Libs, PCs betting on immigration boost to N.L.'s aging population
Skilled worker program, tax credits on the table to solve demographic debacle
Two contenders in the Newfoundland and Labrador election tackled population decline Monday, offering up two distinct visions for flipping the script in a province that's not only bleeding cash, but people.
The Liberal Party is pledging to triple the number of people moving to the province each year, from its current 1,700 to 5,100 in the next five years.
The Progressive Conservatives, meanwhile, didn't attach a hard number to their promise, but vowed to set "aggressive" targets for immigration growth.
Liberal candidate John Hogan said he's hearing concerns about the numbers as he's knocking on doors in the Windsor Lake district.
"People are concerned about the fact that we have a decreasing population in this province," Hogan told reporters Monday.
Outmigration, a low birth rate and a rapidly aging demographic are all adding up to negative growth in Newfoundland and Labrador, which was the only province to see its population go down last year, declining 0.3 per cent.
A 2019 projection from Statistics Canada painted a worst-case scenario for the province: a population decline of 90,000, or about 20 per cent of the current population, by 2043.
"The fewer people we have and the older they get, it means we have less people in the workforce," Hogan said. Then, in addition to the lower tax base, there's the burden of health-care costs for the elderly.
"It's a double whammy there in terms of problems."
The Liberals are parading a program already piloted under leader Andrew Furey: a "priority skills" incentive to bring in specialized workers to the technology, oceans research and oil and gas sectors. A release from Furey's government in early January said the program had received "hundreds of inquiries from professionals around the world."
Those skilled areas include medicine, web development, data analysis and aquaculture.
PC Leader Ches Crosbie, meanwhile, points his finger at the lack of jobs in general as the primary culprit for the province's losses.
"Why are we on the decline when we have everything we need to grow by leaps and bounds?" Crosbie said Monday, adding that red tape, high taxes and out-of-province workers are keeping unemployment high and driving people away.
In place of a detailed recruitment program, the PCs committed to a graduate retention program and resettlement assistance, as well as an in-vitro fertilization clinic to boost natural growth.
Crosbie also floated a relocation tax credit to attract newcomers, and said the Tories would develop a pilot project to bring people working remotely into the province.
They might come, but will they stay?
Despite the Liberals' promise to triple immigration numbers, obstacles remain to keeping newcomers here long term.
"People do come here, but they don't always stay here," Hogan said. "They move on to other provinces in the country. So we want to work with newcomers here, see what they need, what they want to feel comfortable here."
According to Statistics Canada, 7,263 Newfoundland and Labrador residents moved to another province last year.
Hogan said much of those enticements might be cultural in nature, such as cultivating a robust expat community to welcome them, or offering access to the cuisine and activities newcomers would find in larger Canadian centres.
In response to a question, Hogan also called curbing discrimination "another part of the process" of making newcomers feel at home.
"If it's education for people here in Newfoundland and Labrador, for landlords who are renting, we need to offer those services to them to make sure they understand that these people want to come here and be part of the community," he said.
With files from Jeremy Eaton and Terry Roberts