[Music] hi I’m Ali James in for Jamie [Music] Pon Alex seir grew up in a small village on Pei in the earlys it was pretty quaint and quiet and a lot of the same stuff and everyone played hockey baseball a lot of us actually have the same last name now my last name seir comes from my father who’s from New Brunswick so I felt like a bit of an outsider whereas a lot of people out here have the same the last name Areno or glant the spoken language was basically English and everyone was white the capital Charlotte Town was pretty much like that too but in 2024 the city couldn’t be more different in the last few years the provincial government has made it easier for immigrants to flock there and they have more than to any other city in the country Charlotte Town is younger and more diverse and it solved a lot of the problems caused by its aging Workforce but also housing prices have gone up the Public Health Care system is stretched these challenges that Charlotte Town faces now are familiar to so many cities across the country they need population growth to survive but have they put the plans in place to accommodate all these new residents and what should be done about it Alex looked at all of this in a piece of McLean’s called how Charlotte Town became an immigration Boom Town [Music] so Alex we’re about to talk about the story of an immigration boom in PEI of people coming to the province in big numbers but when when you were growing up that was not the story right like there people were leaving in droves uh and you and you did too right I did and it came as a surprise to me because growing up in a small town you somewhat think that you’re going to stay there and then in grade 12 I realized realized that that wouldn’t be the case for me the things I wanted to pursue were actually out of Pei so I wanted to run competitively at a university I wanted to study Kinesiology I eventually flipped while I was in university and and became a journalist and for all of these jobs you know they’re doable on Pei but it felt to me like there were more opportunities elsewhere and then as I got older I noticed that was the case for a lot of my friends too you know they pursue medicine in law finance software engineering they study that somewhere and they come to realize that perhaps Pei doesn’t have a company that hires for their specialty or that they can be paid more elsewhere and a lot of people a lot of young people end up leaving and it becomes a vicious cycle too because few people want to stay so some Industries can’t develop and that leads to more people leaving right I mean you in in in your your article from mlan you described the province as having been in like a a demographic death spiral um and I mean in terms of facts and figures like just how bad was that problem well to put it into numbers uh from my birth which was in 1995 to my 18th birthday the Island’s population increased by Just Around 9,000 people and during that time immigration was virtually non-existent and young adults say moved away really quickly and in that time the median age went from 34 to 43 and I guess the the what we can extrapolate from that also is that like the workforce was retiring right like the Boomers Boomers were getting to retiring age uh you know there there were like less young people to work yeah well when we talk about brain drain we usually think of young people who leave their Province for opportunities as they begin to enter the workforce but we had been seeing that on Pei in the last 5 to 10 years is that we saw a brain drain from both sides because Boomer started to retire and on Pei they represented and still represent pretty significant part of the [Music] workforce let’s get into that because I mean basically you know it was clear I think that that the province had a a problem right I mean an aging Workforce um not a lot of job opportunities for young people and you know not a lot of things keeping them there which obviously means also not a lot of uh you know like you were saying this kind of spiral where where these opportunities aren’t being created so you know as I understand it for a long time the government of Pei was trying to lure back the people who had moved away but that wasn’t working out so well so uh in 2001 they decided okay what we need to start doing is bringing in new people we need to start bringing in um more immigrants so they signed up for this um provincial nominee program uh and the whole goal of this Federal program was to encourage more immigrants to settle down outside of Canada’s biggest cities so tell me more about that and you know sort of what was different about the requirements that you needed to immigrate to to Pei versus other provinces yeah know that’s it you know Pei got on in 2001 um and you know I can’t read their minds but my guess is that the government then also thought you know what can be our ex Factor Why would why would an immigrant choose Pei over another Province how could we be better at attracting people you know we’re smaller people from abroad might not know us like they know uh Manitoba Nova Scotia I don’t know so but the province ended up doing is they created a lower barrier to entry to Canada um basically back in the early 2000s an immigrant could move to Pei and gain immediate permanent residency to Canada if they invested $200,000 in a local business whereas entering Canada through other provinces typically involve a waiting period of maybe six months or a year and that program started working somewhat early on but also there were grow pain so for example around then in the early 2000s there was some criticisms that some Investments were being doled out to friends and families of provincial officials so then the program changed a little bit in 2008 uh newcomers would have to actively run the business that they invested in and then that uh that transpired to 2012 The Province also set up this new stream that was aimed at entrepreneurs