Resetting priorities
Akey announcement from the Atlantic Growth Strategy (AGS) meeting this week in Summerside dealt with a new regional online health information service. Ottawa is prepared to spend $70 million to create the electronic service so residents will have better access to health records that will hopefully lead to improved patient care.
Yes, it’s an important issue and it should help people understand more about their medical history. But is this really a priority under the strategy’s mandate?
The federal and Atlantic governments launched the strategy two years ago to stimulate the region’s long-term economic growth. The focus is on supporting both innovative and traditional industries, increasing job opportunities for Atlantic Canadians and addressing persistent and emerging regional challenges. Economic themes are everywhere.
And with good reason. The latest Statistics Canada unemployment numbers for June are troubling. The unemployment rate for Newfoundland and Labrador was 15.5 per cent, P.E.I. was at 8.9 while Nova Scotia was 7.9 and New Brunswick 7.5. These chronically high unemployment numbers are well above the national average. The Atlantic region remains plagued with the persistent out-migration of young people seeking work in Ontario and Western Canada. Both issues support the urgent economic priorities of the AGS. Instead, we’re dealing with electronic health records — a topic better suited for a regional meeting of ministers of health, pharmacists and medical associations, more than an economic strategy session.
It should be noted that Summerside delegates were told that the two biggest growth industries in the region were health care and social services — to look after an aging population and provide supports for the large numbers of unemployed and people seeking social assistance. These are not exactly the growth industries envisioned by the AGS. There have been some AGS successes. As its first area of action, the strategy launched a threeyear immigration pilot project in 2017 to admit up to 2,000 immigrants and accompanying families to address unique labour market challenges in Atlantic Canada. This initiative, combined with the Study and Stay program for university students launched in Nova Scotia and expanding to all Atlantic provinces, is bringing skilled talent to support the labour force and drive long-term economic growth.
The immigration pilot got off to a sluggish start in 2017 as businesses were slow to warm up to the idea, but interest has increased this year. Things are optimistic enough that an additional 500 new spots have been approved under the AIPP. But apart from its two immigration initiatives, the AGS has largely failed on job creation and employment options for Atlantic Canadians. That is evident in those high unemployment and out-migration numbers. It’s time to re-focus on original economic priorities instead of wobbling off to health records and trade missions to China.
It’s certainly difficult to design an economic strategy that will fit all Atlantic Canadians — from Baby Boomers, Generator X’ers, Millennials and the incoming Generation Z. It’s hard enough to just keep up with the demographic name changes.