I M M I G R A T I O N   &    L A B O U R    P O L I C Y

Immigration and Labour is a new area of research for AIMS. It seeks to examine policy options in response to the demographic challenges facing the region from a market-oriented and pro-growth immigration strategy. The One Nova Scotia report indicated that attracting and retaining inter-provincial and international immigrants is essential to population growth to increase the number of entrepreneurs, and to renew the labour force. We believe that the analysis of the One Nova Scotia commission applies to the rest of the region.

Labour market performance is a key determinant of prosperity. Smart labour market policies can reduce the prevalence and depth of poverty while helping to drive economic growth. Among the most important labour market challenges facing the Atlantic region is an aging population. Currently, the region has consistently low participation rates. AIMS wishes to respond to the issues of labour and immigration, in a formative way, by increasing its research efforts and focus on these two areas.

POLICY PAPERS & OP-ED COMMENTARIES

 

Nova Scotians Without Borders

Regional development strategies in Canada have failed to improve the economic structure of their target regions. One of the benefits of nationhood is the absence of barriers to the mobility of capital and labour. Unfortunately, industrial policies attempt to attract businesses to relocate to areas of surplus labour—rather than to ...
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/ / Economic Development, Labour Market, Policy Papers, Public Finances

The Muddle of Multiculturalism:

The world at the end of the first decade of the twenty-first century is much different from the world at the end of the 1960s, the era when Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau promoted Canada's policy of multiculturalism. In The Muddle of Multiculturalism  author Salim Mansur examines the impact of the ...
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/ / Labour Market, Policy Papers

See Dick Grow Old, See Jane Retire:

Government support of early childhood education and care programs for poor and vulnerable children is a worthwhile investment. That’s one of the conclusions of a new paper released today by the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies (AIMS). The paper suggests the poorest families receive a full subsidy, but the amount ...
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/ / Labour Market, Policy Papers, Social Programs

Who Could Have Seen THAT Coming?

It’s been less than two years since it seemed the world was on the brink of an economic catastrophe. The boomer generation that embraced the Freedom 55 rallying call watched in horror as the value of retirement savings and pensions dropped with the speed of a lead balloon. It was ...
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/ / Labour Market, Policy Papers, Public Finances

An Economic Future with Smaller Numbers

In 1998, a study prepared for AIMS projected that the population in Atlantic Canada would grow by some 35,000 people in the ensuing ten years; as of 2006 our population has actually declined by some 47,000. The "pending population crunch" predicted ten years ago arrived sooner than expected and that ...
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/ / Labour Market, Policy Papers
MEDIA MENTIONS

 

Jackson Doughart on Supply Management

Canada's dairy, egg, and poultry industries are governed by supply management, which restricts production, controls prices, and restricts imports. This arrangement is bad for consumers, who pay high prices for staple ...
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Marco Navarro-Génie speaks with Ben Mulroney on CTV’s Your Morning

Why immigration is desperately needed in Atlantic Canada - Marco Navarro-Genie, President & CEO, Atlantic Institute for Market Studies (AIMS), discusses why people aren’t staying in or moving to Atlantic Canada ...
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Immigration is the only way to reverse Atlantic Canada’s population decline

Globe and Mail quoting AIMS President Marco Navarro-Génie By John Ibbitson • The Globe and Mail, 08 February 2017 Whatever will become of Atlantic Canada? The first release of 2016 ...
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Federal government botches job file

A Calgary Herald editorial criticizes labour policies from the federal government. It quotes AIMS's Vice President of Research John Williamson, who fears that the government "is creating an EI trap." ...
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