Presbyterians Launch 'Every Church Plant a Church' Thrust

Audrey Barrick Nov. 12 2009

The Presbyterian Church in America is pushing its "every church plant a church" campaign to help bring more people to Christ

Launched this year by the denomination’s domestic mission arm, Mission to North America, the thrust was designed to create a grassroots church-planting culture in the PCA.

"We’re not inventing any new methodology here but we’re crystallizing concepts we’ve clearly seen God use, and encouraging people to take more steps in this direction," said Fred Marsh, associate coordinator of MNA, in the denomination’s byFaith magazine.

Church planting is considered one of the most effective ways to "bring in a harvest."

According to research by David T. Olson, author of The American Church in Crisis, new churches grow faster than established churches and have three to four times the conversion rate per attendee than do established churches. They are also historically the best method for reaching each emerging new generation.

Additionally, planting new churches promotes the health of parent churches. Olson points out that the traits that cause a church to plant a new church (such as a desire to evangelize and minister to their community) are the same traits that will cause the parent church to grow.

"The best way to make known the name of Christ is by planting new churches. It's the best way to promote world missions. It's the best way to promote the health of existing churches," said David Sherwood, senior pastor at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Providence, R.I.

Mission to North America notes that Trinity and other churches that have been successful with church plants are not megachurches with superstar pastors. These pastors are just ordinary people responding to God's call to advance the Gospel through planting churches, the mission agency emphasizes.

Since 1970 the rate of church planting has been increasing but only marginally. The net gain in churches over the last eight years has been about one sixth of what would have been needed to keep up with population growth, according to Olson's research.

Meanwhile, mainline denominations have rediscovered church planting, missiologist Ed Stetzer said at the release of the "State of Church Planting USA" study in 2007. Some of the national churches that have a church planting emphasis, particularly in North America, include the Reformed Church in America, Assemblies of God, Presbyterian Church in America, the Baptist General Conference, and the Missionary Church.

The number of churches in the PCA has grown from 1,288 in 2004 to 1,372 in 2007. The denomination's mission arm has developed resources to help every church become involved in church planting to impact communities across North America.

http://www.christianpost.com/article/20091112/presbyterians-launch-every-church-plant-a-church-thrust/index.html

What are the job trends to 2009?

It is difficult to predict with accuracy which occupations will be in demand in the future and how many jobs will be created in these occupations. Economic conditions, technological developments, demographics and consumer behaviour will continue to influence the labour market, the occupational composition, and the kinds of job opportunities that will be available. Assessing industry trends is the first step in figuring out the potential for growth or decline in occupations or changes in skill requirements.

Projections to the year 2009 indicate that the main source of new job creation will continue to be the service industries. Taken together, the health care and social assistance; wholesale and retail trade; professional, scientific and technical services; education services; accommodation and food; transportation and warehousing; public administration; information, culture and recreation; business, building and other services; and finance, insurance and real estate sectors will account for over three-quarters of the projected new jobs in the economy. The manufacturing and construction sectors are projected to contribute 19 and 3 percent respectively to new job creation. Primary resource industries and utilities will make a very modest contribution to projected job creation (see Figure 6).

More info at: http://www.ontariojobfutures.ca/employment_trends.html

The Suburbs
Best Places to Live in Toronto

Toronto is a huge, sprawling city which offers any number of neighbourhood-characteristics and different lifestyles.

Our criteria for selecting good places to live may seem pedestrian to our more avant-garde readers, but they are focused around the fact that the majority of people prefer living in areas with low crime rates, good schools for their children - if they have any - and good access to the downtown (central city) area of Toronto.

We'll specify what we think are some of the best places to live in Greater Toronto. If we don't mention somewhere, that doesn't mean you should strike it off your list. There are a large number of neighbourhoods you could choose in Greater Toronto that meet our criteria. From these, we've picked our personal favourites and listed them in alphabetical order.

You should consider our suggestions as starting points. Some places we suggest, such as Markham, have large populations. Even though we think Markham - and others - are great places to live, they can be big places, and you will naturally find some neighbourhoods suit you better than others.

Farther from the city there is more space for new homes to be built, so you will find much of the area's rapid population growth has been accommodated in places outside the city of Toronto but within commuting distance of downtown Toronto.

Many new-build homes have appeared in Richmond Hill, Markham, Vaughan and a number of other areas. These are often referred to as cookie-cutter developments on the basis that the houses have as much individuality as cookies cut using the same cutter. These developments of detached, family homes tend to offer smaller gardens and less individuality in housing styles than older developments. Nevertheless, the rooms in these houses can be generously sized and the developments offer many families all the facilities they want and the opportunity to experience a considerably better lifestyle than their home countries could offer.

