Costas Menegakis, the parliamentary secretary to Immigration Minister Chris Alexander, has stated that any change in the allocation provided for the Nova Scotia Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) will be announced this fall.

The province has desired an increase in its allocation in recent years. The current cap is 700, up from 500 in 2013. Including other immigration programs, such as the Federal Skilled Worker Program, Nova Scotia welcomes about 2,500 new immigrants per year.

“We have an overall plan of how many people we’re going to accept to Canada. Immigration is a federal responsibility. If we give the provinces a higher number in that immigration plan, it takes away from the other streams,” said Menegakis on Saturday, September 13. “Sometimes you rob Peter to pay Paul. You have to find that fine balance where it can be beneficial to everybody.”

The Nova Scotia Commission On Building Our New Economy (also known as the Ivany Commission), however, proposes that Nova Scotia should aim to bring in 7,000 new permanent residents per year. This figure is in line with the province’s share of the current Canadian population.

“We need to be unflinching in addressing the challenges presented by our aging population and a rapidly changing world economy,” said commission chair, Ray Ivany, when the report was released last year.

Given the statement made by Menegakis, it seems unlikely that the federal government will grant Nova Scotia the substantial increase in its PNP allocation that it seeks.