Our dwindling population in NL is bad for our economy, workforce, and quality of life. Our government has given Memorial University $22,800 to undertake outreach events, in the hopes of luring locals back to our province. How would YOU recommend we get our people back?

“It’s no mystery why our government performs poorly: the people doing the daily grind weren’t hired based on performance and abilities. Most government workers are promoted based on seniority, not verve, and kept around because it’s impossible to be fired, not because they perform well. New jobs as they open, will never be available for people off the street who could better fill them and inject great new ideas, blood, and passion into our government’s inner working.” – Danielle Sorbet

“All I ever wanted was a fair chance at getting a job that matches my education level and skill set. In both the private, but especially in the public sectors, nepotism and cronyism make that pretty hard to do here. It’s all who you know and not what you know. So, the province loses in two aspects: poor advice and shoddy work when we need thoughtful solutions to immediate problems and, secondly, genuinely skilled people giving up and leaving in frustration with the lack of opportunity.” – David

“Lower taxes, give incentives to young people to stay after graduating college or university (such as forgiveness of some part of their provincial student loan), provide more programs for new grads to get into the job market, give employers incentive programs to attract employees back to NL, give tax incentives to people who choose to move back for a job, decrease cost of vehicle registration and other government services, provide more scholarships for exemplary students for college and university with the expectation that they stay in the province for a period. We need to do more to keep our young people here and to also attract back our bright, well educated young people to this province because if not soon our economy will be in dire straits!” – Mary Devereaux Jennifer

“For people to come back the provincial government needs to get their shit together. No one wants to live in a province that is grossly in debt with no hope in sight. We need to grow the economy by diversifying into new industries that are not dependent on non-renewable resources. I’ll be leaving in the fall (post-degree) and I don’t plan on coming back until there are clear opportunities for career growth in a stable economy. Newfoundland is beautiful, but there are beautiful places elsewhere where I can also make a decent living.” – ANON

“Every conversation about this province’s future focuses on old people or the people who are leaving or gone. The emphasis should be on the kids that are here now. How are we educating them to be prepared for the future? To stay in their communities? To have choices and determine their own paths? People will always leave for what they perceive as greener pastures, and are free to do so. It’s the people who want to stay and can’t find a way that’s the problem. I don’t have the solution, but we’re focusing on the wrong group. That, of course, takea a long-view of 20 years or more, and politics is never interested in any issues than spans past the next election.” – No Name

“I left almost 3 years ago to get an education that wasn’t available in Newfoundland. More and more I think that I won’t be back. I miss the people and the ocean, but I presently live in a walkable city with great public transit. There is a respect for heritage properties and almost all corners of the city have residences, small grocery stores and restaurants side by side in (relative) harmony. It would take a lot to make me give that up. The prospect of moving home would interest me if both locals and local governments aspired to create more walkable, more livable neighbourhoods, better public transit, and stop bulldozing everything that makes Newfoundland unique for the sake of paving it with a stevangar drive. I recognize that part of the reason that those things are happening is that people like me are taking themselves out of the pool of eligible Newfoundland voters, but I just don’t have the energy to go home and fight that uphill battle. Plus, if the battle uphill is anything like the battle up Garrison Hill, chances are the city hasn’t gotten around to plowing the battlefield anyway.” – Young N Educated

“Why are we focused on bringing people who left back? If they don’t want to be here, forget them. We should be encouraging people from other provinces and other countries who want to live here instead. They need support and to feel welcome. It’s pretty common, and not necessarily bad, for young people to want to move away and experience something different.” – ANON

WEIGH IN ON THIS MONTH’S POLL:

APRIL’S COMMUNITY POLL: THE BIGGER DIG, WHAT ELSE WOULD YOU CHANGE ABOUT DOWNTOWN IF YOU COULD?