Seamus O’Regan targets around 4,000 newcomers this year and he said, “We are ready to make this happen”.
The federal cabinet minister of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador has set more than double immigration target. He serves as the Canada’s Minister of Veteran Affairs and the Member of the Parliament for a riding in Newfouldlands’s capital city St. John’s, said that he has a recent buy-in from the Canada’s immigration Minister, Ahmed Hussen. This step is taken to increase the province’s prevailing immigrant status of 1,700 newcomers to around 4,000 by the year 2022.
In the recent meeting of the St. John’s Board of Trade this week, Seamus O’Reganspoke about his recent conversation with Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen, “I was just on the phone with my friend, Somali refugee-turned Immigration Mister Ahmed Hussen, and we are ready to make this happen”. It is estimated that, with the combination of the outmigration and the current population status, which is declining “at the incredible rate”, the 4,000 new immigrants will maintain balance of the baseline and prevent them from adversely affecting the social conditions of Newfoundland and Labrador’s declining tax support from going bad to worse.
“We need a minimum of 4,000 new immigrants a year in this province just to maintain the status quo. But, I’m not interested in maintaining the status quo. I’m interested in growing this economy, I’m interested in more jobs, in higher profits, in increased prosperity – and that means more immigrants. A lot more.”, were the words spoken by the Federal Minister of Newfoundland and Labrador.
The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador recently predicted that by the year 2025, there will be a decline of 10 percent in its working age population, which will result in 35,000 less people in the provincial labour market. There has been a steady increase in the numbers of the newcomers in the past few years, i.e. the total number of immigrants has increased from 546 in 2007 to 1,122 in year 2015.
O’Regan said that, “Once people come here, they are welcomed into our communities, they are welcomed into our homes, and they are often welcomed into our hearts”. He took pride in sharing the recent Canadian survey of immigrants, where St. John’s is mentioned among the most open and welcoming cities in the country.
