Survey says: N.L. government shouldn't worry about bringing expats home

Years ago, when I lived in Fort McMurray, I once asked my father-in-law who was among the wave of Newfoundlanders who went to Alberta in the '80s if he planned to return, assuming the answer was yes.

It wasn't.

He loved Newfoundland, he told me, but he had to leave to find steady work, and now he and his wife had two children who grew up out west and didn't have the same ties to the Rock their parents did. I heard versions of that story from many of the Newfoundlanders I met during my time there.

14% unemployment not a selling point

I thought of them last week as Advanced Education, Skills and Labour Minister Gerry Byrne unveiled details of the provincial government's immigration plan, which included a previously announced increase to immigration targets.

People get used to lower taxes including no provincial sales tax higher wages and a climate where you don't miss summer.

I'll leave it up to the government to decide the best way to sell potential newcomers on increased taxes, the deficit reduction levy and 14 per cent unemployment; perhaps a montage of scenes from this month's devastating wind storm would help, with the slogan: "Newfoundland and Labrador: It'll Literally Blow You Away"?

No, what interested me was the plan to survey expatriate Newfoundlanders and Labradorians to see what would bring them home, as though why they left is some sort of impenetrable mystery.

It's not the first time the government has expressed a desire to bring expats home; nearly 30 years ago, Clyde Wells announced economic enticements to bring "every mother's son" home.

Not a given they will return

And I'd hear similar things from Newfoundland and Labrador during the six years I lived in expat-heavy McMurray, where maps of the island and tricolour flags adorn the rear windows of every other truck heading down Highway 63 to Edmonton on the weekends.

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What has always struck me as odd about the repatriation strategies is the assumptionthat people will return;my in-laws weren't unique in being proud Newfoundlanders without an urgent wish to return home as soon as possible.

It's a scenario that plays out over and over again, because it doesn't take long to put down roots. People get used to lower taxes including no provincial sales tax higher wages and a climate where you don't miss summer if you're scheduled to work that day.

Then they have children who are and I don't wish to alarm anyone Albertans. (Or Ontarians, or British Columbians, or Saskatchewanians.)

Focus on keeping people here, not trying to bringthem back.

And then those children have children, and then Nan and Pop become even more reluctant to move across the country to live in a place that requires plane or ferry tickets for twice-yearly occasions to see the grandchildren.

Plenty think about returning, but for many the return home is theoretical, and not a given.

It's easy for the timeframe to shift the longer a person is away. Firstit's, "I'll just put in a few more years at Syncrude." Then it's, "We'll wait until the kids are done school."

Immigration about workforce, not retirees

Some people will indeed return; my in-laws did eventually decide to come back, and are making their retirementhere. But immigration strategies are about attracting a workforce, not retirees.

Byrne playeddown the expat survey, saying it wouldn't include the "glitz and glamour" of advertising campaigns, but he seemed to think repatriation is a foregone conclusion if people get the chance.

"If they want to come back, we'll provide them with an enticement," he said. "It's called living back home."

This risks pointing out the obvious, but: They already lived back home. They tried that first. Then they left. And they might not ever come back.

My advice to the government is this: Don't worry about theexpats. You know why they left. If they come back, it will be despite, not because of, whoever's running the government at the time.

Focus on keeping people here, not trying to bringthem back.