More and more immigrants choosing Winnipeg

[Greco Roman]

Originally Posted by spiritedenergy

i think i contributed to this forum more than many Winnipeggers with valuable opinions and ideas. Again it was a direct message to Pallo, why do you care so much of what I think or do? Just don't read or go ahead!

You are so defensive and closed-minded it's not even funny; that's the main reason why Winnipeg is what it is, not Katz or politicians. You blame your fortune on politicians, but do you know they are elected by people?
There will always be people complaining about Winnipeg and whining, are you going to shoot them all? Just leave them be and enjoy living here. But you don't and are more sensitive than a woman... guess what? I think you don't like that much Winnipeg either.

And to reply to Greco-Roman:

1- you also leave in a place that you hate (Edmonton), still you are asking me to leave...
2- do not make look like Canada is all the same, it is not.

No, I do not dislike Edmonton. I enjoy it very much. It was Calgary that I did not like. Two very different cities.

And after four months in Calgary, I left

[BigG]

If you can't take the cold, get out of the icebox.

[The Jabroni]

Originally Posted by BigG

If you can't take the cold, get out of the icebox.

Exactly.

First of all, this is Canada. We're bound to get snow and the cold no matter what. Any complaints about said snow and cold is null and void. Deal with it.

Second of all, WTF!?

[RTD]

Chinese calling Manitoba home
Many attracted by nominee program
By: Bill Redekop / Open Road

26/04/2010 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

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PHIL.HOSSACK@FREEPRESS.MB.CA �Sunny� Sun and his family left China two years ago, eventually settling in Manitou, where they operate a local hotel.
MANITOU -- Ask Yumi Sun what growing up in rural Manitoba is like compared with China and expect some interesting answers.

In Beijing, she was one of 60 kids in her high school class and among 80 kids in her elementary class. At Nellie McClung Collegiate in Manitou, her entire grade totals 23 students.

In Beijing, students had to stand whenever the teacher entered the room and they weren't allowed to address the teacher by name. Here, kids greet teacher Al Thorleifson by his nickname, Thor.

Yumi Sun and her family are part of an influx of Chinese families to Manitoba, including rural areas, who are entering under the business class of the immigration nominee program.

The nominee program has been deliriously successful at attracting immigrants and transforming Manitoba into a "growth" province. Less heralded is the business side of the program.

Under the program, foreign business people can be eligible to immigrate to Manitoba if they have three years business experience, $350,000 in net assets and spend $150,000 to set up a new business or invest in an existing business. That's a relatively low threshold compared with a province such as British Columbia, where a minimum $800,000 must be invested.

Last year, Chinese families made up the largest business group entering Manitoba -- 39 business people from China started or invested in companies in Manitoba, or 30 per cent of the 134 people that landed under the immigrant nominee program.

That's how Yumi's father, 'Sunny' Sun, arrived two years ago. He ran a solar energy company in a city near Beijing. However, electricity is too cheap in Manitoba to run a similar company here.

So Sunny-- -- his first name is Huaishuang but that's too difficult for most Canadians to say -- bought the Manitou Motor Inn in Manitou, about 145 kilometres southwest of Winnipeg.

He chose rural life because "in Winnipeg, many, many Chinese people always together so can't learn English. I wanted to learn English."

It's common for Chinese newcomers to invest in pizza restaurants in Winnipeg. Other investments include a children's clothing warehouse and businesses in furniture, scrap metal, freight forwarding, biotechnology, real estate development and renovation companies.

The Sun family isn't the only one taking the plunge into rural life. Several Chinese newcomers have opened Chinese restaurants in rural Manitoba in the last decade in Winkler, Morden, and Pine Falls, and the Lion's Cafe in Ste. Rose du Lac, said Eva Luk, an immigration lawyer specializing in Chinese immigration. Recently, Robert Jin, another business nominee from China, announced he is building a hemp processing plant in Gilbert Plains with the help of $5 million from Ottawa.

"I think the government is seeing huge potential (from Chinese business people). There's a real opportunity for increasing the tax base and economic development," Luk said.

The business community in China now knows about Manitoba, too, she said. "We're not under the radar anymore."