The Beaches

The Beaches lies on the shore of Lake Ontario, just a few kilometres east of Toronto's financial/commercial district. Streetcars from the Beaches take half-an-hour or so to reach the commercial district. The area offers its residents (and large numbers of visitors) a thriving, family friendly, cafe culture, with plenty of restaurants and bars. The area can become too busy at times for some residents.

Most of the Beaches' 20,000 residents have British Isles ancestry. Britons and other Europeans continue to make up the majority of newcomers. About one-tenth of the Beaches population is made up of visible minorities - the main groups are Chinese and South East Asian.

You will need to budget $600,000 to buy an average detached home in The Beaches, and more for the most sought after parts. $400,000 to $500,000 will buy you a small semi-detached house. Crime levels in the sometimes very busy Beaches, while never high, are not as low as in our other choices.

Bloor Village West/ Roncesvalles/ High Park
Bloor Village West, Roncesvalles and High Park are three different neighbourhoods which lie adjacent to one another. Housing in all of these areas is expensive - expect to pay $500,000 or more for an average home. Most of the population in each of the neighbourhoods has British Isles ancestry.

Bloor Village West is known for its quiet, leafy streets. It has plenty of restaurants and bars and lies about 30 minutes from Toronto's commercial district by subway. About one-sixth of Bloor Village West's population are visible minorities - the main groups are South East Asian and Chinese.

Roncesvalles was once known as Toronto's Polish neighbourhood. Again, it is a leafy area with large, traditional homes in quiet streets. Homes are cheaper here than in the adjoining High Park. About one-third of Roncesvalles' population are visible minorities - the main groups are South East Asian and Chinese.

High Park's centrepiece is the 400 acre park from which the neighbourhood takes its name. Families who can afford a million dollar homes and who wish the convenience of a location close to the commercial heart of the city but with plenty of trees and parkland gravitate to High Park. About one-sixth of High Park's population are visible minorities - the main groups are South East Asian and Chinese.

These neighbourhoods have good transport connections and are about 20-30 minutes from Toronto's business district in rush hour.
Burlington at Christmas


Burlington

The city of Burlington lies on the shore of Lake Ontario about 50 km (30 miles) south-east of Toronto. From Burlington the GO train takes 45 to 50 minutes to reach Union Station in the heart of Toronto.

Most of Burlington's population of 164,000 have British Isles ancestry. Less than ten percent of the population are visible minorities.

The city's residents enjoy the use of almost 3,000 acres of park land, eight golf courses, four indoor and two outdoor pools, three splash pads, seven ice pads, and six community centres.

A typical detached house in Burlington will cost about $450,000.

Leaside

Leaside is regarded as one of Toronto's top areas. It is a wealthy, leafy area known for its quality of life, good schools and convenient access to Toronto's commercial heart by road (The Bayview extension). Leaside homes are expensive - you will need to budget over $1 million for an average, detached home in sought after streets here.

Most of the current population has British Isles ancestry and it remains a popular choice with wealthier British immigrants.

About one-tenth of Leaside's population are visible minorities - the main groups are South East Asian and Chinese.
Markham

The town of Markham lies about 17 km (10 miles) or half-an-hour by GO train north of Toronto's commercial centre. 30 years ago, Markham was a small, semi-rural town but since then it has grown remarkably quickly.

At the time of the 2006 census, Markham's population was 261,000 and it has been growing since by an average of about 10,000 people each year. The town claims for itself the title of Canada's high technology capital - with some justification, given the presence of Apple, IBM, Lucent, Motorola, Toshiba and Sun Microsystems amongst others.

Buyers should budget about $500,000 for a typical, detached home in Markham or about $325,000 for a semi-detached house.

About two-third's of Markhams' population are visible minorities. More than half of Markham's population is Chinese or South Asian by ancestry and the town is a popular choice with Chinese/Hong Kong immigrants.

Oakville
The town of Oakville lies on Lake Ontario's shore, about 35 km (22 miles) or 35 minutes by GO train, south-west of Toronto's commercial centre.

Oakville's prosperous population is predominantly of British Isles ancestry and the town remains popular with newcomers from the UK. Visible minorities make up slightly less than one-fifth of the population - the main groups are South East Asian and Chinese.

The town has 2,500 acres of parkland, good schools, large numbers of play areas for children and two boating marinas.

Older homes tend to lie at the southern end of the town, closer to the lake. A large number of new houses have been built in the northern part of Oakville and these cost less than those in the southern part of town. Buyers should budget about $550,000 for a typical, detached home in Oakville - although homes tend to be more expensive in the older part of town, nearer the waterfront.

Richmond Hill
The town of Richmond Hill lies about 25 km (15 miles) or half-an-hour by GO train, north of Toronto's commercial centre. At the time of the 2006 census, the town's population was 162,000 and growing rapidly.

