I promised I would not beat this issue to death but yet another economist or policy wonk (this time from the U of Waterloo) demanding that we go back to a ‘points-based’ approach to immigration and focus only on the highest skilled talent recruitment into the country.
Thanks for this. I think the smaller province perspective is being lost in the national conversation.
I’m having trouble understanding your prescription—are you suggesting the Maritimes should focus on attracting low-paid workers? temporary residents?
Three things that don’t quite add up:
• NB consistently has around 14,000 people aged 25-54 unemployed and another 38,000 not in the labor force—likely some are disillusioned.
• NB is lacking in capital investment. Joël Blit argued in the Globe that readily available cheap labor disincentivizes capital investment.
• Housing affordability and access to social services have declined.
Shouldn’t our first priority be to get citizens into productive, well-capitalized jobs with wages that allow them to buy a home and raise a family (contributing to population growth), while also ensuring access to public services?
Once we achieve that, we can more confidently invite new residents to live here.
Some economic developers, not mentioning any names, championed strategies focused on population growth for their regions. Those strategies have been unusually successful for urban and rural areas. Now, some folks want to reverse that and return to a time of stagnation and decline. What am I missing?
Why do people always want huge changes in direction when tweaking what works is not only easier, it is the path to a better result? The immigration system appears to be working well, but no doubt it could be improved. Our country is diverse and I haven't heard a reasonable argument against that diversity. Instead of drastically changing the system, perhaps a well-thought-out tweak or two might improve it, but even that is a debateable assumption. We steered away from a points-based system to a more equitable system of allotment to the provinces and it worked well. I've heard nothing but good reports about our new immigrants, and I often rub shoulders with them. The anti-immigrant disease in the United States is transmissable through the media, but we can vaccinate ourselves by staying the course and making small, well-thought-out changes. We obviously need more immigration in many areas, and a restrictive points system is not the way to get it.
Thanks for this. I think the smaller province perspective is being lost in the national conversation.
I’m having trouble understanding your prescription—are you suggesting the Maritimes should focus on attracting low-paid workers? temporary residents?
Three things that don’t quite add up:
• NB consistently has around 14,000 people aged 25-54 unemployed and another 38,000 not in the labor force—likely some are disillusioned.
• NB is lacking in capital investment. Joël Blit argued in the Globe that readily available cheap labor disincentivizes capital investment.
• Housing affordability and access to social services have declined.
Shouldn’t our first priority be to get citizens into productive, well-capitalized jobs with wages that allow them to buy a home and raise a family (contributing to population growth), while also ensuring access to public services?
Once we achieve that, we can more confidently invite new residents to live here.
Some economic developers, not mentioning any names, championed strategies focused on population growth for their regions. Those strategies have been unusually successful for urban and rural areas. Now, some folks want to reverse that and return to a time of stagnation and decline. What am I missing?
Why do people always want huge changes in direction when tweaking what works is not only easier, it is the path to a better result? The immigration system appears to be working well, but no doubt it could be improved. Our country is diverse and I haven't heard a reasonable argument against that diversity. Instead of drastically changing the system, perhaps a well-thought-out tweak or two might improve it, but even that is a debateable assumption. We steered away from a points-based system to a more equitable system of allotment to the provinces and it worked well. I've heard nothing but good reports about our new immigrants, and I often rub shoulders with them. The anti-immigrant disease in the United States is transmissable through the media, but we can vaccinate ourselves by staying the course and making small, well-thought-out changes. We obviously need more immigration in many areas, and a restrictive points system is not the way to get it.
I hope you keep beating on it, it's important.