The launch of a new immigration program, vaccines for children and other news of the week

The events of May 3 to 9 were particularly positive and welcome.

Immigration news

In one week, Canada held four immigration selections:

British Columbia sent 84 invitations to IT workers;
The province of Ontario selected 102 people from the stream for francophones;
Saskatchewan invited 259 professionals of in-demand professions;
Quebec shared the results of an earlier drawing in which luck smiled on 83 candidates.

In addition, the long-awaited recruitment for 6 new streams has opened, which will allow 90,000 people to get Canadian residency. French speakers are luckier here because there is no application limit for them as there is for those who apply with English.

And those wishing to move to Ontario should definitely check out the video about the new candidate selection system that the province has launched for 5 streams at once. It may even compete with Express Entry.

And news from the neighboring country — the USA. The American embassy in Moscow will soon stop providing consular services to Russians, so it won't be possible to get a visa in Russia. But I think this is another reason to pay attention to Canada. It's much easier to immigrate here, and you can travel from Canada to the States without any problems.

Pandemic

Even with the fact that almost no day has gone by without news on this topic for a long time now, the week was particularly eventful with events related to COVID-19 and immunization.

The Immunization Committee published guidelines on the use of the new Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which recently arrived in Canada. Vaccines are advised to be given to people in their 30s and older, but an exception can be made if a person under 30 doesn't want to wait their turn for other drugs. But it is not yet known when the new vaccine will be used, because the first batch of Ministry of Health rejected due to poor quality.

Finally, it's not just adults who can get the vaccine in Canada. Regulators approved Pfizer's vaccine for teens 12-15 years old. Alberta became the first province to open records for vaccination for this age group.

Still, we have to admit that immunization of the population in Canada is not progressing too fast. But residents have found a way out — vaccinate in the United States. Despite the closed land border, Canadian residents can fly into the States. The Americans, by the way, do not spare vaccines and have no problem vaccinating their northern neighbors.

In the U.S., vaccination is much better, so those who have been vaccinated can stop wearing masks. Canadians are wondering when they too will be able to get rid of the mask regime and travel abroad. Doctors and government officials responded to this question.

It's not without new restrictions this time either. Alberta has tightened quarantine measures, and Ontario may ban foreign students from entering the province.

Prices and salaries

In Quebec, they have raised the minimum hourly wage to $13.5 CAD. But for some reason, neither employees nor employers were particularly happy about it. In the summer and autumn of 2021, several more provinces will see increases in their hourly wages.

There's finally some optimism in the real estate market. The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation forecasts that by 2023, home prices will stop rising at a frenzied pace, as they are now, and the market will stabilize. But, unfortunately, it will not be without an increase in mortgage rates.

Learning English

Great news! Canada's top language school ILAC reopens campus in Vancouver. It means that the opportunity to learn English in Canada is back again. Especially since the school is now offering loyalty program bonuses and airfare discounts for its students.