Richmond Hill's prosperous population have diverse backgrounds, with visible minorities making up half of the population. The main minority groups are Chinese and South East Asian.

Richmond Hill has over 166 parks offering facilities such as nature trails, playgrounds, sports and athletic fields, picnic areas, tennis courts. The town also has 1360 acres of natural, environmental area for recreation.

About $450,000 - $500,000 buys a typical, detached house in Richmond Hill.

Vaughan

The city of Vaughan lies about 21 km (13 miles) north of Toronto's commercial centre.

At the time of the 2006 census, the town's population was 238,000 and growing rapidly. Vaughan's population was just 30,000 in 1981. It is expected to exceed 300,000 by 2021.

The city's largest employers are the Wonderland amusement park, which employs more than 3,000 people, and UPS (United Parcel Services) employing 2,000 people.

More people in Vaughan identify themselves as Italian or Jewish by origin than by any other ethnicity. Visible minorities make up just over a quarter of the population. The main minority groups are Chinese and South East Asian.

Buyers should budget around $500,000 to buy a typical detached house in Vaughan or about $360,000 for a semi-detached house. Detached houses account for almost 80 percent of all residential property in Vaughan.
source:http://www.livingin-canada.com/best-places-to-live-in-toronto.html

Gathering @ Rescue 911 - Canada Mission 2009

The home of Richard & Yuet Mei was graced with maple leaves of sorts on an extraordinary Friday - Sept 11, 2009.

Almost everything from food to literature were stamped with the iconic symbol of a maple leave. The Canada flag hung by the living room. One could almost smell Canada.

This night, those who were interested to live, work, study or be involved in missions in Canada came together. We took away amazing facts of Canada and deepen our burden for the land through a time of fun-filled interactive quiz.

It was interesting to learn that Joseph Pope, the then-Under Secretary of State proclaimed the dominion of God over Canada since 1921.
Today we see the phrase, A Mare usque ad Mare (latin)" from sea to sea" inscribed on Canada's coat of arms, a motto taken from psalm 72:8 "he will rule from sea to sea and from river to the ends of the earth"

Pastor Ben shared from his heart, a vision for Canada, as follows:

1) North America is the largest English speaking continent in the world. It constitutes over 5% of the world population. That's 335 million people in a world of 6.6 billion.

2) By igniting church planting here, we influence the world for Christ for years to come. U.S is the world's sole superpower. Hollywood is a culture capitol. Montreal is the key french-speaking global city. Toronto is an influential global city.

3) North America is the only continent where Christianity is not growing. Since China and India have larger population, U.S is the 3rd largest mission field.

4) It is place where a huge vacuum was created by three generations influenced by secular humanism. But people are searching for meaning, security and significance. In a 2000 survey, 10% of adults in Canada regularly attend a church worship service.

















He concluded his sharing with the word from Habakkuk 2:14 "For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea".






















David Kong & Richard both gave first hand encounter about their recent trip to Toronto. One get the home away from home feeling knowing where to get chinese groceries, cheap & very good japanese food and that food court is actually available in Canada!






































Jabez gave a stirring testimony on how God moved him to trust him time and again for his preparation to land in Hope Montreal.

















That night, sweet memories filled our hearts (sweet cookies and Nanaimo bars filled our tummies!). We made meaningful conversations among new found friends. We certainly look forward for the next gathering - where Friends of Canada would come together, with one heartbeat, join together for the work of God in the golden land of maple leaves.

















Specially for Friends of Canada (F.O.C)
Contest: Who baked the Nanaimo Bars???
If you knew who was behind the Nanaimo bars on "Rescue 911", email/leave a comment on this blog/sms Sharon. A blessed F.O.C reader will recieve a gift on our upcoming Friends of Canada gathering in Jan 2010.

Trivial: Friends, remember those exquisite Nanaimo bars you ate? Here's a little piece of history to go along with it. Apparently, Nanaimo is the name of a beautiful city in British Columbia. A housewife who lives in this city entered a recipe for chocolate squares magazine contest and won. It is now been made famous in Canada and regarded as one of Canada's favourite confections! For those interested in baking, here's the link - http://www.joyofbaking.com/NanaimoBars.html

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Rescue 911 - Canada Mission Night

Rescue 911 is an exciting Canada Mission "Meet & Mingle" event set in a cosy home environment. You can expect ALL things Canada! Snacks, drinks, music, games, friends and all (well, almost :)) you wanna know about Canada!

If you're interested to find out more about doing missions in the 2nd largest country in the world, or just to find out more about studying, work or live in Canada, we welcome you to join us!

Mark your calendars for Sept 11, 2009. Friday, 7.30pm

RSVP now! torontoteam@gmail.com

Missions and Me!

