With the aging and shrinking population becoming a problem across Atlantic Canada, New Brunswick has come out with a piece of an economic growth plan to address those problems.
Even with the plan in mind, many have already decided it’s too late.
“I’m preparing to move to Victoria, B.C., where there appears to be a lot more job offerings than here in New Brunswick,” says Nackawic resident Daniel Andrews.
Born and raised in the province, Andrews says he hasn’t been able to find a good job that he’s qualified for at home. After the province cancelled the tuition rebate program, the enticement to stay has disappeared for him too.
He’s decided to move his two degrees and his skills out west in just a couple of weeks.
“It really seems that, at the end of the day, the students and recent graduates of New Brunswick are shouldering the burden of the poor economic situation in the province,” says Andrews.
Although the government is too late to convince Andrews and others like him to stay, they do claim to have a plan for the future.
“What do we need? We need people, we need innovation, we need capital,” says New Brunswick Minister of Economic Development Francine Landry.
Landry says those will follow in a couple of weeks. Chief Economist David Campbell says Thursday’s release is about explaining why the province is where it is.
“In 2008, we flat lined,” says Campbell. “A lot of other provinces, most other provinces came out of the recession with relatively strong growth, we remained flat. So what we’re trying to do here is explain why.”
Campbell says immigration is vital to the province’s future, hinting that some people have to work longer before they retire.
However, it’s all too late for Andrews, who now sees New Brunswick as a future retirement destination.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Laura Brown
