to hide it.”

By Staff Writer

The Liberal budget presented by Ontario Minister Charles Sousa has put the Ontario New Democrats in a powerful yet a precarious position. Liberals have gone above and beyond to meet all the demands put forth by the NDP, however, NDP leader Andrea Horwath wants to hear from Ontarians at a toll-free phone line at 1-877-341-0244 and online at www.yoursayontario.ca.

The NDP had consulted with Ontarians before making demands such as to reduce auto insurance premiums by 15 per cent, reduce wait times for home care services and so on, however MPP Jagmeet Singh, NDP MPP from Bramalea-Gore-Malton says that now that the budget is in front of Ontarians, they should have a say to whether they would like the NDP to support it or not.

Nonetheless, New Democrats are disappointed that the budget presented by the Liberal government did not force auto insurance companies to reduce the premiums within a year.

“We wanted auto insurance premiums to be reduced in under an year. In five years, it will be totally different .. so the auto insurance premium reduction is promising but the amount of time is not reassuring,” said the rookie NDP MPP in an interview with Generation Next.

He went on to say that the auto insurance companies have had $4 billion in savings and another $2 billion in savings in 2013, so the savings should be passed along to Ontario drivers.

“These savings will last forever if the savings are not passed on to the consumers .. from 2004 to 2010, these companies were losing money .. they can’t say that anymore .. and it’s very very reasonable for them to pass those savings along,” he stated.

It has been noted that up to $225 in savings will come for safe drivers and not necessarily for drivers who live in high traffic, high accident, high fraud areas. Region of Peel residents live in high growth, high traffic, high volume and high accident area, will there be savings of 15 per cent for these drivers?

MPP Singh explained that the 80 per cent of drivers never make a claim in their life regardless of where they reside. Of those 10 – 15 per cent are “genuine claims, and are “mistakes.” The rest are fraudulent claims. Finance Commission of Ontario had noted that the benefits of GTA drivers have come down the most, the cost of providing these benefits to drivers dropped the most in the GTA, “so the savings have to be in GTA.”

When it comes to providing home care services, NDP is “happy” that Liberals have committed a lot of money “which is good, but it has not committed to an actual metrics” to measure the performance just as wait times are measured at Ontario’s hospitals, said MPP Singh. He said the NDP would like the wait times to be reduced to five days rather than up to 200 days.

The NDP would also prefer to see alternative measures like more community health centres to be put in place so costs can be reduced, and people can turn to community health centres rather than hospital emergency rooms for less critical issues.

MPP Singh said that the NDP believes that instituting tolls on HOV or having HOT lanes ” won’t raise significant amount of money .. we are open to creative ways of raising funds .. we will be releasing our platform on how to raise funds for transit in June.”

NDP MPP also said that the NDP is looking for finer details that have not been provided by the budget document so far. As of now, he says that people are digesting the budget presented by the government.

Tory MPP and finance critic Peter Shurman said the fact the Grits have give in to the NDP is further proof “the Liberals will spend anything to keep their power.”

“In a bid to buy the NDP support, Premier Wynne has spent an additional $1 billion on Andrea Horwath’s laundry list of demands, further compounding Ontario’s debt crisis,” the Thornhill MPP said.

“Ontario has a big problem and the NDP-Liberal government is just making it worse.”

He has also stated that NDP is “cozying up” to Liberals.

In response, MPP Singh said that instead of rejecting the budget outright like PCs and inducing a $93 million poll, the NDP has chosen to respond to the budget in a “more educated manner”.

PC Candidate Harjit Jaswal from Bramalea-Gore-Malton “Here are the stakes: Every dollar paid in interest on the Liberals’ huge debt is money that won’t go to schools, hospitals or new investments in our transportation networks. But the government has only made the problem worse through its reckless overspending.”

Minister Harinder Takhar has noted that the PC’s plan is to eliminate the deficit at the same time as Liberals, “unless they find some massive savings somewhere.”

Thousands of members of the Sikh community from Mississauga and across the GTA paraded through Malton yesterday in celebration of the annual Khalsa Day festival.

Members of Mississauga’s Sikh community were dressed in traditional religious garb as they marched from the Sri Guru Singh Sabha Gurdwara in Malton on Airport Rd. to the Sikh Spiritual Centre in Etobicoke.
The Sikh community celebrates the Khalsa festival to educate other Canadians about their faith and ensure the culture is kept alive by new generations of Canadian-born Sikhs.

