Frank McKenna: Reverse Atlantic Canada's 'death spiral' with mandatory immigration

Frank McKenna is calling on Ottawa to force some new immigrants to settle in Atlantic Canada. Then, to make sure they stay, the former New Brunswick premier wants the region's governments to convince people that the newcomers won't take their jobs.

McKenna tells As It Happens host Carol Off that the region's need is clear. "Atlantic Canada is going through a death spiral at present. The birth rate is below replacement and people are moving out. We have fewer and fewer people to pay the taxes to support the services for an increasingly aging population. And we're getting far less than our fair share of Canadian immigraiton."

"What we need to do is to lay down a base to create some sort of critical mass so that people may have access to a church, or a mosque, or a temple as the case might be, or ethnic food, or whatever it might be to have some sense of community where they're going. We don't have that now in Atlantic Canada and so we're in this catch-22 situation. That's why I think a little bit of force-feeding is going to be necessary."

McKenna admits that his plan to offer regionally-restricted visas could prove controversial. 

"You can't force somebody, indefinitely, to stay in a certain place. But I don't think it's unfair to ask someone who wants to come to our country [...] that they go to a certain community for a period of time. And I don't think it's unfair to ask of a community, the citizens of a community, the province, and so on to lay out the welcoming mat in such a way that that family will want to stay in that community."

I don't think it's unfair to ask someone who wants to come to our country [...] that they go to a certain community for a period of time.- Frank McKenna, Former New Brunswick Premier

McKenna says the federal government is mostly to blame for the lack of immigrants out east. Despite critics who say the regions' leaders have not done enough, McKenna believes local and provincial policies have been successful. Still, he says many people who live in this part of Canada will have to change their mindset. 

"There is that attitude [that immigrants take jobs]. And we have work to do. All of us from Atlantic Canada need to convince people that not only do immigrants not take jobs. But, they create jobs...That's a challenge for us.The criticism of my idea back in our region is constantly why would you bring people in here...There is no doubt about that."