New Brunswick’s premier, Blaine Higgs, wants to increase the province’s population to a million by the year 2040. Currently, its population stands at just under 777,000.
Let’s do a bit of math. Counting this year, that would make a total of 21 years. So they’d have to grow their population by a bit over 10,000 people per year! Actually, if we want to be exact, it would mean the population would have to increase by 10,619 every single year in order to reach a million by 2040.
You see, New Brunswick’s population is aging.
The province’s labour market is experiencing a dire shortage of workers, Higgs said in his state of the province speech. According to the premier, the province’s growth strategy will create nearly 120,000 new jobs over the next ten years.
And what, pray tell, will the province do to fill them?
It’s not surprising then that New Brunswick’s provincial authorities and businesses will have to think outside the box. According to the strategy report, New Brunswick intends to raise the number of economic immigrants who can settle in the province each year to 7500 by 2024.
But those are just the numbers set by the national government. Higgs told his audience – made up of business executives and reporters – that the province will push for 10,000 people a year immigrating into the province. So, where do they intend to get all these people?
Evidently the province is in the process of opening offices in India and Europe to sell people there on the concept of immigrating to New Brunswick. But he doesn’t want just anyone. He wants people with the necessary skills for these jobs and with money to invest to move to the province.
