Atlantic Canada’s growth on the upswing too

All four of Canada’s Atlantic provinces have seen their population growth rate increase according to Canadian census numbers released last week.

Growth rate increases have been largely attributed to both increased immigration to the Atlantic provinces, and a better rate of retaining these immigrants in the region.

Population growth rates for the Atlantic provinces for the period of the census, 2006-2011, were:

Prince Edward Island: 3.2 %
New Brunswick: 2.9 %
Nova Scotia: 0.9 %
Newfoundland and Labrador: 1.8 %

All four of these rates were higher than the five year period covered by the previous census.

The Atlantic provinces are each making efforts to attract more immigrants and retain them for long term settlement. They each have called on the federal government to increase the caps on their respective Provincial Nominee Programs (PNPs), which are key drivers for newcomers to these provinces.

Large industrial projects are being cited as a source of new jobs contributing to immigration. These include Nova Scotia building Canada’s next fleet of warships, further exploration in New Brunswick’s natural gas industry, and various projects in Newfoundland and Labrador.

While the census revealed that for the first time Canada’s population is larger west of Ontario, than east of Ontario, the Atlantic provinces are nonetheless growing too, with population outflows from the region to other provinces lessening because of a pick-up in their local economies.