“We have people who have come all the the way from Michigan and New York,” said Jujhar Singh Dhillon, general secretary for the Sikh Spiritual Centre in Etobicoke. “Vaisakhi is also about celebrating the season of the harvest back home, a very happy time, especially for the farmers.”

More than 75,000 people turned out last year and Dhillon said organizers were expecting about 95,000 people for this year’s event.

The sun was smiling on participants on the weekend and the sound of drums, music and cheering filled the air.

The procession, called “nagar kirtan” — the Punjabi word for “neighbourhood” — began at 1:30 p.m. at the Malton Gurdwara and ended four hours later at the Sikh Spiritual Centre, located at 9 Carrier Dr.

Similar parades and processions were held around the world. Traditionally, the celebrations include the giving of flowers and offerings at gurdwaras.

Sukhjunder Singh, 22, and Jaskirat Singh, 16, both said it’s important that all local Sikhs come out to celebrate Khalsa Day. Khalsa is a Punjabi term meaning beloved ones and refers to the collective body of all baptized Sikhs.

Originally a military order of saintly soldiers created in 1699 by the 10th Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh, the Khalsa were five baptized Sikhs who offered to give their lives for their religion.

Source: http://www.mississauga.com/community/citizen/article/28991

A British Columbia cancer survivor is giving women like her a chance at a fresh start by travelling across the world and soaking up different cultures.

Terri Wingham, who was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer at age 30, founded the Fresh Chapter Alliance Foundation last year to help cancer survivors connect worldwide.

She recently organized a trip to India for twelve fellow cancer survivors, who were matched with local community projects.

The women spent two weeks travelling the country and volunteering. Some of them washed floors at Mother Teresa’s Home for the Dying and the Destitute, some served meals to the poor, while others gave English lessons to underprivileged school children.

They also visited the Taj Mahal and other landmarks.

“Cancer is such a unifying disease,” Wingham, now 34, told CTV News. “It’s about bringing groups of people together and understanding that we are more the same than we are different.”

Wingham’s inspiration to start Fresh Chapter Alliance was deeply personal.

“I really struggled picking up the pieces of my life after cancer,” she said. “I thought that volunteering in Africa would inspire me. It helped me find myself again.”

Breast cancer survivor Alexandra Ginty was among the first to sign up for Wingham’s journey to India.

“It is completely unique. I have never heard of anything like this,” she said, adding that the trip gave her a new sense of purpose and belonging.

“You discover yourself and you feel incredibly grateful for everything you have,” Ginty said.

Wingham said another goal is to address the struggles most cancer survivors face.

“It’s not, oh you go to India and you can pretend you never had cancer and everything is better,” she said.

“But maybe you have these shifts in perspective. You meet other people who understand you and you feel less alone.”

http://www.ctvnews.ca/

Harper leaves the door open to participation in the Sri Lanka meetings

 Official Opposition New Democrats Paul Dewar (Ottawa Centre) and Rathika Sitsabaiesan (Scarborough—Rouge River) have launched a national campaign to pressure the Conservatives to fully boycott the Commonwealth meetings in Sri Lanka unless an independent and international investigation into alleged war crimes are accepted by the government of that country.

 The campaign was launched a day after Stephen Harper left the door open to government participation in the Sri Lanka meetings.

 “Canada must take a principled position against Sri Lanka’s lack of accountability for alleged war crimes,” said Opposition Foreign Affairs critic Paul Dewar. “I invite all Canadians to join our campaign and pressure the Conservatives to fully boycott the upcoming Commonwealth meetings hosted by Sri Lanka, unless that government allows an independent investigation into allegations of war crimes.”

 Canadians can add their voice to the NDP’s campaign for human rights and accountability in Sri Lanka by signing the petition at p.ndp.ca/srilanka and sharing it with their friends and family.

 “The government must give us a clear commitment that Canada will not be a part of these meetings if Sri Lanka does not agree to an independent and international investigation,” said NDP MP Rathika Sitsabaiesan. “I urge every Canadian to sign our petition, share it with their friends and family and build a movement to ensure that human rights and accountability are top priorities for the government.”

A Brampton council meeting to decide the future of a controversial townhouse development was halted as security had to rush in to calm the raucous crowd while councillors rushed out of the chamber.

Eventually, they came back after many in the capacity crowd left or were escorted out.

Councillors then voted 9-1 in favour of the development Thursday evening.

That prompted those still in the audience, mostly from the city’s large Punjabi community, to continue jeering.

Residents in the Springdale area say townhouses will decrease property values, overcrowd schools and prevent large, extended families from having the type of housing they desire.

