NOVA SCOTIA SEEKS TO ATTRACT AND RETAIN MORE IMMIGRANTS

UNCLAS HALIFAX 000025 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECON SOCI CVIS PGOV ASEC CA SUBJECT: NOVA SCOTIA SEEKS TO ATTRACT AND RETAIN MORE IMMIGRANTS ¶1. SUMMARY: The Nova Scotia government is taking a hard look at how it can attract more immigrants to the province to help avoid the social and economic costs of a declining population. However, there is some skepticism about how serious the government may be in addressing the issue since a new immigration strategy unveiled on January 26 does not contain any funding commitments. END SUMMARY. ¶2. Faced with the serious economic and social impact of a declining population, the province of Nova Scotia is putting a new emphasis on increasing immigration to its shores. As with the other provinces in Atlantic Canada, Nova Scotia is dealing with the effects of an aging population, low birthrate, out-migration of young people, and increased urbanization. Economists are warning that these trends will inevitably lead to labor shortages, slower demand for goods and services, and increased fiscal pressures caused by fewer taxpayers and decreased federal payments from the federal government. ¶3. Unlike other regions in Canada, immigrants are not helping to reverse the expected decline in population growth. Increasingly immigrants to Canada bypass the Atlantic region in favor of larger cities, primarily Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal. In the case of Nova Scotia, immigrant intake has been on the decline for nearly a decade, dropping approximately 60 percent between 1995 and 2003. To make matters worse, of the reduced number who come to the province, only about 40 percent stay. For those who leave, better economic opportunities and closeness to larger ethnic/linguistic communities are frequently cited reasons. ¶4. Responding to these trends, the provincial government has devised a new immigration strategy which Premier John Hamm unveiled on January 26. The new blueprint is based on four components: ensuring a welcoming community, attracting new residents, helping newcomers to integrate into the community, and ensuring new immigrants stay in the province. Once the strategy is fully implemented Nova Scotia hopes to attract 3,600 more immigrants each year by 2010, double the number that move to the province now, while retaining at least 70 percent of those who have settled in the province. ¶5. To head up the job of implementing the new strategy, the Premier appointed the Province's first ever minister of immigration, Rodney MacDonald, a young up-and-comer who comes from the already sparsely populated Cape Breton region of the province. MacDonald will take on this new responsibility in addition to the tourism and health promotion portfolios he currently manages in the Hamm cabinet. ¶6. While most have taken a liking to the Premier's immigration initiative, and welcome the consultative process by which it was created, there is some skepticism over just how serious his government is in addressing the issue. Currently, there is no dedicated office for immigration and no office staff. It will take the tabling of the spring budget before provincial civil servants even know how much money will be earmarked for setting up the office or how much the Hamm government will dedicate to drafting new programs in the core areas of the strategy. And the key issue of job creation is outside of the initiative's mandate. Until resource levels are known, there is some reluctance for Nova Scotians to say whether the Premier has hit the mark in addressing what could become a serious economic and social problem down the road. HILL