Ottawa is slashing the number of study permits it approves over the next two years to get a handle on a ballooning international student program.
New student visas handed out this year will be capped at 364-thousand — which represents a 35 per cent decrease from the nearly 560-thousand issued last year.
Federal officials will set the number for 2025 following an assessment of the situation later this year.
The cap will apply only to post-secondary undergraduate students and not those seeking visas for master’s programs, doctoral degrees or elementary and high school students.
The final report of Nova Scotia’s Desmond fatality inquiry is to be released January 31st at the Port Hawkesbury courthouse.
Judge Paul Scovil’s final report will also include
recommendations.
The inquiry examined the deaths of Afghanistan war veteran Lionel Desmond and his family on January 3rd, 2017 at a home in Upper Big Tracadie.
Desmond killed three family members and himself.
The Nova Scotia government is renting operating room space at a private clinic in a bid to lower wait times for cataract surgeries.
It has signed a three-year deal with Vision Group Canada that allows surgeons to use the corporation’s Lasik M-D location in Halifax for up to 72-hundred surgeries a year.
The deal could see the private clinic make as much as 5.7-million dollars a year.
Health Minister Michelle Thompson says that with O-R time at a premium across the province, leasing the operating room time means more people should have their cataracts removed sooner.
Nova Scotia Health will be providing COVID-19 and influenza immunization and testing clinics across the province this week. Locations include:
Tatamagouche Fire Department
202 Main St., Tatamagouche
Thursday, January 25 from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Offering COVID-19 Moderna & influenza vaccines (ages 6 months +)
Note: Drop-in only. Booked appointments not available. COVID-19 rapid test kits available. There will be an Emotional Wellness Counsellor/Navigator and Family Practice Nurse onsite to provide support.
