- Too many people work for the public sector and too few work for the private sector. One in four working-class employees work in the public sector.
- Twice as many people are living in small rural communities that lack a sufficient economic base to provide year-round employment to residents. This has led to a higher dependence on seasonal work and greater reliance on Employment Insurance across the region.
- Since 1983, New Brunswick has become a smaller part of the Canadian economy and now represents only 1.6 per cent of the national GDP. New Brunswick has had the slowest overall GDP growth in Atlantic Canada, growing 41 per cent slower than the Canadian Economy.
- With Baby Boomers leaving the workforce, there are more opportunities for younger workers. Over the next decade, nearly 150,000 Baby Boomer-aged workers in Atlantic Canada will be leaving the workplace. This will create an even bigger problem: too few workers are available to fill all the existing jobs, let alone any new jobs being created.
- We have declining birth rates; in Canada, the number is 1.4 births per capita of eligible females who can give birth. By 2024, there were only 61 births per 100 deaths across the region.
- Over the past five years, New Brunswick has seen an immigration growth of 80,000 people. This will decline over the next five to 10 years, as the federal government is cutting back on immigration.
- We are over-governed in Atlantic Canada. There are too many municipalities to serve the relatively small population in the region; this leads to a lot of unnecessary duplication (e.g.,
Moncton, Dieppe, Riverview).
- Nationally, nearly 87 per cent of public-sector workers have pension, mostly defined-benefit plans and inflation-protected. Only 23 per cent of private-sector workers have pensions, and the vast majority of those are defined-contribution benefits with no protection against inflation.
- In the early ‘80s, an average of 3,500 young people aged 18 to 24 left New Brunswick every year. Thirty years later, the number of young people leaving Atlantic Canada each year has dropped sharply. People still leave to pursue careers elsewhere, but they have more options at home than ever before.
- More females are entering the workforce. In 2022, there were 99 women aged 25 to 44 in the workforce across the Atlantic Region for every 100 men in the workforce.
- The forest industry in New Brunswick has a working population of 20,000, which includes value-added manufactured goods.
- Agricultural employment has been declining across the country for several decades. The New Brunswick Department of Agricultural, Aquaculture and Fisheries has a provincial budget of $51 million, one of the lowest line items. Relative to forestry, agriculture represents about two per cent of available land, yet it yields five times more than forestry. While staple industries such as forestry, fishing and potatoes have reached their potential, there are tremendous growth opportunities in agriculture.
- Jim Irving, co-CEO of J.D. Irving, Limited, has said they have recruited truckers out of Central Europe, including Ukraine and Poland. Loggers are being recruited from Brazil, and tree planters from Mexico. Mr. Irving suggested that immigration would be key to filling workforce demand in his firm and the rest of the economy in the years ahead.
- Public Policy Forum’s suggested policy changes for EI and seasonal workers:
- Tighten rules to significantly reduce the use of EI for seasonal income support.
- Grandfather everyone over a certain age and change EI eligibility rules for new workers only.
- Create a new program specifically for seasonal workers.
- Expand the use of temporary foreign workers to address seasonal surges in labor demand.
- Provincial incentives for, or strengthen, off-season work requirements.
- Classify long-term seasonal workers differently.
- We are heavily reliant on federal government transfer payments. In 2025, equalization payments, Medicare and other grants totalled nearly $5 million.
- Private sector investment is declining. Business investment is crucial to the growth of economies. Between 1998 and 2007, the level of investment in non-residential structures, machinery and equipment in the province increased at an inflation-adjusted rate of 6.0 per cent per year. Between 2008 and 2023, the rate of change in business investment has been negative, averaging -1.0 per cent per year.
- One of the perennial challenges facing entrepreneurs and startups in Atlantic Canada has been accessing capital. The good news is that there is more interest among people seeking investment opportunities, with many green-energy projects under development and growing potential for offshore wind energy, solar energy and nuclear energy.
- New Brunswick has a program (Small Business Investor Tax Credit) aimed at the small business sector in general. Individual investors receive non-refundable personal income tax credits of 50 per cent, up to a maximum of $125,000 per year, based on an investment of $250,000. The tax credit for corporations is 15 per cent for investments of $500,000.
- The public education system should be an integral part of developing entrepreneurs; however, there is little evidence that students are exposed to the world of business through the curriculum. Many of the universities in Atlantic Canada offer entrepreneurial courses. UNB has a Master of Technology Management and Entrepreneurship program, as well as an intensive three-month accelerator program called The Summer Institute.
- Ten ways to Maintain the Momentum:
- Develop an Economic Hub Strategy for Economic Development.
- Establish Atlantic Canada as a Common Market.
- Streamline the Regulatory Process.
- Concentrate on the Blue Economy.
- Don’t forget about Natural Resources.
- Become a Green Energy Superpower.
- Focus on both Attraction and Retention of Newcomers.
- Become More tax Competitive.
- Increase Capital Investment.
- Increase the focus on Productivity.
Daryl K. Branscombe, Chair
Community of Creative Citizens