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EscoBlades

Champion Member
Jul 22, 2020
2,084
1,710
Toronto
Category........
CEC

So it is no secret that IRCC does watch what is being said about them. Now it’s even more fascinating to think about how unmoved they behave!
Well, 86.4% neutral sentiment isn't an indicator (to them) that they need to change anything drastically in the short term. And that is a by-product of the way social media listening tools operate. They require a lot of data via machine learning to determine what is negative sentiment (eg "IRCC sucks") vs neutral sentiment (eg "Why are IRCC taking 13 months to approve my application?")

Meltwater and Sprout Social are more robust tools as it is. I guess IRCC only had so much budget.
Lol fortunately or unfortunately, this forum doesn’t seem to be on their watchlist, so you might wanna try twitter.

sucks though, coz they simply don’t care.
Forum posts from here show up on Google results, so it could definitely be on their watchlist. Chances are, they actively filter it out in favor of a larger userbase/sample size, like Reddit, since that is actually a social media platform when it comes to reporting.
 
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dankboi

VIP Member
Apr 19, 2021
3,687
11,099
London, United Kingdom
Category........
FSW
Almost 90,000 seniors facing Guaranteed Income Supplement cut for accepting pandemic benefits
Parliamentary Budget Officer says scrapping clawback of GIS would cost $438 million

Almost 90,000 Canadian seniors are being hit by a sudden cut to their monthly income because they accepted a federal financial benefit that was supposed to help them weather the pandemic.

Low income seniors who received the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) are seeing their Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) payments clawed back as a result.

GIS is intended to help low income seniors make ends meet. The payments are based on income. A single senior earning less than $19,248 qualifies for GIS. The cutoff for couples can be as high as $46,128, depending on their pension situation.

In 2021, the maximum monthly payment under the program is $948.82.

Janet McLeod, who turns 79 next month, is one of many low income seniors who work part time to support themselves while receiving GIS.

'A perpetual struggle'
McLeod, who previously received about $300 a month through the program, said she was told in July that because she accepted several payments of the $2,000 monthly CERB — which is taxable income — all her GIS payments for this year would be cancelled.

"I am in a perpetual struggle," she said. "So to be cut back $300 a month is very difficult, paying rent and taking care of my other expenses, which are very modest."

The Canada Recovery Benefit (CRB), which McLeod did not collect, is also counted as income when applying for the GIS.

McLeod has a small business helping students get post-secondary placements. She said that before the pandemic, almost all of her business was conducted face to face; COVID-19 left her without an adequate income, so she applied for the CERB.

Asking for special consideration
By the fall of 2020, she said, she had adapted her business model to remote work and stopped collecting CERB payments.

"When I did my taxes in April of 2021 for the year of 2020, GIS came back to me in early July and told me, 'You earn too much, you don't qualify for GIS,'" she said.

"Those of us who are getting GIS are on the low end of earned income. Seniors can't project that they are going to make a lot of money, but they still want to make a contribution and work as long as we can. You're cutting back on us, those who are least able to afford it."
Scott Bardsley, spokesperson for Minister of Seniors Kamal Khera, said that "because GIS benefits are generally reduced by $1 for every $2 of net income, affected seniors would have received more in CERB or CRB than they lost in GIS."

Bardsley said that McLeod and others like her can ask the federal government to consider their case by estimating what they'll earn this year and using that figure to calculate GIS.

Such requests, Bardsley said, are handled on a case-by-case basis and are approved "in limited circumstances."
McLeod said she got the same advice from the government. She said that because her business is a small, one-person operation, her income fluctuates on a monthly basis and she has very little idea of what she will earn this year.

Leila Sarangi, national director of the anti-poverty coalition Campaign 2000, said her office has been hearing from seniors across the country who are in McLeod's situation.

"We are talking about the lowest income earners who don't have savings, who don't have that resilience, who don't have that padding," she said. "That's why they're still working as seniors."

According to the Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO), 88,222 low-income seniors will see GIS reductions because of pandemic benefits.

Fix the problem, say opposition parties
In September, the PBO told the NDP that taking the CERB and the CRB out of the equation used to calculate GIS would cost the government $380 million this year and $58 million next year.

New Democrats and Canada 2000 want the government to stop including CRB and CERB in the GIS income calculation. NDP MP Daniel Blaikie said that while that change would be costly, it's already built into the budget because GIS costs are relatively stable from year to year.

