Right now, the government of Canada’s easternmost province is hard at work trying to answer that question.
Problems associated with an aging population are causing headaches for policymakers around the world, including in this country. Nowhere are the demographic challenges here greater though than in Newfoundland and Labrador. Earlier this year, its Premier, Kathy Dunderdale, went so far as saying “our demographic is scary”.
While it once had one of the highest birthrates in Canada, Newfoundland has now become the place where the population is aging the fastest.
Its median age was 21 years old, in 1971. Last year, it stood at 44. By comparison, the Canadian median age increased from 26 to 40 in the last four decades.
By 2036, the province will have the highest proportion of seniors in the country, with almost one in three Newfoundlanders aged 65 years of age and older.
What happened? Newfoundland’s population hit 580,109 in 1992, but then it immediately started declining when the federal government banned northern cod fishing off the Atlantic coast to try to allow the collapsed fish stocks to recover. At least 30,000 fishermen and plant workers lost their jobs and many of them moved away to find work elsewhere, like in Alberta’s oil sands.
In January, the provincial government set up an office specifically tasked with developing a strategy to grow and rejuvenate Newfoundland’s population.
Over the last few months, it has held public consultations, stakeholder meetings and invited anyone with suggestions to submit them by mail or e-mail.
The minister responsible reported last week that 300 people had provided input so far, on everything from offering more financial incentives to increase fertility rates to finding ways to attract immigrants.
By2030, it’s said that immigration to Canada will be the sole driver of population growth, yet only 751 permanent residents settled in Newfoundland last year, the lowest number of any Canadian province.
Newfoundland’s population strategy will be unveiled next year.
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