Strangely, the word 'missions' does not appear in Scriptures though the whole idea pervades the Bible. From the Old Testament God sends His messengers to call His people out of sin back to a right relationship with Him following to the New Testament the Bible's symphonic theme of mission. Jesus was a missionary from heaven coming to earth.

Christianity is defined as a missionary religion according to a popular encyclopedia. In other words, Christianity is missions. Missions is Christianity. In this article you will notice that I mean church-planting when I say missions. A church was always planted when Paul did missions. Missions is church planting because wherever evangelism produces converts, churches are planted.

The church is to cross all barriers to reach out to all ethnic groups, clans, tribe, social classes, and cultures. The great message of salvation is to be shared with all people everywhere. Since the Great Commission is a mandate, the church is expected to be obedient.

How does world missions specifically relate to the Singaporean Christian? Consider seven areas.

The first and foremost reason is simply that there are over four billion people in the world yet to know Christ (Revelations 7:9). People need Christ. This is our business. If it is not our business, we need to make this our business. We need to stand and be counted.

Second, Singapore presents us with a reach of 4.5 million people. 15% of Singaporeans consider themselves Christian. This is good considering that there are negligible number of churches in large cities and countries (Genesis 1:28). With over 560 churches in our city alone, you could say that there are already many players here.

Third, we cannot concentrate on national missions and downplay world missions. We cannot because there are no states or provinces here. Singapore is a city state.

Fourth, the emphasis on a bilingual school curriculum has benefits. Many folks here are bilingual. A related benefit is the development of bicultural people and therefore bicultural Christians. We are comfortable or at least sensitive to multi-lingual and multi-cultural environments. We are people ready to go into new cultures.

Fifth, is the high level investment in education and training of its people. Human resource here is highly educated, highly skilled and highly motivated. Such human potential when humble and harnessed well can be a potent missionary force (Ephesians 2:10).

Sixth, is the strategic location of Singapore as a platform for launching church-planting teams. We reside in a nation that has excellent infrastructure, telecommunications and is a financial hub. We have every reason to build powerful missions churches in a country where everything works.

Seventh, is the spiritual growth from missions. Our personal experiences in the starting of our home church and starting churches in Asia would have taught invaluable spiritual lessons. The process of directly participating in missions has brought the Bible alive. Now, we know Biblical truths intimately because we have seen it come to life. We can speak with a great deal of conviction because I have come to know and trust the Lord much more. Now we can go beyond the region to go global.

I believe that a Christian misses our basis for existence when we do not participate in discipling the nations. I believe that our churches will plateau and face dryness when we do not enroll in God's plans for the whole world. When the river has no outlet, it becomes a dead sea.

Some may say, "I will send money". Others might say, "I will pray". God wants our heart. Let's pray, "Lord, please let me go". God is looking for people willing to obey His Commission. Pray for a vision for church planting. Missions is our life. 'M' does not just stand for 'missions' but it stands for 'me'.

The Rev Ben Lee
Christian Post Guest Columnist

Going to the Americas

Hope Church (Singapore) is now 18. Our first worship service was on Sunday, 17th February 1991. The first ones were Seh Cha, Andrew, Dinah and I, together with one guest. Soo Feng joined a little later. We were all so glad to be a part of this pioneering church. We joined Hope because we desired to fulfill the Great Commission (Genesis 28:18-20), to make disciples and to plant strong Biblical churches.

Passion to reach the world

In 1995, Dinah and I were asked by our leaders to relocate to Perth for missions. We agreed but this decision was later reversed. So we have stayed in Singapore since. Barely a year later in 1996, we assumed the leadership of Hope Church (S) and in that same year, our twins arrived!

In 1998, we were asked to extend our care for our churches in Europe and Africa. More traveling ensued in 2002 when we began looking after our South America churches as our Singapore teams arrived.

[Photos: Ministry in Hope Singapore]

I (Ben) have shared numerous times at Discovering Membership that I am a one-church man and a one-woman man. My prayer was to serve one church all my life. It seems that God has other plans.

Full time ministry in the Americas

We were first asked to look after our North America churches in 2005. Then in November 2006, the elders of our movement asked Dinah and I to consider a full-time role over the Americas and to be based in Los Angeles.

[Photos: Ministry in North America churches]

We were quite shocked initially. The Americas are so far away. LA is 14,134 km away. Our family and our loved ones are all here. Besides, life is simply great in Singapore. Everything, so to speak is established here: a staff team, church facility, devoloped church systems and practices are in place and you could say we were all set for a good life of active serving and living in this first-class city!

So for close to two years, Dinah and I embarked on our faith journey - beginning with much soul searching and conversations with God. At the same time, we have also been in close discussions with Pastor Simon Eng as well as our local leaders in Singapore.