Business people in a communist country? In the 1980s, Yumi explained (because her English is better than that of her parents), her grandfather ran a government business. But in 1983, the government loosened its grip, allowing people to own a private business. In 1996, her father started his business.

The Sun family runs a cheery hotel, restaurant and bar, in Manitou, population 750. Sunny, 46, plans to refurbish the hotel this summer, renovating all 16 rooms, adding a new roof and putting in new carpeting. "I want people to remember the Manitou Inn," he said.

Sunny said oil pipeline workers will be filling up hotels across Manitoba for the next two years. The Manitou Inn also gets skiers from nearby Holiday Mountain. It's frequented by American hunters in the fall. The hard-working family landed first in Winnipeg, and Yumi and her brother, Lei, took jobs as Free Press carriers.

But they are happy to be living in Manitou.

"I think it's more friendly than in China," Yumi said.

bill.redekop@freepress.mb.ca

Source: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/loc...-92074064.html

[RTD]

A good article of how Winnipeg's hispanic/Latin American population is growing quite quickly:

Biz group for local Latin Americans
Community creates own chamber of commerce
By: Martin Cash

24/04/2010 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

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Juan Godiner (left) and Edgar Rascon, founders of LACAM, say the desire for success is a shared goal.
Edgar Rascon saw the growth of the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Winnipeg first-hand and figured the city's Latin American community also needed something like that.

A longtime employee of an audio-visual company, Rascon set up equipment at events for other ethnic business associations over the years.

He believed the Latin American business community in Winnipeg could also benefit from that sort of networking support.

That was the genesis of the Latin American Commerce Association of Manitoba (LACAM), holding its first-ever trade show and forum in the rotunda of the legislature this afternoon.

Representatives from Latin American-owned businesses like travel agencies, financial planners, restaurants and web companies will be on hand.

Central and South Americans account for about six per cent of the province's total immigration last year, which numbered 12,000, with the Philippines, India and Germany representing the largest groups.

The number of skilled workers and entrepreneurial and business immigration to the province has been increasing.

Rascon, whose parents emigrated to Winnipeg from Mexico in the late 1960s, sold a rental property that doubled in value after six years and is starting what he says is the city's first authentic Mexican restaurant, called La Bamba, in Osborne Village, opening Monday.

"There may be some trust issues with some of the different nationalities within the community, but our common denominator is a desire to be successful in our careers," he said.

Tony Melendez, another LACAM organizer, whose family came to Winnipeg from El Salvador in 1984 when he was 10, said the people who came here in the first wave of immigration in the '70s and '80s can help those coming now.

"There are plenty of obstacles to overcome," said Melendez, a sheet metal worker with East Side Ventilation. "We thought we could get together and help the community through commerce. We are all workers -- whether we have a business or try to start a business, we need help in this community."

Among other things, Melendez said the organization's goal is to set up a Latin American credit union in five years. He realizes that might be ambitious, but said it would be a tangible aid to the expatriates here and a signal to the mainstream of its substance in the broader community.

LACAM also wants to establish a scholarship for Latin American students to maintain the tradition of ensuring the younger generation receives a good education in Canada.

The group is starting with modest means, holding its first public event at the legislature, where no fees are required.

And the group will be challenged in making a go of it.

For one thing, their numbers in the province are quite small and one longtime Winnipegger from Chile said there really is no tradition of Latin American national expatriates working together, because of national rivalries. Not only that, she said, there is not much of a track record among many of the Latino communities of helping new members settle in the city.

Ben Rempel, provincial assistant deputy minister of immigration and multiculturalism, said immigration from Central and South America to Manitoba may not be large, but has been steady.

"I don't think we should underestimate their presence here," he said. "They are important to the province."

In the last couple of years, the largest numbers have come from El Salvador and many of them are settling in Brandon, where there is work at the Maple Leaf Foods plant.

Rempel said efforts like LACAM, even if small, can have an impact.

"They can definitely fill a niche," he said. "It just takes one or two successful entrepreneurs from a community to really make a difference."

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca

Source: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/bus...-91997329.html