As you've correctly stated, Nova Scotia is expecting a decline of about 10,000 people between the ages of 18 and 65 over the next five years or so. It's a significant decline. People are going to age out of the workforce. We definitely need more people. We have had the increase of approximately 2,000 people in the provincial nominee program. That is open to all Atlantic provinces, so we don't want them all to go to P.E.I. We'd love to get our proportional share in Nova Scotia.
What can the government do? I believe Dominic Barton is about to present some time this week. Certainly The Globe and Mail is reporting today that he's going to recommend an increase of between 50% and 100% in the number of immigrants.
We would agree with that. We need to have those people stay in this community, which means we need to encourage the local business community to hire these people. A program in Nova Scotia called the graduate to opportunity program provides 25% to 30% of the first year's salary to those employers. That would be a great incentive for employers.
Language training would be very helpful. We need to offer opportunities for entrepreneurs from around the world to come to Nova Scotia with tax credits, or some opportunity to examine Nova Scotia as a destination or Canada as a destination, frankly, and again, hopefully we'll get our share of those business leaders if we offer them particular opportunities for investment in Canada.