Evidence of meeting #75 for Citizenship and Immigration in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was provinces.
A video is available from Parliament.
9:40 a.m.
Liberal
Alaina Lockhart Liberal Fundy Royal, NB
Thank you.
Mr. Campbell, from your perspective, how important is immigration in business succession?
9:40 a.m.
President, Jupia Consultants Inc., As an Individual
I think it's very important. I think we can be far more strategic about immigrant investment into the region.
When I came to Moncton, there was one sushi restaurant. Now there about 20. I'm not kidding. The reality is that immigrant investors come in, and many times they do what they know. We could be more intelligent about that in terms of matching the immigrant investor to potential business succession opportunities.
Cavendish, P.E.I., has benefited from substantial Asian investment over the years. Many of those businesses have been rejuvenated through immigrant investments into P.E.I. I think we can do that, find those business owners, in our tourism sector and in many sectors around the province.
The transition takes a while. I don't know if it takes a whole lifetime, as my colleague said, but it could take a year or two. We need to have a mechanism whereby the potential buyer of a new business can shadow the current owner and take part in the business for a while to see if there's a fit. There's a lot more work we could do to plan or structure that. It's definitely a big opportunity.
9:40 a.m.
Liberal
Alaina Lockhart Liberal Fundy Royal, NB
Do we have any numbers, either from you, Mr. Campbell, or from Mr. Poschmann, on the number of businesses that will transition in Atlantic Canada? Do we know those numbers?
9:40 a.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Atlantic Provinces Economic Council
I believe the rough number is “a lot”.
9:40 a.m.
Voices
Oh, oh!
9:40 a.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Atlantic Provinces Economic Council
I don't know if David has one that's a little more specific.
9:40 a.m.
President, Jupia Consultants Inc., As an Individual
There are 40,000 businesses in New Brunswick. With the aging demographic, I would suspect that a pretty big share of those are close to transitioning. Accounting firms tell me that here in Moncton they have been dealing with that. It has multiplied in their business in terms of those who are trying to figure out how to sell their business and capitalize on the equity in their business. I can't give you a number, but it's definitely in the hundreds every year, and definitely in the thousands over a five- and 10-year period.
9:40 a.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Atlantic Provinces Economic Council
Anecdotally, there are the same comments from lawyers as there are from tax accountants.
9:40 a.m.
Liberal
Alaina Lockhart Liberal Fundy Royal, NB
Okay.
Mr. Campbell, I also wanted to talk you about how Atlantic Canada has an abundance of post-secondary schools for the size of our region. Do you think that's something we can leverage to attract more people to the area?
9:40 a.m.
President, Jupia Consultants Inc., As an Individual
Yes. In a perfect world, every immigrant would come through the post-secondary system, either the college or the university system, because they would then be accredited with a Canadian degree or diploma. They would have had the time to put up with our winters for two or three or four years. They'd really understand if they wanted to settle down to life in Atlantic Canada.
I think we can do a lot more. I'd like to be even more specific in terms of our targeting. If we need 50 workers in IT, I'd like to go to Romania or the Philippines and say to them to come and take this program at the community college, and that while there's no guarantee of a job, there are jobs at the other end of their training in the sectors of demand in Atlantic Canada. Certainly I'd love to see the community college system and the university system used much more as a direct conduit for new immigration.
9:40 a.m.
Liberal
Alaina Lockhart Liberal Fundy Royal, NB
The flip side of that, Mr. Dykstra, is what I think I understand you saying, which is that we also need a stream for less skilled labour to make sure that area is targeted as well. Is that correct?
9:40 a.m.
Director, Canadian Federation of Agriculture
That's correct.
Of course, you don't pick low-skilled people.... There are low-skilled people who want to have opportunities as well, and those are the ones you want to ask. You want to tell them that if they want to come to Canada, there is room for them here, instead of picking out you, you, and you. No, no; you allow low-skilled people to come and you inform them that there is work and a need for them here.
To go back to succession, when farmers talk about succession, most of the time it is succession within their family. That is why it takes a long time to pass the farm on to another individual as a completed sale. It happens, and it happens on a regular basis. On that, yes, I concur with Mr. Campbell fully that it doesn't have to take a lifetime. That can take sometimes only a month. It just depends on what the desires and the needs are.
