NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
With the clock ticking on the GNWT’s commitment to attract 2,000 new residents to the territory within five years, the government is off to a bad start.

Mike Soloy, student case officer with GNWT student financial assistance, helps soon-to-be senior high graduates Forrest Zoe, David Chocolate and Tianna Takazo at Jean Wetrade Gameti School apply for post-secondary funding assistance. Soloy took the opportunity to make the community visit in conjunction with the De Beers Books in Homes Tour on May 7. Cooperation between NWT industry and GNWT initiatives to train and retain residents is key moving forward said minister of finance Michael Miltenberger. - Walter Strong/NNSL photo

According to first quarter statistics released by the GNWT bureau of statistics, the NWT has netted a loss of 321 people this year already.

This number for the first four months of 2014 is already higher than the total annual net migration loss of residents in four of the last eight years.

The decline, though large, is not new.

Last year, net migration loss totalled 521 people. In fact, every year since at least 2006 has shown more people leaving the territory than moving to it.

On average, net migration loss has been 395 people per year over the last eight years resulting in about 3,100 residents leaving the territory.

"It affects our formula funding agreement (with the federal government)," said Finance Minister Michael Miltenberger.

"Every person has a value of about $30,000. If we have an out migration, you take that number (of people leaving) and multiply it by $30,000. That’s the impact."

That's more than $90 million worth of federal funding transfer units (people) lost to the territory.

More important than federal transfers is the larger economic impact of losing people to other provinces, as they no longer pay taxes or spend money in the territory.

The economic engine is powering ahead with one of the highest GDP growth rates in the country, but much of the territory’s GDP is fuelled by non-resident workers.

According the to the GNWT’s 2014 economic outlook report, there are up to 5,200 non-resident workers in the NWT, or almost 19 per cent of the territory’s total working residents.

"It’s an issue," said Miltenberger. "We’ve got to address it.

Miltenberger told News/North that the government is active on several fronts to make good on attracting 2,000 people to the territory over the next five years.

"We’re not playing an active enough role in terms of connecting up with and making sure we’re recruiting as many graduates as we can who we funded to go to school," said Miltenberger.

On that front, Miltenberger said the GNWT may authorize its campus recruiters to hire on the spot when the right candidate shows an interest in one of the 800 vacancies the GNWT is looking to fill within its own ranks.

"Right now when we go down south to job fairs, we hand out information and encourage people to apply," said Miltenberger.

"We want to make a list of priority positions we’ve been unable to fill, and we want to give authority to the folk down there to interview and recruit on the spot, as opposed to taking six months or longer to respond to applications."

"People often get other jobs and we lose them."

Other possibilities the GNWT is considering is student loan debt relief for returning graduates.

Miltenberger wants to to see the territory’s worker nominee program ramped up.

"We want to increase the number of nominees by 25 per cent per year," said Miltenberger, pointing out that each nominee under the program represents 1.5 dependents.

On another front, Miltenberger said the GNWT is in talks with the federal government regarding revisions to Canada’s temporary foreign worker program.

"We’re struggling with the federal ruling on temporary foreign workers," Miltenberger said.

Those revisions mean businesses in the NWT will have restrictions in placed on their ability to hire under the program because the territory’s unemployment rate is higher than a six per cent threshold.

"We’re looking for a finer, more focused, consideration of the NWT," said Miltenberger.

"In Yellowknife, we have an employment rate of around three percent. We shouldn’t be lumped in with the territorial unemployment rate."

Citing meetings planned for later this month with key industry and government departments, Miltenberger said he expects to have an action plan in place by the fall for introduction during this winter’s budget.