I guess I am just getting old and a bit curmugeonly but…
New Brunswick’s population grew 80% slower than the national growth rate since 2006. Only two provinces registered a slower growth rate. And this performance gets us:
“Some people say they’re ambitious goals. We feel that it’s important that we set high targets,” Arseneault, also the deputy premier, said in a phone interview Monday.
Trevor Holder, the Progressive Conservative critic for Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour, said the latest statistics are a “good sign.”
Constantine Passaris, the chairman of the Population Growth Secretariat’s advisory board, said that’s something to brag about.
A high target we can brag about. Even Trevor Holder is happy. I guess when you set your expectations as low as you possibly can, anything can be considered something to brag about.
Of course, Passaris puts a cherry on top with this juicy morsel:
Finding ways to keep youth in the province, increase the birth rate and family friendly policies, and adopting aggressive immigration policies are keys to keeping on track, he said.
Passaris knows better. In his little screed he should have led with the jobs and career opportunities to keep people here rather than the standard old line about ‘family friendly policies’. As for immigration, we have definitive data that up to 40% of immigrants leave within five years – because of a lack of economic opportunities.
| Population by year, by province and territory | ||||||
| persons (thousands) | ||||||
| 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | Apr-10 | % Change | |
| CAN | 32,576 | 32,932 | 33,327 | 33,740 | 34,019 | 4.4% |
| NL | 510 | 507 | 506 | 509 | 511 | 0.1% |
| PE | 138 | 138 | 140 | 141 | 142 | 2.6% |
| NS | 938 | 936 | 937 | 938 | 940 | 0.3% |
| NB | 746 | 746 | 747 | 750 | 751 | 0.7% |
| QC | 7,632 | 7,687 | 7,754 | 7,829 | 7,886 | 3.3% |
| ONT | 12,665 | 12,795 | 12,936 | 13,069 | 13,168 | 4.0% |
| MAN | 1,184 | 1,194 | 1,206 | 1,222 | 1,233 | 4.1% |
| SK | 992 | 1,000 | 1,014 | 1,030 | 1,042 | 5.0% |
| AB | 3,421 | 3,513 | 3,596 | 3,688 | 3,725 | 8.9% |
| BC | 4,244 | 4,310 | 4,384 | 4,455 | 4,511 | 6.3% |
| YK | 32 | 33 | 33 | 34 | 34 | 6.0% |
| NWT | 43 | 44 | 44 | 43 | 44 | 0.8% |
| NUN | 31 | 31 | 32 | 32 | 33 | 6.8% |
Look, don’t get me wrong here. This is much better than the outright population decline in the Lord years.
Oh and by the way, I have always cautioned these guys to limit bragging about population estimates. They get revised every few years and every year since 1992 they were revised downward in New Brunswick.
I realize this is all politickin’ but there is a lot of work to do before anyone can brag about the New Brunswick economy.