ETA Canada Travel Pass News

Food service workers at Vancouver Airport (YVR) may go on strike ahead of spring break. UNITE HERE Local 40, the union representing YVR food service employees, announced on March 15 that 85% of its members voted in favor of going on strike.

Union members have been negotiating with their employer, SSP Canada Food Services, overpay increases for several months. If the strike goes ahead, more than 200 food service workers at YVR’s international and domestic terminals will be out of work.

Airports are extremely busy from spring break to the Easter holiday. YVR is also expected to have 1.1 million users, so confusion is inevitable. However, as of March 16, no strike date has been announced.

Recent data shows the average wage is $18.27, well below Metro Vancouver’s living wage of $25.68. The union also wants to reinstate a subsidy program for people working overtime on the SkyTrain public transportation system, such as Uber, ride sharing, and taxis.

A warning has been issued that mental health problems among international students studying in Canada have reached a serious level. Education and immigration experts are expressing concern about the various difficulties they face and are urging the government and universities to take active measures. Singh, project manager at Khalsa Aid Canada, an Ottawa-based international student support organization, introduces the desperate story of a student who tried to raise tuition by selling his family’s house in Korea, but ended up running out of money. It conveyed the reality faced.

This organization provides free groceries and winter coats once a month, providing a last helping hand of hope to many students. The number of international students in Canada has rapidly increased in recent years, exceeding 900,000 as of 2023. This is more than three times more than 10 years ago.

Universities and governments are increasingly relying on tuition from international students to make up for funding shortfalls in educational institutions. However, along with this increasing trend, the poor living environment faced by international students and the difficulty of entering the labor market are also being highlighted. It is said that many students are suffering from problems such as insufficient living conditions and increasing dependence on food banks. Tushara Rodrigo, Consul General of Sri Lanka in Toronto, mentioned the recent murder of a family in Ottawa and urged parents to pay closer attention to the situation of their children. He said Sri Lankan students were shocked by food and housing costs and had difficulty finding jobs.

In addition, Sarom Lo, head of the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, pointed out that the root cause of the problems faced by international students is that they do not receive the same rights and protections as permanent residents. Citing the example of the fact that international students cannot use public health services in most states, he explained that this causes a lot of pressure, stress, and isolation for students. In this situation, Narinder Singh, president of Gurdwara Dukh Nivaran, a Sikh temple in Surrey, B.C., said 30 bodies of students who returned to India after 2021 were sent and 15 were cremated.

He said many of them had died from overdoses due to the toxic drug crisis, and pointed out that the mental stress and loneliness experienced by international students was one of the main causes of these tragedies.

Voices are growing that it is urgent to provide active support and measures for international students facing various problems. Concrete measures are required to alleviate the difficulties experienced by students and provide better educational and living environments.

On March 10th, a snowshoeing woman was caught in an avalanche on Mount Seymour in North Vancouver, British Columbia. The woman was buried upside down in the snow for 15 to 20 minutes. But she was lucky that she was rescued safely.

The accident occurred in the backcountry of Mount Seymour. The woman and her male companion were caught in an avalanche on the south side of Pump Peak. North Shore Rescue said the man got out on his own and called for the woman, but when she didn’t respond, he called 911.

Following the advice of the rescue manager, the man located the woman and pulled her out of the snow. The woman was unresponsive and cyanotic and suffered from hypothermia, but after she was evacuated, she became responsive.

North Shore Rescue dispatched a helicopter rescue team to the scene and the rest of the team rushed to the Mt Seymour parking lot.

After receiving medical treatment, the woman was taken down the mountain in an emergency sled. The avalanche risk for the mountains on the North Shore (north of Vancouver) is rated “high.”

On March 1, the British Columbia (BC) government announced it would become the first province in Canada to establish nurse-to-patient ratios. A minimum number of nurses has been established in six acute care settings. In high-acuity units, which require more care, there will be two patients per nurse.

Adrian Dix, BC’s Minister of Health, said, “Nurses play an important and central role in providing high-quality care,’ and the government is working hard to secure nurses to achieve the ratios set. I’m talking about it. The state government has set aside $237 million to retain existing nurses and recruit more nurses. In 2023, 6,567 new people will be registered as nurses.

The amount also includes a one-time grant of $169.5 million, which will be used to fund things like community health and mental health nurses.

Another $681 million will go towards expanding the Bridge Program to admit overseas-educated nurses and the Kwantlen Institute of Technology’s Practical Nurse to Registered Nurse Transition Pilot Program.

British Columbia (BC) announced on February 26 that it will raise its minimum hourly wage to $17.40 starting June 1 of this year. It is currently $16.75, an increase of 3.9%.

Starting in 2022, British Columbia will change its minimum hourly wage increase rate to the previous year’s inflation rate. In 2022, the rate was raised by 6.9%. Until then, the state government determined the rate of increase.

In British Columbia, minimum hourly wage increases take effect on June 1st of each year, except for some industries. If this year’s increase goes into effect, British Columbia will have the second-highest minimum hourly wage in the country.

