Immigration is essential for NB, but it needs to be better controlled, says Higgs | New Brunswick Elections 2024

More than 100,000 people have chosen to settle in New Brunswick in the last 10 years, including 22,000 in the last year. According to the outgoing premier, this growth is essential for the prosperity of the province, but comes with its share of challenges and believes that better management is necessary.

We know without a shadow of a doubt that our immigrant population allows our province to grow, survive, prosper and move forward like never beforesaid Blaine Higgs.

The outgoing Prime Minister recognizes, however, that we must improve the management of this demographic growth, to ensure, among other things, that these new arrivals have a place to live.

We now need to balance the pace of arrivals, because we need to keep up in the area of ​​housing.

During a press briefing on Thursday, Blaine Higgs returned to the charge by demanding that Ottawa better manage asylum seekers.

A few days before the provincial election was called, the outgoing Prime Minister proclaimed that Ottawa wanted to send 4,600 asylum seekers to the province. An assertion partially contested by the federal Minister of Immigration, Marc Miller.

Blaine Higgs says he wants to work with Ottawa to making sure that the people who arrive here are people who want to be here and are legitimately looking for a new country.

Better meet needs

The leader of the Liberal Party and candidate in Fredericton SouthSilverwood argues that despite immigration, significant shortages exist in health care and construction.

We need a strategic balance.

According to her, the idea would be to select new arrivals, to compensate for the lack of labor, where it is necessary.

[Il faut] ensure that we have the people who will help us resolve this crisis. If you go to a nursing home in New Brunswick, there is none that would be open without the new arrivals.

For his part, the leader of the Green Party and candidate in Fredericton-Lincoln,David Coon, puts forward the idea of ​​transferring part of immigration powers from the federal government to Fredericton, because the reality is very different in each province, he says.

Now the federal government has a lot of power. This is not acceptable.

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David Coon adds that to better accommodate these new residents, we definitely need to build more housing and therefore have a better strategy.

We must ensure a big change.

The Green Party announced its affordable housing plan on Thursday, which aims, among other things, to encourage real estate development by reducing property tax bills for owners who offer low-rent housing.

According to the report by Frédéric Cammarano