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EDITOR KERA PIWOWARSKI-SKOCYLAS
THE DAILY VOICE, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 2015
News
Graduates facing struggles According to a study, Canadian wages have increased – however entrylevel jobs are tough to get By BAILEY NICHOLSON
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lthough a Statistics Canada study released March 31 reported Canadians in the workforce are making more money this year than last, many new graduates are having trouble making any money in their employment field – they can’t even find entry-level positions. Due to increased competition for entry-level jobs, several Vancouver employment counsellors said they have noticed more students struggling to find their way into their chosen field after they graduate. More students are settling for lower paying jobs or employment in unrelated industries. Career counsellor Amy Lloyd said about 70 per cent of her clients are students. She said that many students accept lower paying jobs for lack of a better alternative. “They will take wages that, I think, are fairly low,” she said. “I don’t think they have much choice though because an undergrad doesn’t get you what it did twenty years ago.” Many schools, including Langara College, UBC and SFU, use career centres as a tool for students to enhance their resumes and gain experience. Lloyd said these services should also be used to help students determine what career will make them enough money to survive in the long term. “They’ve been living at home and haven’t had to budget or anything. I don’t think they often know just how much money they need to make,” she said. “They come out [of school] and take a wage and realize they can’t really live on it.” Erika Park, a talent placement specialist in Vancouver for Manpower staffing service, said that students often apply to low-paying jobs because they think they will be more likely to get hired, but in reality, those jobs are more competitive. “Even though the pay rate decreases, that doesn’t mean that there’s going to be more opportunities for the students,” she said. “There are actually a lot of people who are applying for this type of position. It’s because we do have a higher rate of new immigrants too.” But international students are also having a hard time finding work, according to Chloe Tran, a Langara student from Vietnam. Tran said she has been trying to find an entry-level administrative position in Vancouver for the past year with no luck. “I’m looking for a job that’s related to my accounting major,” she said. “I haven’t found a job yet because they have a lot of requirements for those positions and I don’t have enough experience.”
OWEN MUNRO photo
The room was crowded with reporters on March 31, as John Furlong announced his decision about dropping his defamation lawsuit.
Time to move on, Furlong said Robinson said she reported fairly and her suit is about her integrity By OWEN MUNRO
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ormer Vancouver Olympics CEO John Furlong has dropped his defamation lawsuit against journalist Laura Robinson, but Robinson still intends My suit is to pursue her defamation counterabout an suit. attack on Furlong spoke my integwith reporters at a news conference rity and yesterday, calling the accusations of professionabuse against him al conduct an “unimaginable as a nightmare” and said it is time to journalist move on. In 2012 Robinson wrote a feature for LAURA ROBINSON the Georgia JOURNALIST Straight with allegations of Fur-
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long’s abusive nature towards First Nations students. Furlong launched a lawsuit against Robinson later that year for alleged defamatory statements; Robinson countersued in 2014. The competing lawsuits were further complicated when three First Nations individuals later filed lawsuits against Furlong, accusing him of abusing them while Furlong was a physical education teacher at Immaculata Roman Catholic Elementary school in Burns Lake in 1969 and 1970. Those three cases have all been dismissed. In a statement released yesterday, Robinson said her Georgia Straight story “was based on serious allegations made by numerous individuals,” including eight sworn affidavits. She said she feels she reported on the story with fairness and balance and Furlong’s withdrawal of his lawsuit was proof of that. “My suit is about an attack on my integrity and professional conduct as a journalist,” Robinson said in a state-
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The lawsuit is no longer necessary for me to achieve vindication or innocence
With voting for the transit referendum in progress, this new report has the ability to potentially influence voters
in Canada 1
By MONA BUTLER
Vancouver World Rank: 20
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Toronto World Rank: 47
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Ottawa World Rank: 59
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Montreal World Rank: 75
Edmonton World Rank: 97
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Calgary World Rank: 101
KERA PIWOWARSKI-SKOCYLAS photos
On March 31 Langara’s career resource centre appeared to be busy
JOHN FURLONG Former Vancouver Olympics CEO
Vancouver is ranked most congested city in Canada
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KERA PIWOWARSKI-SKOCYLAS photo
ment. “It has never been about these three cases.” Furlong said he launched his lawsuit after Robinson “published allegations and lies about me in articles she wrote” during his statement Tuesday. “The lawsuit is no longer necessary for me to achieve vindication or innocence,” Furlong said. “Canadians now know what took place and what is true.” Despite saying it was time for him to move on, Furlong said he looks forward to facing her in court. He said Robinson has a history of writing “offensive and irresponsible articles that hurt people,” referring to a story Robinson wrote for the Globe and Mail about former Canadian National Team basketball coach Ken Shields that was later retracted. “I am confident that truth will again prevail as it did yesterday,” Furlong said. Robinson said she looks forward to her June 15 court date.
Source: TomTom Traffic Index, based on 2014 data
Most people can use their GPS to re-calculate their route to avoid traffic congestion.
ccording to a new study Vancouver has the worst congestion in Canada. Not only did a traffic index released by the GPS company, TomTom, rank Vancouver as the most congested city in Canada, it is also the third worst in North America. This new information has the potential to bolster both sides of the debate in the current transit plebisite in Vancouver. Surrey city councillor Tom Gill is a supporter of the yes vote, and said he believes that as the Lower Mainland gets more dense, the quality of the transit service needs to improve with it. “How this [traffic index] will help right now, I’m not certain, but every piece of information helps,” he said. Jordan Bateman, spokesperson for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, is on the no side of the debate. He said that it would be hypocritical of the yes side to use this study to their advantage since Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson accused a similar study done last year by TomTom of having flawed methodology.
“We think that there is a lot of low hanging fruit that the mayors could use to fix congestion without costing a lot of money,” Bateman said. Lois Jackson, the mayor of Delta, thought that the traffic index could How this be of use to the yes [traffic side but has taken index] will a middle of the road approach in help right the referendum. She said it was now, I’m more important for not people to educate themselves on the certain, issues and make but every their choices thempiece of in- selves. though she formation hasEven sent out the inhelps formation pamphlets like other TOM GILL municipalities, she SURREY has not been the COUNCILLOR most active advocate for the yes side. “I have not been out waving the yes flag,” she said.
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