The highest price is Nunavut, which raised the price to $19 in January of this year. In addition to British Columbia, at least eight other provinces and territories, including Ontario and Newfoundland and Labrador, use the Consumer Price Index to determine minimum hourly wages.

At around 3:00 pm on February 21st, an accident occurred at a tower condominium construction site in the Oak Ridge area of Vancouver, British Columbia, when a load being carried by a crane fell.

One person died because of this accident.

The Vancouver Fire Department believes that for some reason the load separated from the crane, hit the 25th floor of a building under construction, and then fell onto the victim on the ground. The cargo fell from about the 30th floor and hit several floors, breaking fences, and windows.

Approximately 1,700 workers were evacuated at the scene, and Camby Street was closed between West 41st and 45th Avenues. There have been three crane-related accidents in Metro Vancouver since the start of 2024, including this one.

The first incident occurred when a crane collapsed at a construction site in Burnaby, closing part of Lougheed Highway. In the second case, a crane broke and fell at a construction site in Surrey. There were no injuries in either incident.

According to the City News e-edition, orders have been issued to stop work and the use of cranes at the Oak Ridge accident site to ensure safety, and WorkSafeBC is investigating the cause of the accident.

Initially, the victim’s name was not released, but reports indicate that the victim was a woman who worked at the scene.

On February 23, BC RCMP (Federal Police) announced the arrest of eight members of a British Columbia (BC)-based criminal organization following an 18-month investigation.

As a result, five people were arrested on multiple charges related to illegal drug manufacture and weapons, including three arrests in Abbotsford. Both teams began their investigation in September 2022. In March 2023, 11 search warrants were issued.

Investigations in Vancouver, North Vancouver, Delta, Richmond, and Surrey resulted in the seizure of numerous types of fake drugs, firearms, cash, electronic equipment, and large quantities of chemicals and illegal substances. This investigation revealed the entirety of a sophisticated and large-scale drug smuggling operation that was taking place in a house in the south of Surrey.

The fake drugs found also contained alfentanil, which is far more toxic than fentanyl or morphine. Police say they have been able to “keep millions of people from ingesting potentially deadly drugs out of our communities.”

Statistics Canada released the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for January 2024 on February 20th. In January, it increased by 2.9% compared to the same month last year, following the 3.4% increase in December 2023, but the growth rate slowed. The cause was a significant drop in gasoline prices.

Compared to December’s 1.4% increase, January’s sales decreased by 4.0%. CPI, which excludes gasoline prices, rose 3.2% year-on-year in January, exceeding the Bank of Canada’s target of 3% or less. Food prices also slowed, rising by 3.4% in January compared to 4.7% in December. The slowdown in food prices was widespread, with meat prices at 2.8%, other prepared foods at 4.2%, dairy products at 1.5%, bakery products at 4.0%, and fresh fruit at 1.9%.

Prices of bacon decreased by 8.4%, and prices of shrimp and shrimp products decreased by 3.4%. Elsewhere, airfares and travel tour prices declined. Airfares fell further by 14.3% in January, compared to a 9.7% decline in December. However, airfares typically fall in January, when high demand during the year-end and New Year holidays subsides, authorities said.

Of the eight price index items, housing prices were the only one that increased. It was 6.2% in January, up from 6% in December. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, speaking at a press conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, called it a “good sign” that inflation was coming under control.

He expected the Bank of Canada to make its own decision on whether to lower interest rates going forward.

The current Bank of Canada policy interest rate is 5%.

Canadian airline Air Canada will launch a summer-only route between Toronto and Kansai International Airport starting June 18 of this year. Flights depart from Toronto on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and flights depart from Kansai International Airport on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.

Air Canada also operates flights to Kansai International Airport from Vancouver.

Flights were originally scheduled to begin in June this year but were moved forward to May 1st. From May 1st, the Vancouver-Kansai Airport line will operate three times a week. From June 18th, flights will increase to four times a week, with flights departing from Vancouver on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays, and flights departing from Kansai International Airport on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays.

With this, Air Canada’s direct flights to Japan have expanded to six routes, including Vancouver-Narita, Toronto-Narita, Toronto-Haneda, and Montreal-Narita. Other than Air Canada, Japan Airlines has a Vancouver-Narita route, All Nippon Airways has a Vancouver-Haneda route, WestJet has a Calgary-Narita route, and from March 13th of this year, ZipAir will start a Vancouver-Narita route.

The total number of transactions across all TRREB areas and all property types in December 2023 was 3,444, an increase of 11.5% from 3,090 in December of the previous year. Looking at this, it looks like there is an increase and the movement is good, but the total number of transactions has fallen to nearly half of what it was in 2021.

The average price for all property types was $1,084,692, a slight increase of 3.2% from $1,050,569 in the same month of 2022.

In December 2021 it was $1,163,323. The number of new listings is -6.6%, and the number of active listings is +19.3%. It is believed that the rapid increase in unsold inventory is being suppressed in part due to a decrease in the number of properties for sale.

A rapid increase in inventory will lead to lower prices, so it is interesting to see what this balance will be. The average number of days to sell was 49 days, an increase of 22.5% from 40 days in the same month last year, indicating the sluggishness of the market.