But deep inside our hearts, we know better to respond to this challenge of extending God’s Kingdom where Hope churches are yet to be developed in many countries in this continent of the Americas. As our Hope adage says: We will serve God where we can maximise the extension of God’s Kingdom.

Our movement has origins in Asia and is rather developed in this side of the world but the Great Commission is to impact all continents and countries of the world.

The vast harvest field in the Americas

There are over 907 million people in 35 countries (and over 20 territories). Spanish is spoken by 320 million people, English by 300M, Portuguese by 185M, French by 12M, Quechua by 12M, Haitian Creole by 6M and Guarani by 6M. Indeed we have an exciting challenge ahead of us. We are trusting God to generate a greater impact in the Americas with our move. We truly believe that without a doubt, we are all serving in the end times. These are also times of opportunity when people are more open to the Gospel.

As we reflect, for more than 18 years, Dinah and I have been serving in Hope Singapore. It has been a joy to pour all that we have into this church family over all these years and these have also been the most rewarding years in our lives.

[Photos: Ministry in South America churches]

We would like to thank everyone at Hope Singapore - the staff team, leaders and members for all of your love and support.

Our twins who are now teenagers have literally grown up with the staff team around them and the church office, has been like their second home. You are our beloved family and we will miss you all very much.

Obeying the Great Commission

The twins and us are going through this big life transition. There have been many conversations over this cross-culture, faith venture. We are thankful for family and friends who have been coming alongside to support, encourage and pray for us. We hope to relocate in August when the visa is approved.

[1. Hope Quito, Ecuador - Sunday service. 2 Hope Santiago, Chile - Water baptism]

Our heart-felt prayer is that we will obey the Great Commission, claim the Great Promise (Genesis 12:1-3) and believe God for the Great Multitude (Revelations 7:9).

Pastors Ben and Dinah

Regional Director, Hope Americas
Hope North America website
Hope South America website

Canadian Salary Survey

If you're moving to Canada from the UK, Europe or USA, you're likely to find Canadian wages are a bit lower than you are used to. This is often compensated for by lower house prices in Canada.

Graduates in the secondary education sector earn attractive salaries by Canadian standards. For example, school-teachers at the top of the pay scale (after 11 years teaching) can earn $70,000 pa or more.

Academic salaries vary quite widely depending on the employer. Lecturer pay scales run from around $42,000 - $70,000. Assistant professor / senior lecturer pay scales run from around $50,000 - $80,000. For professors the scale is around $75,000 - 110,000. Individual institutions may pay significantly more or less than these averages.

Average wages for men and women working in different employment sectors.

Canadian Full-Time Average Hourly Earnings 2009

Earnings Classification	Average Hourly Earnings 2009	Average Hourly Earnings (2008)
Males	$23.84	($23.44)
Females	$20.18	($19.83)
All Employees	$23.59	($21.66)

Average Weekly Wages in Canada in 2008

Profession	Average Weekly Wage
Educational services	$863
Health care and social assistance	$744
All Industries	$810
Public Administration	$1041
Professional, scientific and technical services	$1094

Looking at jobs throughout Canada, typical wages are as follows:

Average Hourly Wages in Canada in 2007

Profession	Average Hourly Wage
Retail Sales / Sales Clerk	$11
Data Entry Clerk	$15
Bookkeeper	$16
Accounting Clerk	$17
Truck Driver	$19
Plumber	$22
Carpenter	$22
Executive Assistant	$22
Electrician	$25
Architect	$27
Social Worker	$28
Registered Nurse	$32
Computer Engineer (not software)	$33
Physiotherapist	$34
Lawyer	$36
Computer and Info Systems Manager	$37
Engineering Manager	$45
Dentist	$60

In practice, wages vary from city to city and province to province - sometimes quite widely. Here are pay scales for jobs in Toronto, Calgary and Winnipeg:

Wages for Management Jobs

Wages for Business, Finance and Administration Jobs

Wages for Science / Technology Jobs

Wages for Health Jobs

Wages for Social and Education Jobs

Wages for Arts, Writing and Recreation Jobs

Wages for Sales and Service Jobs

Wages for Trades Jobs

source: http://www.livingin-canada.com/work-salaries-wages-canada.html

Canadian immigration will soon require biometrics from visitors to Canada

Friday, 12 June 2009

According to a recent announcement by the Canadian government, all Canadian visa applications will soon need to be accompanied with biometrics (digital fingerprints and photographs) so that the government can maintain a database of biometric information for security purposes at all Canadian visa offices

"The intention is to capture everybody," deputy minister of Citizenship and Immigration, Richard Fadden said. "The idea is to increase our capacity to know who is in Canada at a particular point of time."

