Government has plans to help keep Islanders home, says premier

Premier Wade MacLauchlan says the provincial government will work to keep P.E.I. residents from moving away.

Statistics Canada shows P.E.I. lost a net total of 1,132 residents due to inter-provincial migration in 2015.

MacLauchlan said measures will be introduced in the spring session of the Legislature to not only help keep Islanders here, but also to bring others back.

"It's a great asset to Prince Edward Island that we have several thousand people out there who are keen to come home," said MacLauchlan.

"So, then it's to put together the opportunities for workers as well as for entrepreneurs, to come here and help us to build and grow our economy and communities and families, and to in particular focus on people who are at the younger end of their kind of life cycle."

But Opposition Leader Jamie Fox said Islanders are leaving the province because they can't provide for their families here at home.

Fox said P.E.I has lost 2,200 jobs over the past 12 months.