Ministerial Statement – Immigration Pathways Propel Population Growth

  • Immigration, Population Growth and Skills

October 20, 2021

The following statement was read in the House of Assembly today by the Honourable Gerry Byrne, Minister of Immigration, Population Growth and Skills:

Mr. Speaker, I am energized to work with my Premier and my colleagues on a government-wide initiative to respond to our province’s serious demographic challenges by encouraging new skills, new talents and new people to call Newfoundland and Labrador their home.

As we know, Mr. Speaker, we have our challenges. We have an aging population, we have a declining birthrate and we have a clear and present shortage of people to fill job vacancies which are found all over this province. Unanswered help wanted signs are all around us.

While we continue to invest over $150 million annually to train and to up-skill Newfoundlanders and Labradorians for the jobs of today and tomorrow, this will not solve our demographic reality.

To power up our immigration performance, a suite of initiatives has been launched that extends from promotion to positive resettlement and all of this is meant to reach our goal of receiving 5,100 newcomers a year by 2026.Mr. Speaker, immigration is finally getting the resources it needs and deserves. But it is smart public policy that is its strongest driving force.

In addition to opening up new immigration pathways, our government is working directly with employers that are facing skills and talent shortages. We are promoting more awareness of immigration sponsorship as a human resources option and we are working directly with international graduates of MUN and CNA as well as other newcomers whom Ottawa has granted open work permits to match them with eager employers.

Our Pathways Job Matching initiative has already proven to be a welcomed new tool to advance our immigration efforts.

Mr. Speaker, when we launched our Priority Skills pathway earlier this year, we knew it would be a valuable resource in attracting more healthcare professionals to our province. Newcomers will not only serve the healthcare needs of newcomers, they will help serve the healthcare needs of everyone in our province. This is a win, win, win proposition. Now, with our Job Matching initiative, the needs of our broader business community, our employers, will also be better met.

Mr. Speaker, we are a welcoming place and we shall continue to welcome newcomers to Newfoundland and Labrador.

2021 10 20 2:35 pm