【星网专讯】加拿大移民部日前决定放宽新法中追溯旧案的部分条款，将技术移民和商业移民资格旧标准评估时限延长半年；同时，那些已经递表但尚未接受最初评估的申请人如果撤销申请可获得申请费退款。据估计，目前正在排队苦候结果的10万中港台技术移民申请人，一半人有机会移民加拿大。

据《明报》报道，新移民部长科德尔(Denis Coderre)建议放宽新法中追溯旧案的部分条款，其中以2001年12月17日为递表日期分水岭。改变如下：

第一，在2001年12月17日前递表者，如在今年6月28日前仍未接获使馆发出的原则批准通知，那么，在2003年1月1日前，对其移民资格评估仍参照旧标准进行。

第二，在2001年12月17日前递表的申请人，如在2003年1月1日前仍未接获使馆发出的原则批准通知，那么，对其移民资格评估将参照新标准进行，但合格分数从之前的75分降低为70分。

第三，在2001年12月17日后递表的申请人，如在今年6月28日前仍未接获使馆发出的原则批准通知，对其的移民资格评估将参照新标准进行，但合格分尚未最后决定。

此外，科德尔还建议，任何技术移民或商业移民申请人，只要在递表后尚未接受最初评估，均可提出撤销移民申请及退还申请费的要求。但已经接获面谈等候通知、面谈邀请信、体检通知等信件的申请人将不在退款之列。

Eves’ support for Toronto lacks details
号称支持多市，Eves并无细述

Ernie Eves says he’s eager to help the City of Toronto if he becomes the next premier but offers few details on how he plans to do that.
“Toronto does indeed have special needs,” the former Ontario finance minister says in response to a series of questions from Mayor Mel Lastman.
“As premier, I would continue to take initiatives as I have done in the past that recognize the unique contribution of Toronto to both Ontario and Canada,” writes Eves, who is considered the front-runner in the Progressive Conservative leadership race that ends March 23.
More than a month ago, Lastman issued a public challenge to the five candidates, asking for their answers to 10 questions on topics ranging from transit funding to public safety and social housing.
The city has complained the loudest that provincial government policies, especially the downloading of services, have put cities at a financial disadvantage.
Provincial auditor Erik Peters stated in his latest report that the Tories’ so-called revenue-neutral “downloading” exercise had, in fact, short-changed Toronto some $140 million.

Richmond Hill set to raise taxes by 2.65%
列治文山地税增2.65%

For the first time in 11 years, Richmond Hill homeowners could see the municipal portion of their taxes increase.
The town’s budget committee is recommending that council approve an increase for this year of 2.65 per cent, or about $21 on the municipal portion of the average tax bill.
York Region has already approved its budget and a tax hike of 2.3 per cent, which will add another $32 to this year’s average bill.
It will cost $97.6 million, an increase of $3.6 million over 2001, to run the town this year. The operating budget rings in at $73.4 million, while $24.2 million will be spent on capital projects.
Revenues cover a majority of the expenses, but about $41 million will have to be raised through taxes.
Council is expected to approve the budget in mid-March. In 2000, it reduced taxes by 3 per cent.

Hydro customers to save up to $6B
未来8年电力用户可省电费多达60亿

Ontario electricity customers can expect to save between $3 billion and $6 billion over the next eight years due to deregulation, the province’s energy minister is to announce Wednesday.
Jim Wilson is expected to tell an electricity distributors conference that average prices in Ontario’s new market will be substantially lower than “the old monopoly based system.”
The Ontario government said late last year that it would open its $10-billion electricity market to competition May 1.
Tory Premier Mike Harris has promised that if done properly, deregulation won’t hike prices, cause blackouts or bankrupt utilities as it did in California where problems prompted a national emergency in the fall of 2000.

NDP warns of rental scam
优惠房租背后有陷阱

Ontario landlords are luring tenants with promises of cheaper rent, only to hit them with large, but perfectly legal, increases eight months later, critics say.
The province’s New Democrats are pushing the government to put an end to what they say is a “sleazy practice.”
“We call it a bait-and-switch because it’s just like the old con game,” New Democrat Michael Prue told a news conference Tuesday.
Under the Tenant Protection Act, landlords are allowed to offer prospective tenants a discount for eight months, as long as the amount over a year is less than a month’s rent.
At the end of that period, the landlord may charge the full rate – and can raise it again by as much as the 3.9 per cent rate set by the province.
Many tenants don’t realize when they sign the lease that the landlord is legally entitled to do so, said Prue.
As a result, some find themselves forced to move or to pay the increase.
Tenants have to be “cautious” when accepting a lower rate, Prue said.
“As soon as they agree to the discount, they’re also agreeing to future troubles down the road.”
Theresa Bowers, president of the Main Square Tenants Association in Toronto, said three people in her large residential east-end building were caught off guard by huge increases.
“There is nowhere on the lease that that is stated,” said Bowers, of the landlords’ ability to charge the full rate.
“I’m afraid that there’s been a lot more tenants who have signed and committed to these leases… and have no idea of what they got themselves into.”
While vacancy rates are low in many of the province’s larger centres, there has been an increase in available units, creating an incentive for landlords to lure tenants with promises of cheaper rates, said Prue.
The current legislation on discounted rates is convoluted and totally unintelligible to anyone other than a lawyer, he added.