Talking to young people key in slowing outmigration, expert says

The New Brunswick government needs to better understand why young people are leaving the province in such large numbers if it hopes to find ways to keep them here, according to a UNB demographer.

The exodus of young people and families to western Canada has become a recurring theme in the provincial election campaign.

Political leaders are trying to position their party platforms as to tackle the ongoing issue outmigration.

Michael Haan, a professor at the University of New Brunswick and the Canada research chair in population and social policy, said in an op-ed written for CBC New Brunswick that politicians should be paying very close attention to population numbers.

“Young people move — all the time. What’s different now, however, is that there’s a glut of young people entering its high mobility years in New Brunswick and as a demographer I think we should be very nervous,” he said.

Haan said Statistics Canada data show that people tend to leave New Brunswick when they are in the mid-20s to early-30s.

He pointed out that roughly 150,000 baby boomers left New Brunswick in the late 1970s to early 1990s when they hit their high mobility years and “only a fraction ever came back.”

Haan said the province is losing about 15 people a week between the ages of 20 and 24.

“Fifteen may not seem like a huge number, but let’s think it through. Out-migrants are people that we build elementary, secondary and post-secondary schools for; we gave them playgrounds, hockey rinks and splash pools,” Haan said.

“Their parents received tax breaks, because we felt it was important to ensure that children could be well taken care of. We embraced the notion that it takes a community to raise children and we invested accordingly. Now, as the time comes for them to pay us back, they leave.”

In order to find ways to keep people in the province, Haan said the provincial government needs to better understand why they are leaving.

The UNB demographer said a formal structure should be put in place in both elementary and secondary schools to understand how these young people are making their decisions.

“Clearly, we need to have a serious discussion about what our young people want and need, because something is turning them off of this place,” he said.

“This is something that government can’t do alone; it’s something we all need to be talking a lot more about. It’s true that retention decisions are made at job fairs, but they’re also probably made at the kitchen table.”

The focus of the political parties during the election campaign has been around jobs. 

Progressive Conservative Leader David Alward's main pitch is to develop the shale gas industry and keep young people in New Brunswick who would otherwise move to western Canada to work in the oil and gas industry.

Liberal Leader Brian Gallant has promised to create 10,000 jobs in his election platform.