He said that the federal government should not be trying to cover the cost of emergency benefits through cuts to payments for low-income seniors.

"If those benefits get taken away, they just don't receive enough every month to make rent," Blakie said. "Having them on the street is not good for them. It's not good for their neighbours, it's not good for their communities.

"Homelessness is a real problem. We don't need to contribute to that by taking away a benefit that was already going out to our poorest seniors before the pandemic."

In August, the Conservatives wrote to Khera's predecessor, Deb Schulte, to press for action on the issue. A spokesperson for the Conservative Party told CBC news that Conservatives want the problem "rectified" but offered no specific remedies.
 

Islander216

Champion Member
Nov 27, 2019
2,109
1,338
sIx m0nTh pr0ceSsSssinNnG t1M3ee

IRCC is a band of lazyasses with zero skill.
You do realise there's been a pandemic, right?

Also, they regularly update processing times based on type of application currently, it's not because they say they aim to process an application in 6 months that they are obligated to do so.
 

slavicgirl

Hero Member
Oct 27, 2021
301
223
Do you guys know how Canadian job market compares to Swedish/Austrian job market in terms of possibilities/salary/size? Field is mechanical engineering - mainly research and development
 

guelphite

Hero Member
Jan 22, 2021
318
303
Ontario, Canada
Category........
FSW
NOC Code......
2173
AOR Received.
28-10-2020
Med's Request
03-12-2020
Med's Done....
07-01-2020
You do realise there's been a pandemic, right?

Also, they regularly update processing times based on type of application currently, it's not because they say they aim to process an application in 6 months that they are obligated to do so.
look who's back!
 

RSub

Champion Member
Aug 23, 2021
2,101
2,634
USA
Category........
FSW
Visa Office......
CPC Ottawa
AOR Received.
12-11-2020

Jraci

Hero Member
Jul 28, 2018
338
122
You do realise there's been a pandemic, right?

Also, they regularly update processing times based on type of application currently, it's not because they say they aim to process an application in 6 months that they are obligated to do so.
Lodu nandan tu wapas aagaya
 

RSub

Champion Member
Aug 23, 2021
2,101
2,634
USA
Category........
FSW
Visa Office......
CPC Ottawa
AOR Received.
12-11-2020
Lol fortunately or unfortunately, this forum doesn’t seem to be on their watchlist, so you might wanna try twitter.

sucks though, coz they simply don’t care.
This is the largest platform for Canadian immigration. I highly doubt they wouldn't notice this.


Hey IRCC Fools,

Blink if you can read this.
 

EscoBlades

Champion Member
Jul 22, 2020
2,084
1,710
Toronto
Category........
CEC
8.6 % Negative? Wonder what social media they monitored. I guess even the social media analytics team does a poor job or they are simplifying lying to their colleagues on IRCC's perception outside.
Reddit, Twitter, Facebook. Primarily.
 

wonderbly

VIP Member
Aug 26, 2020
3,881
3,087
I finally got MEP and Biometrics updated today. Submitted my EE PNP application on 24th May 2021 - so 6 months later.

I'm not sure if they finally just got to my application, or because I sent a webform 4 days ago to let them know my address and contact number have changed as I was now in Canada (and in my nominating Province) on a study permit.
 
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Lc4life

Hero Member
Aug 9, 2021
533
252
FROM The Outlander PPR Thread

OINP NOI - 13 Feb 2020
OINP Submitted - 19 Mar 2020
OINP Nomination - 30 April 2020
ITA - 14 May 2020
AOR - 18 May 2020
MEP/BIL - 8 July 2020
Re-medicals Submitted (Upfront) - 9 Nov 2020
Re-medicals Passed - 9 Feb 2021
Re-medical Request - 18 Oct 2021
Re-medicals Submitted - 28 Oct 2021
Re-medicals Passed - 2 Nov 2021
RFV/PPR - 4 Nov 2021
VO - CIO Sydney
COR - Nigeria
NOC - 1111 (Financial auditors and accountants)
18 months.. I would already call this lightning speed.
 
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Lc4life

Hero Member
Aug 9, 2021
533
252
I finally got MEP and Biometrics updated today. Submitted my EE PNP application on 24th May 2021 - so 6 months later.

I'm not sure if they finally just got to my application, or because I sent a webform 4 days ago to let them know my address and contact number have changed as I was now in Canada (and in my nominating Province) on a study permit.
We are seeing recent MEP reported by PNP candidates with AOR in May/April. Did you do upfront medical?
 
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