A re-elected Liberal Government will continue to grow the province’s population and will invest in innovative methods to attract and retain young New Brunswickers.
Gallant also announced that a re-elected Liberal Government will create a reverse-headhunting service to provide expatriate New Brunswickers and other Canadians with a one-stop shop to assist them in finding a job and moving to New Brunswick, an initiative that will be further supported by job fairs across Canada. The initiative will support New Brunswickers living outside the province, and others, by helping them arrange interviews, look for housing, identify childcare options, and find a job for their partner. The new concierge-like service will aim to make finding work and moving to New Brunswick easier than it currently is.
To retain and attract youth to New Brunswick, Gallant added that a re-elected Liberal Government will:
- Ensure students completing internships with government agencies in the education, healthcare, social work, and sports and culture fields are paid for their work;
- Appoint more youth on provincial agencies, boards and commissions;
- Enhance its signature Free Tuition program;
- Enhance its Tuition Relief for the Middle Class program by ensuring more New Brunswickers qualify for financial assistance;
- Eliminate interest on all current and future provincial student loans, providing financial relief to tens of thousands of New Brunswickers;
- Expand its Free Childcare program for low-income families and its Middle-Class Childcare Subsidy program province-wide and will make the financial support that they provide to families more generous, ensuring that no family pays more than 15 per cent of its gross income on child care; and
- Double its investments in the Youth Employment Fund, providing thousands of young New Brunswickers with valuable experiential learning opportunities.
Under Blaine Higgs and the Conservatives, New Brunswick’s population shrank from 756,079 to 753,914. Since 2014, the Gallant Government’s investments have led New Brunswick’s population to recover, and we now have the largest population in the history of our province. As of April 1, 2018, New Brunswick’s population was 761,214.
To help attract more workers to New Brunswick, a re-elected Liberal Government will also work with professional associations to develop fair, reasonable and consistent practices to recognize foreign credentials. As well, a re-elected Liberal Government will aim to welcome an additional 500 refugees displaced by the conflict in Syria on average per year in New Brunswick. This builds on the province’s previous humanitarian effort in welcoming over 1,600 refugees impacted by this conflict.
“To continue to grow the New Brunswick population, we need to keep our young people here, bring people that have left the province back here, and welcome new Canadians to the province,” added Gallant.