US embassy cable - 05HALIFAX25

UNCLAS HALIFAX 000025 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON, SOCI, CVIS, PGOV, ASEC, CA, Nova Scotia 
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