BC attracts more foreign students

British Columbia for the first time ever attracted more foreign students than any other Canadian province, according to the Citizenship and Immigration Canada. In the past few years, it has always been Ontario on the lead.

A total of 39,300 foreign students resided in B.C. in 2001. The five leading source countries of students came from South Korea, China, Japan, Taiwan and the US. South Korea’s strength is due to the strong Korean economy, the presence of a strong Korean community and many of them see Canada as an extension of the US. If Vancouver attracts many students from the Pacific Rim countries, students from Europe, Mexico and Brazil prefer Toronto. Overall, the total number of students in Canada increased to more than 130,000 in 2001 from 57,000 in 1990.

Last May it was the 20th anniversary of Cathay Pacific’s first non-stop, long-haul commercial flight from Vancouver to Hong Kong. It carried 363 passengers and its takeoff weight was 375 tons, the heaviest passenger aircraft then flying. The flight made aviation history when it landed 14 hours later in Hong Kong’s legendary Kai Tak Airport after battling 70-to 120-knot headwinds. It was also acclaimed as the longest commercial flight of its time.

Nobody expected the future success of the service because Vancouver’s potential as a destination was unproven. But within six months it proved to be lucrative and a third weekly flight was added. Later, the service went daily. Besides the passenger growth, the air cargo service also soared.

The SARS epidemic has deeply affected Cathay Pacific’s Hong Kong traffic, forcing the airline to reduce 42 percent of its worldwide capacity. CX recently canceled one of its three daily return flights between Hong Kong and Vancouver. However, when the situation returns to normal the airline is optimistic that there will be tremendous demand to travel once again, specially to Hong Kong.

Guess who’s coming back to Canada? After finishing her outdoor filming in Kamloops for the new Robert Redford movie "An Unfinished Life", she’s to meet Richard Gere in Toronto. Meanwhile her equally famous boyfriend is still in Vancouver wrapping up his latest film assignment.

J. Lo and Gere wants to shoot this coming summer the re-make of the 1966 Japanese comedy "Shall We Dance". In a showbiz trend, that seems to be giving every major Canadian province a chance to be on the big screen, the production company chose Winnepeg as the locale for the charming dance comedy. It is a fact that many have not seen the sights of Winnepeg and that many don’t even know that it’s part of Canada.

The Canadian dollar is getting stronger each day. The situation inspired economists, Statistics Canada and the business leaders to announce all kinds of predictions and data on what the booming Canadian economic activity will be like this year. Here are some outlook on some Canadian provinces:

Newfoundland and Labrador will double their growth because of increased oil production.

• Prince Edward Island will continue its revival growth due to improved agriculture.

• Nova Scotia’s economy will continue to improve.

• Quebec’s economy will be brisk due to the spectacular growth in residential building construction.

• Ontario’s auto industry will keep the province’s economy stable.

• Manitoba will be up because of new home building and stronger personal spending.

• Saskatchewan will slowly recover from the drought that affected the agriculture business.

• British Columbia will show recovery as investment in residential construction boomed despite non-growth of resource-based industries.

• Yukon continues its phenomenal growth with frisky construction and personal spending.

• Northwest Territories had a 3.3 percent economic growth due to its diamonds.

• Nunavut, a province we don‘t hear about is making a strong headway because of increased government spending to offset some mining industry problems.