22 PHILIPPINE ASIAN NEWS TODAY April 1 - 15 , 2017
Bob McMurray Named Surrey ’ s ‘ Citizen of the Year ’
Surrey , BC – Surrey City Council has named Bob McMurray as Surrey ’ s 2017 Citizen of the Year . The announcement was made at last night ’ s annual City of Surrey Volunteer Appreciation Celebration . The Citizen of the Year award honours an individual who has given longstanding and exceptional community service towards making Surrey a better place to live .
“ Bob McMurray is the personification of community service . For the past 50 years , Bob has devoted his time toward the betterment of our City and has been a mainstay in the realm of Arts and Heritage in our community ,” said Mayor Linda Hepner . “ Through Bob ’ s tireless dedication he has enriched people ’ s lives for generations to come and made Surrey a more vibrant place for all .”
In his half century of community service Bob has held positions on numerous committees , boards and associations , often serving as the Chair or Vice-Chair .
• 6 years – Peace Arch
Hospital Board of Trustees |
• 10 years – Cloverdale |
Board of Trade |
• 13 years – Surrey |
Heritage |
Advisory |
|
Commission
• 13
|
years |
– Surrey |
Museum |
& |
Archives |
Community Advisory Board |
• 16 years – Surrey Parks |
and Recreation Commission |
Bob continues to be a very active volunteer and is currently serving on the City ’ s Public Art Advisory Committee and the Culture Development
Advisory Committee .
The Citizen of the Year award recipient is chosen by Council and is presented to a City of Surrey resident who has given outstanding services for the advancement and betterment of the community . ( Oliver Lum , City of Surrey )
Unemployment in BC rises , province leads country in precarious part-time work — March job stats
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The ranks of unemployed workers in BC grew as fulltime jobs declined slightly , while BC leads the country in the prevalence of precarious part-time work , according to March jobs numbers released today by Statistics Canada .
Almost 10,000 more British Columbians were out of work compared to
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the previous month as the labour force grew and the full-time job count declined by more than 2,000 , says BC Federation of Labour President Irene Lanzinger .
“ It ’ s always disheartening when more workers face unemployment and have to struggle even harder to get ahead in the country ’ s most expensive place to live ,”
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says Lanzinger . “ Clearly the March numbers snapshot a shakey jobs picture in our province .”
With part-time jobs rising by more than 6,000 compared to February , Lanzinger points out that BC leads Canada in a precarious work index — the number of part-time jobs as a percentage of total
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employment .
According to the Statscan numbers , 21.2 % of all jobs in BC are part-time , which tend to be lower paying , with fewer benefits , and unstable hours and working conditions compared to fulltime work . By comparison only 18.7 % of jobs in Alberta and 18.5 % in Ontario are
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part-time .
“ The preponderance of precarious part-time work here in BC is indicative of a crisis in good quality jobs that weakens the foundation of our economy and underpins the high levels of disparity and inequality that are so rampant in our province ,” Lanzinger says . ( bcfed . ca )
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Stopping rice importation ‘ dangerous ,’ says public advocacy group
A public advocacy organization is calling on the Duterte administration to rethink its rice importation policy , describing it as “ dangerous .”
In a statement , the Foundation for Economic Freedom said stopping all rice importation may lead to shortages and increased rice prices .
“ We believe that neither policy allowing the National Food Authority to solely import rice , nor stopping all rice imports , is good for the Filipino consumer or the Filipino rice farmer .”
“ Stopping all rice importation as Agriculture Secretary ( Manny ) Piñol wants is a dangerous policy that could lead to significant shortages and increased rice prices .
The country has never been and is not self-sufficient in rice production . Stopping rice imports even during rice harvest season will put upward pressure on rice prices and will lead to significant hikes in rice prices and worsening of hunger and poverty ,” the group added .
It also said allowing only the National Food Authority ( NFA ) to import rice is a “ wrong policy ” since the government is “ a poor judge of
the timing of rice imports .”
“ Typhoons can hit the country at any time and destroy rice crops . Neither is the government equipped to respond quickly to a rice shortage given the bureaucratic procedures in government . A delay in importing rice will lead to significant spikes in rice prices and make rice more unaffordable to the poor ,” the group said .
“ We support the tariffication of rice imports and using the tariff revenues to help our rice farmers either to shift production to higher-value crops or to increase productivity ,” the group said .
“ We believe that rice import liberalization will lead to lower rice prices , lower consumer inflation , and higher disposable income for the working class . It will make our manufacturing more competitive since rice , which is the single biggest source of calories for our workers , will become more affordable .”
President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday has ordered a temporary halt in rice importation from Vietnam as local farmers posted a high yield of the staple grain this harvest season . ( abs-cbn )
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