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News
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Job fair indicative of government's attitude towards outmigration October 31, 2006 |
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Opposition Leader Gerry Reid says a job fair held in St. John’s yesterday
demonstrates the difficult circumstances facing many Newfoundlanders and
Labradorians, and the provincial government’s lack of a plan to address
outmigration concerns. Yesterday at the Capital Hotel in St. John’s, a job fair was held recruiting Newfoundlanders and Labradorians for employment in Alberta. It is estimated that approximately 9,000 people attended this job fair in search of new opportunities in western Canada. "I am extremely concerned about the number of people seeking employment opportunities outside this province," said Mr. Reid. "While driving on Kenmount Road yesterday, I was stuck in traffic because of the huge volume of people who were attending this job fair. What is also of concern is that this took place in St. John’s where economic activity is supposed to be the strongest in the province. This is another example demonstrating the lack of opportunity available for people living in this province, and their plight of being forced to search elsewhere for employment. "Outmigration levels are rising in this province and our government continues to sit back and do absolutely nothing. There is no plan in place to address this situation and government continues to turn a blind eye to this problem. As a matter of fact, the premier is actively encouraging people to accept wage cuts in order to remain in the province, and says he isn’t worried because Newfoundlanders and Labradorians are "homing pigeons" who will eventually return home. I fear that if the current trend continues, there will be very few people left in this province to ensure we can afford to provide necessary services to our aging population. "Historically, we have lost some of our youngest and most skilled people from this province. The current trend is that we are losing older workers, families and entire communities. While 9,000 people may have attended yesterday’s job fair, this could actually mean 25 or 30 thousand people as entire families are relocating. This will continue to negatively impact the attractiveness of Newfoundland and Labrador as an investment destination as our workforce will no longer be mobilized in this province. Without new investment, economic opportunities will continue to decline and more of our people will be forced to leave. Unfortunately, our provincial government seems to have accepted this trend and has done nothing to address this problem."
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