PENTICTON RETREAT AL FRESCO DINING AND WINE THERAPY CLOSE TO HOME {page 17} HELPING HAND CANADIAN POWERS TOUR TEAMMATE TO VICTORY {page 22}
CHINESE FUGITIVE A FLIGHT RISK: LAWYER {page 10}
VANCOUVER
Wednesday, July 20, 2011 www.metronews.ca News worth sharing. TM
Gate. Going up
Newcomers needed: Minister
Studies show 1M annually are required to maintain working-age ratio, Kenney says
TransLink CEO Ian Jarvis, left, Transportation Minister Blair Lekstrom, centre, and Heritage Minister James Moore kick off the construction of SkyTrain turnstiles at the Commercial-Broadway station yesterday. PHYLICIA TORREVILLAS/FOR METRO
Cheaters, beware: Work begins on fare gates Over the next year and a half, TransLink will install more than 400 fare gates across 49 SkyTrain stations. The $171-million project is aimed at reducing fare evasion, which costs TransLink an estimated $7 million annually. Story, page 3.
Canada needs to drastically hike the number of newcomers it admits to expand the country’s labour force and offset its aging population, the immigration minister said in Vancouver yesterday. But Jason Kenney added it’s not going to happen because Canadians are opposed to the idea of inviting too many immigrants, and the federal government doesn’t have the resources or ability to integrate them. “We can’t teach them English or French,” Kenney said during a speech to the Vancouver Board of Trade. “We can’t flood our taxpayer-funded services like health care and public education … and recent polls show that nearly 80 per cent of Canadians are opposed to … higher levels of immigration.” Skilled workers are needed in the country, he added, and a right balance on immigration levels
should be addressed. To spread out the benefits of immigration around the country, Kenney announced the federal government will be expanding the provincial nominee program as a response to labour-market needs. Immigrants in the provincial nominee category, where provinces and territories select immigrants based on their economic needs, will be increased to 40,000 from last year’s 36,428. Kenney is also working with the provinces to make sure the accepted nominees won’t end up residing in other places, he added. “They’re coming here with the implicit agreement to go and live in the province that’s nominated them,” he said. “We’re working with the provinces to come up with a better way of tracking down where those folks are going.” PHYLICIA TORREVILLAS
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