Province needs more control of immigration following federal cap, MLA says
Committee members from all parties agree Ottawa’s limit on study permits doesn’t reflect New Brunswick reality
A Green Party MLA says New Brunswick should have more control over immigration numbers in response to the federal government's new cap on international study permits.
Megan Mitton says Ottawa's "one-size-fits-all" decision is "going to have a negative impact, for sure" on the province's post-secondary institutions.
"I think this demonstrates the need for New Brunswick to have more control over the immigration flow, because this decision's been taken at the federal level and it's having negative consequences here," she said.
Mitton made the comment during a meeting of the legislature's public accounts committee after Dan Mills, the deputy minister at the Department of Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour, also criticized the federal move.
"Overall, our perspective is this is a terrible idea, what the federal government rolled out on Jan. 22," Mills told the MLAs on the committee.
Trevor Holder, the former Progressive Conservative post-secondary education minister, said in an interview he wasn't sure the province needed more control over immigration, but he agreed it must push Ottawa to give New Brunswick more flexibility.
Dan
Mills, deputy minister of post-secondary education, said the federal
government's rollout of the international student cap has been
'terrible.' (Jacques Poitras/CBC)
The province's universities and colleges were urged to "ramp up" their recruitment of international students to address low population growth and labour shortages, Holder said.
"They stepped up, and they did it in a big way, and now I feel it's almost like they're being penalized for their good work."
The federal government announced in January it would slash the number of undergraduate study permits by 35 per cent to 360,000 nationwide. New Brunswick will get 5,580 spots.
The cut was a response to concerns that the increase in international students was adding to the housing shortage.
But Mills told MLAs that this is "largely not a problem in New Brunswick" because both public universities and private colleges have been responsible in their handling of enrolment growth and its impact on housing.
New Brunswick needs more international students because many of them will stay and join the labour market, he said.
Mills cited projections projections that the province will have 133,000 job openings in the next decade because of retirements.
The cap "is going to be a major challenge. It's going to throw a major wrench into the whole recruitment side of things this year."
Liberal says cap does not align with province's needs
Permits are being distributed to provinces based on population, and each province will decide how to allocate them among their schools.
Liberal MLA Marco LeBlanc, the party's post-secondary education critic, agreed that Ottawa's cap number "does not align" with the province's needs but disagreed that New Brunswick needs more power over immigration numbers.
"[Whether] the government of New Brunswick has more power or not is not necessarily going to impact how many students are going to post-secondary institutions in New Brunswick," he said.
Ottawa is also capping the number of acceptance letters that New Brunswick can issue at 9,300, based on an assumption that 60 per cent of the students will come here.
"That's just not the case," Mills said. "They're using a national average."
In fact, he said, only about 30 to 40 per cent of the students the province accepts end up choosing to study here, meaning it needs to be allocated a higher number of acceptance letters to get the 5,580 students Ottawa is allowing.
Liberal
Marco LeBlanc said Ottawa's cap does not align with what New Brunswick
needs but disagreed the province needs more control over immigration. (Sam Farley/CBC)
Mills said departmental officials are grappling with the issue "literally every day" and are in constant discussions with universities and colleges about how to overcome the problem posed by the acceptance letter issue.
"Our goal, frankly, will be to meet the number that the federal government has given us to the best of our ability," he said.
"It's going to be extremely challenging, given the federal government's estimate of what I would call conversion rates."
New Brunswick has increased tenfold the number of international students it has nominated for permanent residency in the last four years, Mills said.
The number has gone from 250 in 2019 to 2,500 last year. Of the 2,500, about 1,600 attended university or college in New Brunswick and the remainder relocated here after studying elsewhere in Canada.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
for an app the that works?
we paid over a billion for the phoenix system and it never has worked
and don't even get me going on the G8 and the fake lake
Please do
Eb Ashford
Immigrant students are directly competing for the cheapest housing so they are disproportionately affecting low income renters. I'm not against immigration and I like diversity but the current large volume it is affecting affordability and making it worse.
Steph Roche
Reply to Eb Ashford
that perspective needs to be taken to the Premier to see if your province would prefer to not have a large enough tax base to pay for our social programs
Mike Van Fleet
Reply to Steph Roche
There are way too many people right now. How are those "social programs" doing?
Oscar Levant
Reply to Steph Roche
Where is the taxes coming from when people are living in tents?
Steph Roche.
Reply to Mike Van Fleet
make recommendations to your province of which programs should be discontinued
Oscar Levant
Reply to Steph Roche
Immigration is a federal issue.
Eb Ashford
Reply to Steph Roche
Immigration is necessary and generally good but the current levels are too high. There is such a thing as too much of a good thing is actually not good.
Eb Ashford
Reply to Steph Roche
Make recommendations to poor people as to where they should live at the moment. At least consult with them and what they are experiencing right now.
Steph Roche
Reply to Oscar Levant
responsive to provincial requests
you can learn about that subject by reading the articles
you can find them above the forums
Steph Roche
Reply to Eb Ashford
talk to your premier
Steph Roche
Reply to Eb Ashford
another responsibility of the provinces
talk to your premier
Steph Roche
Reply to Mike Van Fleet
which programs would you recommend that they cut?
William Murdoch
I see the usual group "We are here now and happy too so let's shut the gates to more" crowd continue to think of themselves first.
Oscar Levant
Reply to William Murdoch
The federal government needs to control how many people are coming in.
Why does that escayyou?
Oscar Levant
Reply to Oscar Levant
Escape
Mike Van Fleet
Reply to William Murdoch
Yup, you have never looked out for number one. Ever.
Don Corey
Reply to William Murdoch
Federal issue. Read the story.
David Amos
Reply to Don Corey
Other than the headline most folks don't read
Don Corey
Reply to David Amos
True.
All the province has to do is request a meeting to discuss the issue. Let's work together.
John Pokiok
Seriously these politicians are completely out of touch. You can't find an apartment anywhere in New Brunswick and these guys want more people to fight for place to live.
Don Corey
Reply to John Pokiok
SW Home
Nope. NB already has a housing crisis. Putting a limit on immigration is the first good thing the Feds have done in a long time.
Don Corey
Reply to SW Home
Yeah, it's still way to high, but it's a start. They took a long time to even figure out, and then eventually acknowledge, that Canada does indeed have a housing crisis (for which their uncontrolled immigration
has been the#1 reason behind it).
David Amos
Reply to Don Corey
Yup
Eugene Peabody
Maybe if the province would work with the federal government instead of fighting with them things would be different. I am sure the numbers will change with some discussion. The daycare, housing initiative, and healthcare programs among others take a lot of work to work.
valmond landry
Reply to Eugene Peabody
how can they work together with two one track mind ,one provincial and one federal . what a combination
MR Cain
Reply to valmond landry
The feds are open to discussion on any subject. Higgs has already stated he has no intention of working with the feds, or anybody else. Check out his Rebel News interview.
William Murdoch
Reply to MR Cain
Yo would be hard pressed to find anyone interested in working with the vestiges of what will soon be The LPC in the wilderness; ten years plus similar to when Martin was shown the exit.
William Murdoch
Reply to Eugene Peabody
A lot of hard work to work is what The PM is known for.
William Murdoch
Reply to valmond landry
Been happening for centuries in one way or another.
SW Home
Reply to William Murdoch
Which PM?
David Amos
Reply to Eugene Peabody
Dream on
Don Corey
Reply to valmond landry
True
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