At the same time, in farming as a whole, we are in a family-oriented business. Whether it is dairy, grain, or anything along those lines, that is how it works. It is usually family that takes over. For that reason, I was more focused on the family transition than succession to a third party—
9:45 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Rob Oliphant
I'm afraid I need to ask you to wind up. We're coming to the end of the session.
9:45 a.m.
Director, Canadian Federation of Agriculture
Basically what I wanted to say is that when there is sufficient cash coming across, it doesn't take time. When there is little cash coming in, that is when it takes time.
Thank you.
9:45 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Rob Oliphant
Thank you very much.
Thank you to all our witnesses. That ends our first panel for today.
We'll take a brief moment as we pause and switch panels. Thank you for joining us here and from Moncton.
9:50 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Rob Oliphant
We're going to come back to order. Thank you to our witnesses for waiting. They are Mr. Jose Rivera from St. John's, Newfoundland, and Mr. Laurent Martel from Statistics Canada.
We'll begin with Mr. Rivera. You have about seven minutes to address the committee. We thank you for joining us.
9:50 a.m.
Jose Rivera Executive Director, Refugee and Immigrant Advisory Council
Thank you very much from St. John's. I am very honoured to be part of this committee.
My wife and I came to Canada in 2002 as refugees, thanks to Canadian generosity. In 2004 I joined the Refugee and Immigrant Advisory Council in St. John's, which is a charity helping immigrants and refugees and Canadians as well. We deal mainly with issues pertaining to immigration, as well as anything from employment all the way to health, education, housing, and whatnot.
From my experience, our main issue in Newfoundland is that we don't have access—we are a small organization—to core funding, some funding that could help small organizations to thrive and help newcomers to be part of the community. We have been working with donations and small grants, but still we feel really discouraged that there is no support for small organizations.
Here in Newfoundland and Labrador, our newcomer population is not as big as in other provinces. We feel that the low retention here is due mainly to the lack of information and access to services once you are outside of the mandate of the federally funded immigration service that is provided.
There is also a big need among multicultural organizations—the Chinese association, the Afghan association, the Philippine organization, the Syrians, the Colombians, and so on and so forth—to establish themselves and begin the process of being part of the community. That requires a lot of support, and that is something we don't have in Newfoundland. We would love to see more activities that would encourage small organizations and ethnic organizations to be part of the whole process of making Canada our home.
On another topic, the process for internationally trained workers to gain recognition of their credentials in Canada is still confusing and slow. Professionals are really discouraged when they to find meaningful jobs, mainly because their qualifications are not being recognized readily and on time. That is another issue that requires support in the province. It requires more accessible information. Information is really scattered. Professionals have a big issue trying to find exactly what they need and how to carry on with this process.
Finally, mental health is another issue that requires strengthening in our province. Mental health is still in the early stages of being acknowledged as an issue that prevents newcomers to feel at home and to feel welcome. Services and supports are just now starting to consider that newcomers can develop different types of mental issues, or are arriving with them.
That is more or less what the Refugee and Immigrant Advisory Council, which is the organization for which I have been working for the last number of years, considers as key elements for us newcomers to feel welcome and to really feel we can be part of the community.
Thank you.
9:55 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Rob Oliphant
Thank you very much. The committee will no doubt have questions for you.
Let us continue with Mr. Marcel, from Statistics Canada.
Please go ahead.
9:55 a.m.
Laurent Martel Director, Demography Division, Statistics Canada
Good morning. Thank you for this opportunity to provide to this committee some facts on demographics in Atlantic Canada.
I will focus today on four messages. First, an important shift occurred recently, as we've seen more deaths than births in Atlantic Canada. This means that future population growth in Atlantic Canada will have to come from other components, such as immigration or internal migration.
I will also show on the PowerPoint presentation that was distributed that in recent years the Atlantic provinces have had some issues related to attracting immigrants and in preventing their population from leaving to other provinces or territories of the country.
Finally, I will conclude by nuancing these trends and showing that some regions of Atlantic Canada are actually growing, mostly urban areas.