Gradually to be introduced from 2011, the new Canadian visa rules will be for all people who need to apply for a Canadian visa to travel, work or study in Canada, starting with the higher risk countries.

Canadian Immigration Minister Jason Kenney is planning to invest $12.1 million into the new program.

"Given the new context of security issues, Canada needs to ensure that we know who is coming into our country so that we can screen out people who have bad intentions," Kenney told reporters.

source: http://www.migrationexpert.com

UN reports Canada will continue to play a leading role in immigration until 2050

Wednesday, 25 March 2009

The United Nations has come out with its International Migration Report and Canada will continue to remain the second-biggest net receiver of immigrants until 2050, at 214,000 a year, although it's far behind No. 1: the United States

The UN report places the overall 2050 population of Canada at 42,844,000. Assuming Canada had zero net migration after 2005, its population would go down to 30,772,000. Canada’s economic stability and vitality is therefore dependant on the professional skills of foreign workers and students.

source:http://www.migrationexpert.com/Canada/

Canada's population continues to grow thanks to immigration

Friday, 27 March 2009

New figures show a population increase of 0.19 per cent, the fastest fourth-quarter growth rate since 1992. According to Statistics Canada, international immigration fuelled an increase in Canada's population in the last quarter of 2008, particularly in the western provinces.

"The increased pace in population growth can be explained by a marked increase in net international migration..." Statistics Canada said in a news release.

The increase brings Canada's population to an estimated 33,504,700, up 63,400 from Oct. 1, 2008.

All four provinces west of Ontario posted growth rates higher than the national level, with Alberta posting the biggest increase at 0.60 per cent.

Statistics Canada says Alberta received 5,200 immigrants, a level not seen in a fourth quarter since 1981 and was also boosted by an increase in interprovincial migration.

All of the Atlantic provinces, except for Prince Edward Island, saw an increase in population growth.

The largest demographic growth in the east was in New Brunswick at 0.07 per cent and was due to both interprovincial and international migration.

source:http://www.migrationexpert.com/Canada/Visa/canadian_immigration_news/2009/Apr/0/580/Canada%27s_population_continues_to_grow_thanks_to_immigration

Government of Ontario Announces New Budget

Monday, 30 March 2009

Thanks to the new budget, Ontarians will pay a single 13 per cent sales tax as of July 1, 2010 with most households receiving one-time $1,000 payments and personal tax cuts to ease the pocketbook pain, Finance Minister Dwight Duncan announced.

But the new sales tax, which blends the 8 per cent provincial sales tax with the 5 per cent federal GST, will apply to a host of other things that had not been taxed by Ontario. They include gasoline, heating fuel, tobacco, fast food, gym memberships, newspapers, magazines, haircuts, taxi fares, dry cleaning, legal fees, labour on car repairs and golf green fees.

Under the new tax regimen, selected items traditionally exempted from the 8 per cent PST will continue to only be taxed at the 5 per cent GST rate instead of 13 per cent. These are: children's clothing and shoes, child car seats and boosters, diapers, feminine hygiene products, books, and new homes costing under $400,000.

Business was the biggest budget winner. Starting next year, the corporate income tax rate will drop from 14 per cent to 12 per cent and then to 10 per cent by 2013, which is what the federal Conservatives have been demanding. Small business taxes will be reduced to 4.5 per cent from 5.5 per cent and the rate for manufacturing and processing from 16.7 per cent to 12 per cent and finally to 10 per cent.

In a $108.9 billion spending plan, Duncan also reduced the lowest income tax rate to 5.05 per cent from 6.05. It's designed to help the poorest workers, but 93 per cent of Ontarians will benefit.

There is $27.5 billion in provincial stimulus spending on public works projects to complement $5 billion in previously allocated federal money. That should create or support 300,000 jobs.

Buyers of homes costing $400,000 to $500,000 can claim a proportional tax credit. To offset the fact that taxes will rise on nearly everything from Big Macs to new homes costing more than $500,000, families earning $160,000 or less annually will receive $1,000.

Duncan said the business-friendly single sales tax should save corporate Ontario $500 million a year in paperwork costs.

source: http://www.migrationexpert.com/Canada/Visa/canadian_immigration_news/2009/Apr/0/581/Government_of_Ontario_Announces_New_Budget

Alex Beckett grew up in Saint John, N.B., and in his early 20s left the East Coast to attend graduate school in Toronto. He liked the hubbub of the big city and, after graduation, he built a thriving career as a web master and editor. He and his wife Jo, a Halifax girl, bought a house in an up-and-coming Toronto neighborhood and settled down to raise a family. But after their second daughter was born, the Becketts began to experience the oddest sensation — a distinct yearning to return to their Maritime roots. Alex knew that work in his field would not be as easy to find as in Toronto, but both he and Jo pined for a less hectic life and the smell of salt air.

