Maintaining public support for immigration

I have been advocating for a more robust immigration effort in New Brunswick for more than 20 years. Attracting young people and families from around the world to support workforce needs and enrich our communities should be a focus in all corners of our province.

But a concern of mine all along has been that many employers would tell me anecdotally - going back 15 years or more - they prefer immigrant workers to those who were born in Canada. My message to the business community then and now has been that if immigration and the use of temporary international workers actually leads to higher unemployment among Canadians you will risk losing public support for immigration.

I heard recently that a job fair for young people in the Moncton region fell flat because many of the key employers - in sectors such as food services - that had been attending for years indicated they had no need for new workers. So a couple of hundred young people looking for work in service industries are struggling to find work.

I have been troubled about the changes to immigration and international student flows announced recently but maybe some good will come from this. The number of non-permanent residents living in the Moncton CMA has more than tripled. The population in the city grew by 7% in just one year.

I still think we need more focus on how to manage growth - housing, immigrant settlement, support for those falling through the cracks - we need to invest in these areas or risk our communities losing their appeal as places to live.

Immigration is net positive for our communities on many levels - but it is important to do what we can to align the inflows to workforce demand. Displacing the current population with foreign workers will only undermine public support in the years ahead.