VISAS FOR PARENTS, GRANDPARENTS SHIFT TO LOTTERY

A popular immigration program that allows people to sponsor their parents or grandparents to come to Canada is reverting to a lottery system. Federal Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino, pictured, announced the relaunch of the parent and grandparent program today, saying it will open for applications on Oct. 13. It ordinarily opens in January but was delayed this year as officials sought to revamp the system after a first-come, firstserved approach buckled under excessive demand last year. A lottery system had been used before that but it led to widespread frustration that people's efforts to bring their families to Canada were basically reduced to a game of chance. The government says it will accept 10,000 applications this year and 30,000 next year.