FREDERICTON -- It's not a sale on corn or blueberries advertised on the grocery store road sign in St. Stephen, N.B. Instead, spelled out in bright, bold letters, is the notice "hiring in all departments."

"In the old days, you know, boy, people would be lining up for those jobs. It used to be very difficult to find jobs around there," Francis McGuire, president of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, said Tuesday. "Now they can't fill the jobs."

The sign highlights the acute labour shortages facing businesses in New Brunswick, the only province in Canada to record a drop in population over a five-year period, according to the 2016 census.

The troubling population decrease has prompted New Brunswick Premier Brian Gallant to create a new cabinet portfolio focusing on population growth, part of a major cabinet shuffle unveiled Tuesday in the leadup to next year's provincial election.

Outside of New Brunswick's urban centres, the population decline is pronounced. Towns like St. Stephen dwindled by more than eight per cent while some rural areas experienced double-digit population declines.

Gallant said the new portfolio of labour, employment and population growth will ensure the province has the workforce it needs to grow the economy.

"This will help strengthen our workforce and grow our population which will combat our most significant challenge: an aging population," he said.

According to provincial statistics, there were almost 141,000 students in New Brunswick schools in 1991. Last year that number was about 98,000 students.

Last month, Gallant was enthusiastic when it became clear the Education Department missed its cost-reduction targets -- because the influx of 650 Syrian refugees stemmed the steady decline in student enrolment.

"It is good to have more people," Gallant said then.

Gallant named Gilles LePage, a backbencher from the northern New Brunswick Restigouche West riding, minister of labour, employment and population growth.

The aim to grow the population is coupled with a renewed focus on job creation in the province's traditional industries through the second new portfolio of agriculture, mines and rural affairs.

"To continue to grow the New Brunswick economy, we must consistently work at growing our population and workforce, and we must support industries that are in rural New Brunswick," Gallant said.

The demographic crunch of low birth rates, youth out-migration and an aging population is playing out across Atlantic Canada.

Herb Emery, the University of New Brunswick's Vaughan Chair in Regional Economics, said many rural regions in Canada are struggling with a static or shrinking population.

"Fertility rates started to collapse after 1965 down to below replacement," he said. "The challenge has always been how do you reverse that and one answer is natural resource development."

Emery said natural resource development attracts investment, causes in-migration and sparks population growth.

He pointed to the shale gas boom in Pennsylvania as an example of population growth spurred by development.

"The fracking boom in the U.S. is thought to have had a positive impact on fertility rates because younger people with higher incomes tended to pair up," Emery said. "If you have high youth unemployment, people tend to delay marriage and delay fertility."

Citing public opposition, the New Brunswick government announced in 2016 that it would keep a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing in place indefinitely.

McGuire, former head of Major Drilling Group International, said the labour shortage has been a growing issue in the private sector.

He said companies are facing challenges recruiting workers, caused by both demographic challenges and a "skills mismatch."

"The provincial government is listening to what the private sector has been saying for a couple years. We just can't find people."

A full list of New Brunswick's new cabinet:

  • Premier Brian Gallant, Executive Council president, minister responsible for the Education and New Economy Fund, minister responsible for innovation, minister responsible for the Premier's Council on Disabilities, minister responsible for women's equality, regional minister for Saint John and southwestern New Brunswick.
  • Families and Children Minister Stephen Horsman, deputy premier, minister responsible for military affairs, regional minister for greater Fredericton.
  • Justice and Public Safety Minister Denis Landry.
  • Aquaculture and Fisheries Minister Rick Doucet, minister of Energy and Resource Development, government house leader.
  • Education and Early Childhood Development Minister Brian Kenny, minister responsible for official languages.
  • Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Bill Fraser, minister responsible for Intergovernmental Affairs, minister responsible for the Regional Development Corporation, regional minister for central New Brunswick.
  • Post-Secondary Education Minister Roger Melanson, president of the Treasury Board, minister responsible for Aboriginal Affairs, minister responsible for trade policy.
  • Economic Development Minister Francine Landry, minister responsible for La Francophonie, minister responsible for Opportunities New Brunswick.
  • Finance Minister Cathy Rogers, minister responsible for literacy, regional minister for greater Moncton and southeastern New Brunswick.
  • Environment and Local Government Minister Serge Rousselle, Attorney General, minister of Service New Brunswick, regional minister for northern New Brunswick;
  • Tourism, Heritage and Culture John Ames, minister responsible for poverty reduction and the Economic and Social Inclusion Corporation.
  • Seniors and Long-Term Care Minister Lisa Harris, minister responsible for Celtic affairs, deputy government house leader.
  • Health Minister Benoit Bourque.
  • Agriculture, Mines and Rural Affairs Minister Andrew Harvey.
  • Labour, Employment and Population Growth Minister Gilles LePage.