like immigrant entrepreneurs specifically to jump start the economy um so they could receive permanent resident status immediately these immigrant entrepreneurs provided that they gave the provin again a $200,000 deposit and then receive it back after operating a business for one year but again that stream was shut down back in 2018 because there were some allegations that I guess hundreds maybe of these entrepreneurs weren’t even living on Pei according to Federal investigators many didn’t settle on Pei let alone open a business Canada Border Services investigators are looking at up to a thousand cases where the same handful of Pei addresses were used on immigration forms they say to make it appear people were living on Pei when they were not fast forward to now 2024 and The X Factor that Pei has is unlike in most other provinces newcomers in we call it low skill jobs like fast food and Retail can live and work in PEI for 2 years and then get their permanent residency status whereas they might be out of luck in another Province and then there’s this Express entry stream for more highly skilled workers we’ve seen rapid population growth here in PEI over the last four or five years leading the nation um so we felt it was necessary to you know reduce those nominations and and refocus them on those areas such as you mentioned healthc care construction early childhood uh to try to you know those industries that can help with that growing population so so that’s kind of we’re doing that’s led to a lot of people coming to Pei to get that residency now some stay and some don’t and for locals I think that’s begun to create some anxieties about how easy it is to enter pii but then also how easy it is to leave for bigger places it’s like a revolving door well we’re going to get more into some of that um and you know more I guess some some of the you know Growing Pains that you mentioned but before we do I mean I guess I’ll I’ll just note that as the province has you know continued to welcome new people in I mean do you think it’s fair to say that like despite the challenges you know this push to invite in more immigrants has also helped solve that demographic death Tri that you were talking about like these problems with an aging Workforce these problems with you know not having enough young workers uh is it fair to say that this has uh at some you know help solve the problem that it was trying to solve oh absolutely a lot of these people coming in a lot of immigrants coming in are between the ages of 20 and 35 and that was the demographic that I think we were desperate to hold on to and I think that if it wasn’t for for high levels of immigration we wouldn’t have this this young bustling population I mean I think the goal that the province has is to bring is to bring hundreds thousands of young people who you know some of them will become our leaders in the next 10 20 years [Music] let’s talk about you know some of the new Islanders who have come in you know as part of these booms um there’s one person you spoke to a lanese chef named Pierre El hajar and can you tell me a bit about him and and what brought him to charlott town Pierre has a fun story that he came in about 10 15 years ago to Pei he saw a work opportunity there a friend of his had moved I think in the year prior and he said look this there’s some opportunities to make food here there were there were chefs right they wanted to open a restaurant he had a slower start than expected so he he first got a job he rented a place he got a job at a school made food there was the head chef and um he found it a bit difficult to convince people to eat new foods is what he said whenever you sometimes happen to me that I don’t eat your Foods I’m meat potato guy right okay and then fast forward 10 years he says he’s seen such a change on Pei not only are there many more immigrants around but also I think the locals on Pei have become accustomed to a bunch of different types of food so his his type of Cuisine became so popular that he opened a restaurant Gaia Urban eery right on one of the main thoroughfares of charl toown Queen Street downtown and it became a hit in 2023 his restaurant his creation won the Pei Burger love which is like this this showdown of all these these restorators Making burgers and people vote on what they like the most so uh his Burger won and his his store is doing really well and you know he told me he doesn’t think that would have happened 10 years ago and it’s a reflection of people people being a whole lot more open-minded to the types of foods that they eat I love the nature oh because my house in leanon is nature nature in the mountain I love fishing I love uh hunting I love camping I love ging with my kids [Music] [Music] the overall population like from you know from from a numbers perspective from a census perspective has radically changed too right yeah I mean I think that the population of Pei has has grown more in the last year or just as much in the last year as it has over 15 years of my existence back between say 1995 to 2010 roughly so the population is is has grown much faster than people could have predicted and I think that’s the Crux of the story right is that brings a whole lot of of good things it it rejuvenates the population brings a whole lot of diversity we have awesome things like Cricket pitches I don’t play cricket I’ve never played but now there’s a cricket pitch right next to a hockey rink you know there’s there’s more for more for different people and so I think it’s more well welcoming but also we’re a lot bigger we’re a bigger population than we used to be and that happened very quick quickly and faster than I think Pei has ever has ever um experienced and I mean what what seems really clear in your reporting is that you know a lot of people feel that Charlotte Town and pii more broadly didn’t do enough to prepare for the practicalities of a big population boom I mean