Why a professor says New Brunswick should 'seduce' Americans

Canada should seize the opportunity to boost its population by "seducing" disillusioned Americans, says a Toronto professor.

Irvin Studin, who spoke to an audience at Mount Allison University last week, believes Canada should try to triple its population to 100 million by the end of the century.

And Americans, who may be looking for a change of scenery after the U.S. election, are ripe for the picking.

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"There are many people that are highly educated, highly successful in many cases very liquid that would integrate very quickly," he told Shift before his talk at Mt. A.

"They need to be courted, they need to be seduced, and we have to offer them packages just like Israel, Singapore, China, Russia any number of countries around the world do when they try to compete for talent."

Shift - NB11:38The case for tripling Canada's population

Professor Irwin Studin gives us a preview of his talk at Mt A on growing Canada's population to 100 million by the end of the century

Studinpredicts this will be a more difficult century for Canada, and the country needs to grow its population so we can make our own decisions politically and strategically.

They need to be courted, they need to be seduced, and we have to offer them packages just like Israel, Singapore, China, Russia any number of countries around the world do when they try to compete for talent. Irvin Studin

"We should be thinking for ourselves," he said. "We have to build a Canada where we are not just psychologically thinking for ourselves but we have resources to do so. That is cultural resources, economic resources, and a lot of that depends on demography."

The current rate of immigration is about 300,000 a year, Studin said. He proposes increasing it to more than 400,000. He said it's important to spread the population across the country, especially in the Atlantic Provinces where, according to Statistics Canada, only 2.3 million of Canada's 36.2 million people reside.

Pro sports in the Maritimes

Studin envisions a future with cities in New Brunswick large enough for their own professional sports teams, and with a bigger presence in other spheres such as science, business, the academy and international affairs.

It can't all happen in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal, he said.

"There will be new big cities by the end of the century if we properly plan and dream," he said.

Not all at once

He said the immigration should come over the course of the century, not flood the country all at once. But now is an opportune time to "roll out the red carpet," and not just for Americans.

"All over Europe there are countries with difficulty with citizens that could easily integrate and we need to be much more aggressive, if not even promiscuous, in courting these people."

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