The #s are in: NB had record immigration and net interprovincial migration in the same year
The population numbers are in and they are impressive and, combined with a more fickle workforce, start to tell the story of rising shortages across the economy.
New Brunswick’s population increased by a record 21,663 between July 1, 2021 and June 30, 2022 (a 2.7% growth rate). That is a record - by a wide margin. Look at the chart. Since 2016, New Brunswick’s population has increased by 53,000. I think back to my time in government when I was told to expect very little population growth for years to come. Ooops.
Nova Scotia also had record population growth (+28,608) and even NL added 5,500 to its population. PEI added 5,930 (a 3.6% growth rate) but that is a continuation of a trend stretching back a decade+.
What drove the growth? It wasn’t natural growth. New Brunswick had 8,387 deaths last year compared to 6,469 births. If it wasn’t for inward migration, the population would be down 1,918.
Immigration hit a new record as 8,401 were added to the NB population and net interprovincial migration hit a record too (10,612). There were 4,836 net non-permanent residents during the year.
The interprovincial flow increase was driven a lot by the pandemic. We shall see if it keeps up. My hunch is that we will need to get the immigrant numbers up to 10,000-12,000 in short order as the flow from mostly Ontario is likely to subside.
Adjusted for population size, PEI attracted the most immigrants again, by a wide margin bringing in 201 for every 10,000 population. Nova Scotia attracted 135 per 10,0000 and New Brunswick 103. The net interprovincial numbers were similar across the three Maritime provinces and trending upwards on the Rock.
Now we need to make sure we keep ‘em. And that means more doctors, more teachers, more workers at Service New Brunswick, more building inspectors, more pet groomers, more dentists, more….. you get the picture.
If we want to grow, we need to have the capacity to handle growth. People won’t move here or stay here if there are high costs and long lines for everything.
But, you know by now my mantra. It’s better to have the problems of growth than of decline. And, boy, did we have growth last year.