you know notwithstanding all of the excellent things that that have come with um you know with this boom uh that they maybe didn’t do enough to prepare for what that was actually going to mean long wait times closures staff burnout just a few of the problems plaguing Island emergency rooms well the pi government’s trying to slow population growth and to ease the strain on housing and our health care System the most recent numbers have Pei’s overall vacancy rate at 1.1% just .5% in charlott town um and you know another story that that stuck out to me in your reporting is the story of Joy Fardo who’s originally from the Philippines uh she moved to Canada from Singapore with her husband Francis and I mean you describe a lot of challenges that she had accessing the the healthc care system even when she became pregnant and can you tell me more about her story yeah we we had a a good conversation I mean she came to charlott toown they came to charlott toown to find an affordable place to live and um her husband was working she became pregnant it was all going to plan um but during her pregnancy she said she was having stomach St aches and didn’t have a family doctor so she struggled to get routine appointments I didn’t really have someone look at me uh for the first three months even if I’m experiencing some pain it’s it’s pretty hard and I I actually got a bit depressed that time because I know that there is something wrong but I cannot do anything instead she had to resort to the emergency room and sometimes going home and giving up because she wasn’t able to be seen about what was happening um eventually she had a miscarriage and couldn’t help but wonder if things had been different if there was more prenatal care services around um and to that you know she didn’t blame anyone it’s not one specific person but she just felt that the system was incredibly overburdened it’s not the doctors it’s not the nurses I think it’s the medical system because we don’t have enough we don’t have enough people to look after our own people so yeah I I understand 100% but it’s just a bit sad that’s an incredibly tragic story uh can you tell me more about what happened after with joy because she she there there is some good news in her story afterwards right there is good news so they ended up giving birth later and now they’re they’re raising a family on Pei as they had hoped [Music] so I just want to go back to healthcare for a second uh we heard a bit about how tough it was for Joy at first to get seen by a doctor and how common was that for other people that you spoke to like how does it compare to before the population boom yeah so it’s pretty common for newcomers and locals alike right anyone who doesn’t have a family doctor has no choice but to rely on our walking clinics which are pretty overburdened and also our emergency rooms and their visits increased by I think 20% between 2021 and 2023 and in general there’s just a sense that we’re growing too quickly for the Health Care System right our our health Minister Mark mlan blamed rapid immigration for that and for the system’s recent failings and said the irand would need a new physician every 80 days to keep up with that influx which just isn’t realistic it’s not happening right now I mean what what about housing how has access to that changed as as this boom has happened I think housing is the main thing I mean obviously this is not just a Pei problem this is a Canadian problem but on Pei I think people are startled by the speed at which the real estate market changed and this is not just an immigration thing this is a uh Canadian Canadians moving from Province to Province during Co is as well a lot of people came to the maritimes to try to find a quieter way of life but in this time you in the last four or five years some house prices have doubled I spoke with with two young men who are from India’s Punjab Province teser and L PRI sing and see they’re young people they’re entrepreneurial uh one leads a driving school and they they’ve they’ve come to really like Pei they they met a lot of people on the cricket pitch in Stratford and they have a group of friends and they host parties and they want to be these active members of the community they’re in their mid 20s but their decision to stay at this point they both said we’ll hinge on whether or not they can find a house to buy they’re both renters and they want to advance to the next stage of their lives and so they’re not necessarily convinced that they should leave Pi because they think that you know maybe in other provinces it’s not going to be any better there’s no winning with housing but that housing is basically what what I think is playing into the minds of young people over healthare right [Music] now I mean the these kind of examples of you know the building blocks of the the city being stretched it’s obviously something that all residents feel you know whether they’re new to the city or whether they’ve been there for a long time so for for people who have been there uh you know perhaps for Generations uh what what were they telling you about how this is affecting them a lot of people a lot of locals are noting that parts of life are getting worse right housing is more expensive Healthcare is tougher but also jobs are more scarce there is a lot more homelessness or or let’s say there is homelessness 10 years ago that was very rare in Charlotte Town and so a lot of locals I think are noticing at the same time that visibly there are a lot more immigrants around right so I could see how you know there’s a thought that people might get frustrated um but I I don’t think it has anything to do with where people are coming from I think it’s more of a frustration the frustration at the government for maybe overcrowding the place you know it’s like a feeling that there was a disregard for for what might happen if we overcrowd Pei without having the infrastructure to support this influx