Four years ago, the Becketts finally decided to act on their yearnings. They cashed out of a booming Toronto real estate market and moved to a dream house on the south shore of Nova Scotia, about 45 minutes down the road from Halifax. As the Becketts hoped, the move brought them closer to family. They loved the sense of space and constant presence of the ocean, not to mention the lower real estate prices and relaxed pace of life. But Atlantic Canada wasn't all bliss — among other things, the call for Internet expertise on the East Coast was even less than Alex's modest expectations had foreseen. "I don't think I ever doubted our move," he says, "but I realized that I had underestimated some of the economic differences between what I had grown used to in Toronto and what I was experiencing on the East Coast." If, like the Becketts, you've ever wondered about picking up and moving, you've probably pondered what makes a community a good place to live. Is it climate? Salaries? Real estate?

To be honest, it's probably a bit of each of those factors, plus many more. Our third annual list of Canada's Best Places to Live is designed to help you measure as many different aspects of a community as possible. You can use our findings in several ways. Perhaps you're planning to relocate. Perhaps you're looking to invest in real estate. Maybe you simply want to know how your community stacks up against its neighbors. Whatever your situation, we've got the facts you need.

Canada's best places to liveWe've taken weather into account, of course. Jobs and home prices, too. We've also looked at crime, the availability of doctors, how easy it is to walk or bike to work, and more than a dozen other factors.

Unlike most listings of best cities, our ratings aren't about who has the best scenery, or the best restaurants, or the best beaches. Instead, we've tried to suss out the factors — many of them quiet and unobtrusive — that make a community a good place to live. Where a city ends up on our list is not based upon judges' opinions or popularity polls. It's based on hard numbers. That means our Best Places to Live rankings are the fairest, most unbiased guide you can find to Canadian communities.

This year, we're delighted to provide you with information on 154 communities, up from 123 last year. Thanks to improved sources of data, we are now able to break out metropolitan areas into separate listings for communities of 100,000 or more. So while we previously had to rank all the various communities within the Greater Toronto Area as one unit, we can now separately rate locales such as Mississauga, Markham and Oakville that used to be lumped together under the Toronto label. Similarly, we can break Vancouver down into separate entries for the City of Vancouver, Burnaby, Surrey and other surrounding communities.

To make our listings as useful as possible, we've acted on your suggestions and included additional factors, such as air quality, in our rankings. In all, we looked at 16 indicators for each community. The maximum number of points a community could earn was 104. Here's how we divvied things up.

California dreamin'. The first factor we examined was weather. No surprise there — this is Canada, after all, where summer lasts barely longer than a beer commercial. Weather is our national obsession.

We awarded each city up to 20 points based upon how closely its climate resembled our fantasy — a pristine, unpolluted paradise with mild Mediterranean or Californian temperatures. No place in Canada is likely to be mistaken for Cannes or San Diego, but we assumed that most people prefer dry and moderate to wet and cold. So we began by handing out points for balmy weather — the fewer days below zero, the better. We awarded extra points to places with lots of sunny days. We penalized communities that get showered with rain or blanketed with snow. In years past, we took away points from communities with lots of sweltering days over 30 degrees. Based upon your feedback, we decided to drop that penalty this year. (It seems that many of you think the hotter, the better — and after this past winter, we're inclined to agree.) We added an entirely new category for air quality and looked at both ozone levels and particulate matter to arrive at a rating for each community's breathing supply.

Real estate, real cheap. It's lovely to be able to bask in warm, sunny weather, but it's even nicer if you can do so in your own backyard. In many of Canada's fair-weather locations, real estate costs are suffocating. Is Victoria's mild climate really worth the $500,000 or more that it would take you to buy a three-bedroom bungalow there? To enthusiastic gardeners, perhaps. But to others, the strain of shouldering a huge mortgage simply isn't worth the stress.

To make our listing as realistic as possible, we put ourselves in the position of someone moving to a city and struggling to buy a house. We awarded up to 15 points for affordable housing. Half these points we handed out for low home prices. But since local salary levels vary widely, we fine-tuned our home-affordability ratings by awarding additional points based upon how many years of the average local salary it would take to buy a typical home in each city. Based purely on affordability, it appears that you should immediately move to Yorkton, Sask. Yep, winters may be a tad chilly there, but a typical resident can buy a home for less than two years' salary. In contrast, you would have to bank 7.5 years of the average local salary to buy a house in balmy Vancouver.

