Huge cut to immigration will hurt N.B. health care and other sectors, minister says
Ottawa has allocated 2,750 economic immigration spaces to N.B. — half the number last year
A federal decision to slash economic immigration allocations in half for New Brunswick will hurt some key sectors, says Jean-Claude D'Amours, the provincial minister responsible for immigration.
The federal government allocated New Brunswick 2,750 economic immigration spaces under two programs: the Atlantic Immigration Program and the Provincial Nominee Program. That number is down from 5,500 spaces in 2024, according to numbers provided by the province.
The news from federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller was unexpected, D'Amours said Monday.
"I was very surprised with the letter coming from Minister Miller, because, you know, I had the time to talk with him a few weeks ago about the need for New Brunswick and the specificities of our province," D'Amours said.
"The federal government is doing a one-size-fits-all formula, and a one-size-fits-all formula cannot work for New Brunswick."
In an email, Renée LeBlanc Proctor, a spokesperson for Miller's office, suggested the immigration allocation reflects an effort to "align immigration planning with community capacity." The plan recognizes the pressures that recent population growth has put on housing, infrastructure and social services.
D'Amours said the problem with this rationale is that accommodating the growth in the New Brunswick population will require more people to work in the sectors under pressure.
"If we want to offer services in the health-care service sector and nursing homes to our seniors, we will need people," he said, adding that the same goes for building more houses and apartments — more people in the trades will be required.
"Yes, on one side, we need to work to make sure that the capacity of our province … will be able to support the arrival of those new workers, but in the meantime, we need to make sure that we have those employees working in those sectors, to make sure that we offer services."
In Proctor's statement, she said it is at the discretion of the provinces whether to use their Provincial Nominee Program allotment to help meet their needs.
D'Amours said in 2024, the health-care sector needed 1,200 workers at a minimum. This year, the projected need is for 1,600.
New Brunswick's population is aging, which increases the need for more people to help support that sector, D'Amours said.
"In 1974, for every senior, we had seven workers," he said.
"Right now, for every senior in New Brunswick, we have 2.7 workers. And things are not moving better in the future, you know, it will be worse in the future."
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With files from Information Morning Moncton