Most of the dozen residents who spoke at the meeting emphasized that the Metrus development for 333 townhouses was not what the land was zoned for when the company originally planned a commercial project.

“We are not against development, we are not against townhomes, we are not against small, affordable homes,” said Anil Khanna.

He repeatedly told council that residents oppose the construction of residential units on land zoned for commercial use. He mentioned the loss of badly needed jobs that will result from the reduction of commercial space.

However, a Metrus spokesperson pointed out that the land is actually designated for residential use.

After members of the public began raising their voices in disbelief, Brampton chief administrative officer John Corbett confirmed that the site is indeed designated for residential development under the city’s official plan.

It was rezoned for commercial use, but Corbett and an independent consultant hired by the city explained the builder is allowed to incorporate residential because that was the original intention for the site.

After the crowd grew agitated, shouting a chorus of “No” when the consultant needed extra time to present his report backing the development, some questioned who paid the consultant and whether he’s a Brampton resident.

One resident wheeled in a large box on a cart and told Mayor Susan Fennell there were 20,000 signed petitions asking her to reject the development.

Councillor John Sprovieri, who voted for the development, said Metrus will still build all the commercial space it can fill while scaling back the number of townhouses, from 446 units. It will also provide green space, a water park and land for a library and community centre.

Harkanwal Thind, who came in second to Sprovieri in the 2010 election, said: “Please don’t play politics with this sensitive issue.”

Sprovieri has suggested the only reason some are taking on the development is to make a name for themselves ahead of next year’s election.

Sprovieri has repeatedly told his constituents that if they fight the new plan Metrus will win its case at the Ontario Municipal Board, which rules on such disputes.

He and other councillors warned the crowd that all the concessions (the reduction of housing units and all the amenities) would likely be lost.

A city staff report recommended support of the updated Metrus plan, saying it meets provincial density targets.

But the community is convinced it can win at the Ontario Municipal Board.

Many of the delegates noted councillors voted unanimously against the development at a March planning meeting, questioning why they would now vote for it.

Vicky Dhillon, the only councillor who voted against the development, echoed the words of many delegates, saying the OMB is just a threat used by developers.

“Municipal politicians always make wrong decisions under this threat,” Dhillon said.

When Sprovieri tried to read an email from a resident supporting the development, the crowd erupted, some accusing him of making up the email and telling all council members they would be replaced in the 2014 election.

After the meeting was restored to order, Dhillon said, “The fight is not over.”

Councillor Gael Miles said: “We know that a lot of you want to be candidates in the next election. . . . Threaten us if you want, but we believe this is the best decision.”

Fennell, who was not at the March meeting and had remained quiet on the issue, supported the majority of her council colleagues.

“The option of no townhouses is not real,” the mayor said.

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2013/04/18/brampton_councillors_approve_controversial_townhouse_plan.html

Ontario is taking steps to provide consumers with more protection against aggressive, high pressure, door-to-door sales tactics, especially for the sale of water heaters.

As part of its plan to strengthen consumer protection, the province intends to introduce legislation that, if passed, would impose new rules for dealing with door-to-door sales fairly, including:

Doubling the existing 10-day cooling-off period to 20 days for water heaters, providing consumers more time to consider their decision
Banning delivery and installation of water heaters during the new 20-day cooling-off period
Creating rules requiring companies to confirm sales by making scripted and recorded telephone calls to the customer and that key contract terms are disclosed in clear, easy-to-understand language
Providing new consumer protections when the rules are not followed, such as requiring the supplier to pay all cancellation fees when the 20-day cooling-off period is not observed

These proposed reforms would help protect the rights of consumers while furthering the new Ontario government’s commitment to building a strong economy and a fair, safe and informed marketplace. 

The outgoing interim leader of Liberal Party of Canada congragulated neweley elected Liberal leader Justin Trudeau.

He said “Justin’s victory is a testament to his industriousness, personal appeal and the resonance of his message that with hope and hard work we can make our Party and our country better.”

Speaking of 2011′s worse defeat, Mr. Rae said “While the 2011 election may have been the toughest moment in our Party’s history, it also helped us rediscover why we are Liberals: we believe in the dignity of each person and understand that freedom is a core value of our society; we believe in the importance of policies based on evidence, science and open debate; we understand prosperity must be both sustainable and widely shared; we know that good public policy and effective politics can help people reach their full potential; we want Canada to play a positive role in the world; and we understand that we must work with Canadians to restore their faith in our institutions and our politics once again.”