Paycheques, please. This is where we venture into territory that most listings of best cities tend to ignore. Simply put, we place a lot of emphasis on how much cash is in people's pockets. We believe prosperous communities tend to be pleasant communities. At the very least, prosperous towns tend to be better places to live than neighborhoods where poverty is hammering at the door. We distributed up to 25 points based upon prosperity indicators. We started by handing out points based upon average household incomes in each community. But big bucks by themselves weren't enough to earn a top score on our prosperity chart. In some of Canada's most well-paid communities, such as the oil boomtown of Fort McMurray, six-figure paycheques are as common as Timbits, but living expenses loom equally large. A huge salary doesn't mean much if you have to pay $400,000 for a townhouse or $100 for a bag of groceries. So we awarded additional points for people's discretionary income — in other words, what proportion of their paycheques they have left at the end of every month after all the bills are paid. It turns out that people in middle-class communities such as Estevan, Sask., and Whitby, Ont., get to keep far more of their paycheques than people in apparently much more prosperous communities such as Vancouver or Toronto.

To further refine our sense of how well people live in each community, we looked for additional indicators of prosperity. Low unemployment was one obvious signal. A less obvious indicator was a high percentage of new cars on the road. Not only do lots of gleaming new vehicles indicate a high level of disposable income, they also suggest that a community is safe enough to make driving a new car a pleasure, rather than an invitation to criminals.

Home safe. Lifestyle factors played a big role in our rankings, accounting for a maximum of 44 points. Communities with low rates of violent crime earned marks. So did communities where a high percentage of folks walk or bike to work, because this indicates a high level of public safety, plus a low level of traffic stress. We applied our stethoscope to each community to see how many doctors per capita reside there. We reasoned that lots of doctors in a community indicate both a high level of health care as well as a generally pleasant place to live, since medical professionals can locate pretty much wherever they choose. We awarded bonus points for amenities, such as a widely used public transit system or a hospital, as well as for enduring civic advantages, such as being a provincial capital or the home of a university. Finally, we decided that one foolproof way to spot a good place to live is to look at where people are actually choosing to move. We didn't want to simply reward rampant growth, however, because while boomtowns boast lots of jobs, they also suffer from the social problems that go with rapid expansion. To get around this problem, we awarded maximum points to communities that have high but not out of control growth. We defined the ideal growth rate as being up to 7.5% a year, two percentage points faster than the national average. A city lost points if it was growing significantly faster or slower than this ideal figure.

And that was that. By the time we had finished factoring in all of our criteria, we had built a monster of a spreadsheet with column after column of data on 154 communities. We had learned a lot about living standards across Canada and about the very best places to live.

First, our winners. It turns out that the absolute best place to live in Canada is our nation's capital. Ottawa blew away the competition, finishing well ahead of second-place Victoria and third-place Fredericton.

Before you write in, let us assure you that we know Ottawa isn't paradise. Its frigid winters drag on too long; its nightlife doesn't pose a challenge to Vegas. But what it does possess is decent ratings across the full spectrum of our criteria. Household income is high. Homes are affordable. When you go shopping in your new car with your high discretionary income, you'll probably bump into one of the city's numerous doctors, who will no doubt be walking to work. While it didn't finish higher than 19th in any individual category, Ottawa was consistently in the top third of communities, no matter what factor we examined. And that was enough to earn it top spot, with 75 out of a possible 104 points.

Victoria, which finished No. 2 with 67 points, did things differently. While Ottawa achieved consistently decent scores on all our measurements but wasn't outstanding in anything, Victoria was a mixture of extremes, scoring very high for warm weather and lots of doctors, but very low for affordable housing and discretionary income. Fredericton, with 66 points, was Victoria's mirror image — the New Brunswick city scored extremely high on affordable housing and discretionary income, but low on doctors and weather. The lesson here? Cities can find different ways to be excellent. You have to find the place that matches your own needs. As Alex Beckett will tell you, the more research you do on a community, the better prepared you will be for a move. Four years after leaving Toronto (No. 51 in our ranking), he and his family are firmly rooted in the Halifax area (No. 9). But looking back, he realizes that his first year could have been a lot easier if he had investigated salary and employment prospects before moving. He's now working in Halifax for a public-service employer as a web master, but is earning about 40% less than the equivalent job in Toronto would pay. "Salaries are simply a lot lower in Nova Scotia than I expected, at least for what I do," he says. "Moving from downtown Toronto to rural Nova Scotia is a huge move — bigger than I had expected." Overall, though, he's delighted. He and his wife purchased an oceanside house with a million-dollar view for a price that wouldn't cover a semi-detached fixer-upper in downtown Toronto. They never have to worry about locking their doors at night. Their three daughters aren't obsessed with having the latest fashions or most expensive designer clothes. "It's been a great move for us," he says. "I lead a far more relaxed life than I ever did in downtown Toronto." If you're contemplating your own move, start by checking out our Best Places to Live listing. Who knows? You, too, may find that paradise is just down the road.

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Canada's best places to li