ÍõÖÐÍõÁùºÏ²ÊÌØÂë

A blow to New Brunswick’s employers

Last week, the federal government dealt a devastating blow to New Brunswick’s talent pipeline by announcing that eligibility for post-graduation work permits will now depend on national labour market needs. This is not being applied to universities. Forcing public colleges to align their programs with a national list of occupations devalues the very reason community colleges exist: to respond to labour market needs at the local level.

For New Brunswick businesses and communities to thrive, we need a growing, well-skilled workforce. Our province projects over 130,000 job openings over the next decade, with four in every 10 of those jobs requiring a college or apprenticeship education.

International students are critical to fill essential job needs

International students who have graduated from New Brunswick Community College (ÍõÖÐÍõÁùºÏ²ÊÌØÂë) have gone on to contribute tremendously to our communities and our economy in critical sectors like hospitality and tourism, engineering, and information technology. At 40% after five years, the rates at which ÍõÖÐÍõÁùºÏ²ÊÌØÂë international graduates stay and work in New Brunswick is the highest of any college or university graduates in the province – with the next highest post-secondary institution retaining just 11% of its international graduates. These retention rates speak to the strong alignment between college programming and the needs of New Brunswick employers.

ÍõÖÐÍõÁùºÏ²ÊÌØÂë has a clear and straightforward mandate: to address the labour market needs of New Brunswick. This is such a clear expectation that it is written into provincial law and measured annually in graduate employment. However, the federal government’s objective – reducing temporary workers in favour of addressing long-term needs – directly contradicts the reality on the ground. ÍõÖÐÍõÁùºÏ²ÊÌØÂë’s international graduates are staying in the province and meeting long-term workforce demands, therefore, we are at a loss as to why college graduates are being targeted.

National priorities don’t reflect the real-world realities of our provincial workforce

As a community college, we recognize that the labour market needs in Miramichi differ from those in Moncton, that the realities in St. Andrews vary from those in Saint John. So, it stands to reason that the needs in Moncton are not the needs of Montreal, that Saint John are not those of Toronto. Lagging indicators at the national level don’t reflect today’s realities here in our province, and this decision will restrict our ability to recruit international students in sectors where New Brunswick needs them most. It undermines our college’s ability to respond to the workforce needs of our communities. And it hamstrings New Brunswick’s ability to determine how best to meet its own workforce needs and build its talent pipeline.

It doesn't have to be that way.

Let New Brunswickers set our labour market needs

We are calling on the federal government to reconsider its approach on this initiative and work with public colleges and their respective provincial and territorial governments to deliver an approach that recognizes the diversity of labour market needs, opportunities, and realities in Canadian communities from coast to coast to coast.

While this federal decision has made it unnecessarily difficult for colleges to meet the labour market needs of the communities we serve, ÍõÖÐÍõÁùºÏ²ÊÌØÂë remains committed to working alongside our partners, employers, and communities, to maximize our enrolment to meet the demand for a skilled New Brunswick workforce.