Frank McKenna, the former premier of New Brunswick, has announced new call centre jobs for his province.

The job announcement was welcome news in Saint John, where the industry is working through a rough patch. The positions are coming to a centre that was first established when McKenna was premier, 16 years ago.

“Year in, year out, over almost 20-some years now, the quality of the workforce has resulted in this centre getting larger and larger and larger,” says McKenna, who is now the deputy chairman of TD Bank.

Roughly 275 jobs will be added to the TD Insurance workforce over the next three years, giving a much-needed boost to the Saint John industry.

More than 400 call centre jobs have disappeared in Saint John in the past month, compounding an already grim employment picture in the Greater Saint John area.

The city has registered the highest jobless rate of any city in Canada in recent months, which could become and election issue and ballot box question during next year’s provincial election.

“It’s unavoidable. Normally during difficult economic times, the election can be a referendum on that government and how they’ve dealt with them,” says J.P. Lewis, who teaches political science at the University of New Brunswick’s Saint John campus.

Lewis says more job announcements like the one made on Tuesday can be expected until the election in September 2014, though some despair the continuing loss of more traditional jobs in the port city.

“Unfortunately, we’ve transitioned from a blue collar to a white collar, and we need a mix,” says says Ron Oldfield of the Saint John District Labour Council.

Labour leaders welcome the new jobs, but they also worry about the stability of some call centres.

“That’s what happens to the call centre industry,” says Oldfield. “It’s so portable that communities play off against one another and they just pull the plug and move to the next one when they get a better deal.”

Tuesday’s deal also means TD will need more office space, as the workforce in the city climbs to more than 700.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Mike Cameron