and I think newcomers could be from anywhere they could all be from New Brunswick and and I think the same frustration would arise yeah I mean I was just going to note that like it feels worth worth noting that you know I I don’t know if this is the case and what in what you’re seeing but like immigrants can kind of become scapegoat sometimes for these kind of issues when in reality there are other factors also at play right like you know for example with housing prices I mean as you noted there are lots of other factors you know for example like Decades of low interest rates corporate investors zoning laws you know so on and so forth with with Health Care uh as you’ve noted you know other provinces have also seen Staffing crisis especially uh after the pandemic I mean there are pay issues There’s issues with you know International doctors not being able to practice in Canada I’m just giving a bunch of examples but like there’s there’s often these really complex factors um but I know often and we’re seeing this I think all over the country right now um you know immigrants might kind of bear the blame for that and obviously anywhere that that this happens like a population boom is going to exacerbate all these issues um but you know to what extent were there also uh we talking about Pei like pre-existing issues also at play here zoning laws are actually pretty strict in charlott town and in some ways they’ve prevented the city from growing earlier this year there was a developer who made a proposal to build bu this eight story building downtown and the proposal was denied it would have been great it would have had 158 units including 30 uh below market price we haven’t been able to have that and at this point the city stallis building is still the Delta hotel on Queen Street which was built in 1983 so This Is 40 years ago and it’s only 10 stories high the city’s plan for the future is to grow grow to 66,000 people by 2040 as of now charlott town is hovering around 40,000 people I don’t think they’re equipped a growth of 20,000 people in the span of call it 15 years would be unprecedented uh what has the provincial government’s response been to all these issues that we’ve been talking about well it’s funny because around Midway through the point that I was reporting the story uh the the current government came out since was in February they they said that they were cutting nominations for permanent residency through the provincial nominee program so the PNP by 25% in 2024 this year and also nominating fewer workers from service and sales sectors and in favor of in demand occupation so that’s Healthcare and construction so two occupations that were’re in great need right now um and the hope I think is that this this pause a temporary pause allows housing stock and the Health Care system to catch up to our population we made the changes trying to uh Target our immigration to utilize it to the best uh uh ability that we can to help us grow and prosper as a province in areas of need like healthcare uh uh construction industry early years Etc so that’s what we’ve done and we’re continue to do it and uh and you know that’s still playing out right right now there’s some protests in charlott toown around that [Music] [Applause] policy and the sudden changes have made a drastic impact on my life but they changed it overnight right this is youth exploitation they called us here now they want us to leave we want to be here in pi we want to grow with you guys some business owners are saying that we’ve paused it too much and that in a few years that’s going to lead to uh when people have to go back that will lead to a renewed worker shortage once those work permits of temporary residents [Music] expire are they that you know of taking active steps to to build up the housing stock to staff the hospitals you know to encourage more more staff to to be working in the healthare system like dealing with those underlying issues that we’re talking about there is some funding that’s earmarked for you know to to build housing but I remember having a good convers ation with Rob Lance who’s the Minister of Housing on pei and he said that not only does Pei deal with the same issues as other places in the country so supply chain and workers but also there’s a scaling issue a lot of our of our construction companies they started as Mom and Pop right they they started in not even in charlott toown but in places near charlott toown it was smaller scale and now they’re asked to build massive condo buildings and and completely multiply their their production it’s it’s hard to do we might not be equipped for that so you know everyone is willing but I think that it’s still going to require patience for you what what do you think the takeaways of this story are like I guess the lessons of this are you know in a way I do think that this influx of immigration saved Pei uh supercharged it with some Youth and will make it look a lot more vibrant in the next 5 to 10 years and and hopefully Beyond but I mean if if this is a microcosm of what’s Happening elsewhere I think most provinces most places have to ask themselves big questions of okay how do we how are we able to how are we able to sustain this growth it’s great to bring people in but how can we how can we support them do we have enough housing do we have enough healthare and I think the takeaway is that o many many people in a province comes with its potential dangers and growing pains but it’s worth a try it’s trying is better than just seeing the province get older thank you so much I really appreciate it talking to you Alex I hope that it was helpful thank you for reaching out all right that is all for today I’m Ally James thanks for listening to front burner and we’ll talk to you tomorrow [Music]
An in-depth look at Charlottetown’s immigration boom and what lessons it holds for the rest of Canada.
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