But barely a word from Sheila Osborne

From the memory hole:

Population drops by another 4,000
but barely a word from the government

ST. JOHN'S, October 8, 1999 — Opposition Human Resources and Employment critic Sheila Osborne says there's been no adequate response by the Tobin government to news from Statistics Canada that Newfoundland and Labrador's population dropped by another 4,407 between July 1998 and July 1999.

The drop brings the province's estimated population to 541,200 – the lowest it's been since 1972.

"It astounds me that we get these regular reports of severe population decline, year after year, yet the government reacts as if the bad news is not worthy of attention," said Osborne. "Government is far more comforted than it should be that the population is declining at a slower rate than it declined last time, when the bottom line is that our population is still heading rapidly in the wrong direction. The Tobin government doesn't even give the appearance of caring about the chronic loss of people that is driving our population to record lows."

By contrast, between April 2006 and April 2007, the population of Newfoundland and Labrador declined by just a few nudges under 6,000 people.

The official Statscan quarterly population estimate for the province, 506,548, pushes Osborne's historical comparison back in time four more years, to mid-1968, the last time the provincial population was under 507,000.

In 1999, Osborne concluded her press release with the following words — prescient, true, and oddly familiar:

"One of the fundamental mandates of any government is to provide opportunities for its people and to give its young people the option of staying," she said. "Our chronic population decline is a sign of the government's inability to meets the needs of our people or to lay a solid foundation for growth and diversification."

Osborne said the loss of young working people bodes poorly for the province since it reduces the tax base needed to fund social programs for those who have retired.

Osborne said the Tobin government is coasting on good news about resource developments but wasting opportunities to turn that resource wealth into opportunities for diversification into the value-added enterprises that create jobs, wealth and spinoff opportunities.