On slide 3 you can see that in 2013, for the first time, there were more deaths—the line in red—than births in the Atlantic provinces. Births are the line in green, leading to what we call negative natural increase. This is a first in Canadian demographics. Natural increase is actually negative for one region in the country.
According to Statistics Canada population projections, the gap between deaths and births could increase in coming years, basically due to an aging population. A large share of the population, mostly baby boomers, are now moving into their senior years where mortality rates are higher, leading to an increasing number of deaths in the Atlantic provinces, as elsewhere. Population growth is low, fertility is fairly stable, and the number of births is not increasing and is even showing a slight downward trend, which lead to this situation.
On slide 4, we see that, as a result, population growth in the Atlantic provinces has to come from sources other than growth—
9:55 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Rob Oliphant
I'm going to interrupt you for a moment. Apparently, the slides are only photocopied on one side, and we're missing the back side.
October 17th, 2017 / 10 a.m.
The Clerk of the Committee Ms. Erica Pereira
We're getting them right now.
10 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Rob Oliphant
I would ask that you continue, but that you don't assume committee members have the slides.
10 a.m.
Director, Demography Division, Statistics Canada
One of the slides shows that demographic growth in Canada is currently about 1%. That is the highest rate of demographic growth among G7 countries.
It should be noted that this national growth masks major regional differences. In recent years, the highest rate of demographic growth has been in the Prairie provinces. That is a first. The three Prairie provinces together have the highest demographic growth rate. The Atlantic provinces, on the other hand, have the lowest demographic growth, except for Prince Edward Island.
This figure shows the breakdown of demographic growth by three major factors. There is no natural increase in Atlantic Canada, since the death rate is now higher than the birth rate. The international migratory increase, that is, the net difference between immigrants and emigrants, is positive in all regions of the country, but in the Atlantic provinces, it is not enough to offset losses due to interprovincial migration or migration among the various provinces and territories. In Alberta, conversely, the natural increase, the international migratory increase, and the interprovincial migratory increase are all very strong, meaning that Alberta has strong demographic growth.
Another slide shows that the retention of recent immigrants is another challenge for Atlantic Canada. Just over 50% of the immigrants to Canada between 2000 and 2008 were still living in the Atlantic province where they had originally settled a few years later. In Ontario, 90% of the immigrants who had settled there were still living there a few years later. A higher proportion of recent immigrants to Atlantic Canada seem to leave for other regions of Canada than is the case elsewhere.
We also have a map providing a more detailed breakdown of the demographic profile of Atlantic Canada. Some parts of Atlantic Canada have relatively high demographic growth. Those are of course primarily urban areas such as Halifax, Moncton, St. John's and Charlottetown. On the whole, however, the population of Atlantic Canada is decreasing or showing negative growth.
The next slide illustrates certain patterns in domestic, interprovincial and interregional migration. It provides a breakdown of rural regions versus urban regions of Atlantic Canada. It clearly shows significant migratory losses in Atlantic Canada among young adults aged 18 to 28 years. Many of these young adults living in rural parts of Atlantic Canada leave for other parts of Canada or other parts of their province.
You might say that this is nothing new and that it has been a pattern for a long time. That is true, but the slides for the rural regions of the Prairies do not show such high levels of migration among young adults as we see in Atlantic Canada. There are specific demographic issues in Atlantic Canada as regards the retention of young adults from their early twenties to the age of about 28.
In conclusion, current demographic trends clearly point to growing differences among the various regions of Canada. This is essentially due to the fact that immigration is now the main factor in demographic growth; it is not natural increase any more.
We must recognize that Canada's regions are increasingly diverse demographically. These differences can be seen in demographic growth, demographic aging, and ethnocultural diversity, since immigrants to Canada settle in very specific regions, such as large cities.
In view of these demographic trends, one can expect the population's needs for public services, social programs, and infrastructure to vary increasingly from region to region of Canada.
In Atlantic Canada, for example, there might be greater challenges than elsewhere relating to the labour force and care and services for seniors, who will account for a larger share of the population than elsewhere.
Thank you for your attention.
10:05 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Rob Oliphant
Thank you very much.
We will start with Mr. Whalen for seven minutes.