Team Philippines in Canada, comprising all diplomatic and consular officials of the Philippines assigned to Canada, honorary consular officials as well as those from other agencies designated as contact persons and residing in the United States, converged in the city of Winnipeg, Manitoba to hold their annual Consular Consultations and Economic Diplomacy Workshop from 16 to 17 October 2015.
Led by H.E. Ambassador Petronila P. Garcia, Team Philippines in Canada tackled issues affecting the delivery of consular and community services to the 700,000-strong Filipino diaspora in Canada, as well as assessing ways to move forward in further strengthening and enhancing various aspects of economic relations between the Philippines and Canada.
In a province that saw the first major wave of migrants to Canada, Team Philippines discussed the various challenges and opportunities in providing timely and efficient services to the Filipino community spread across vast expanse of the country. The Philippine continues to be the top source country for new migrants for Canada, with 40,000 new Filipino migrants coming into the country in 2014. The Philippines has consistently figured prominently in such a trend in the past five years. Parallel to the entry of new migrants, and up until 2013, the Philippines was also the top source country for temporary workers into Canada. The growing number of Filipinos and Canada was front and center of discussions during the historical State Visit to Canada of H.E. President Benigno S. Aquino III in May 2015.
There are approximately 15,000 Canadians residing in the Philippines. The migration of Filipinos to Canada started via Winnipeg, as Filipinos now contribute to migrant dispersal across Canada. Large concentrations can be found in Ontario, British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta. Filipinos are third largest visible minority in Canada and Tagalog is the fastest growing language in the country.
The agreements signed during the visit of the President capped a period of a flurry of other significant developments that have taken place - including the designation of the Philippines as a Country of Focus for development cooperation, as a priority emerging market under the Global Markets Access Plan (GMAP) of Canada, and extended privileges of Philippine exporters to bring in their goods into Canada at reduced tariffs under the General Preferential Tariff (GPT) program. The two countries also recently updated their Air Service Agreement making the Philippine carrier Philippine Airlines the only ASEAN carrier to have direct flights to and from Canada.
The Philippines is the 14th largest trading partner of Canada in the Asia-Pacific. The trading relationship spans various sectors Total merchandise trade stood at C$1.79 billion as of 2014. Trade in services trade totalled almost half a billion dollars. Canada ranks 7th largest source for tourists of the Philippines and Filipinos in Canada are among the highest source or remittances on a per capita basis.
Team Philippines in Canada is composed by the Philippine Embassy in Ottawa, the Consulates General in Toronto and Vancouver, the office of attached agencies from the Department of Labor and Employment, and the accredited office of the Department of National Defense, the honorary consular officers in Charlottetown, Edmonton, Halifax, St. John's and Winnipeg, and the contact points from the Department of Agriculture in Washington, DC, as well as both the Department of Tourism and the Department of Trade and Industry at New York and San Francisco.
The Philippines is among Asia's fastest growing economies. In the past five years, it has received numerous credit upgrades from various investment ratings organizations, and has made significant improvements in its global competitiveness rankings. As a major manufacturing hub and host of freeports, its major export products include electronics, transport equipment, garments, copper products, petroleum products, coconut oil and fruits. It has become a leading global business process outsourcing center in voice and other-non voice information-technology services.
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