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In its Way Forward plan, the Liberal government in Newfoundland and Labrador set the bar on immigration at 1,700 newcomers a year by 2022. Until Tuesday, it was suggested to be an ambitious goal.

The number is more than three times the number of new immigrants recorded for Newfoundland and Labrador in 2007. More recently, in 2016, the province recorded 1,190 new permanent residents.

But with a speech in St. John’s, federal Minister of Veterans Affairs Seamus O’Regan — also the MP for St. John’s South-Mount Pearl — has grabbed the bar set by the province and thrown it into the stratosphere, calling for Newfoundland and Labrador to strive for a minimum of 4,000 new immigrants a year in short order.

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In a luncheon speech to the St. John’s Board of Trade at the Sheraton Hotel, O’Regan talked about the 2018 federal budget before moving on to provincial finances.

He said a speech only about the federal level would be disingenuous, given the province’s existing concerns — being exacerbated by a rapidly aging population, forecasted to shrink.

“The provincial government has set an immigration target of 1,700 people and that is a big jump over our immigration numbers of the past. But if you want to offset our aging population and outmigration, we need a minimum of 4,000 new immigrants in this province. A minimum,” he said.

O’Regan said he could make the argument immigration is the right and compassionate thing to do, but instead asked the Board of Trade to seek new immigrants out of selfishness — for the businesses they would start, the jobs they would create, and the partners and neighbours they would become.

He mentioned ongoing conversations with federal Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen on the topic.

“We are ready to make this happen. We can match the skills to your businesses, we can fast-track candidates, we can allow for whole families,” he told the audience.

He later told The Telegram that Premier Dwight Ball has been part of recent discussions with Hussen on ways to rapidly increase immigration.

“We just had substantial meetings with (Hussen), which Premier Ball attended, and they had a great conversation. So we are lining things up,” O’Regan said.

He referenced new fast-track streams and supports under the Atlantic Growth Strategy.

At the same time, he said there is existing quota — for lack of a better term — on new immigrants untapped by the province, including additional spaces under the Atlantic Immigration Pilot Program.

“We can’t afford that,” he said. “We literally cannot afford that.”

As part of his speech, O’Regan plugged the ongoing efforts of all of the Liberal MPs from the province — Gudie Hutchings, Yvonne Jones, Ken McDonald, Scott Simms, Nick Whalen and Churence Rogers — as well as the overall voice of the Atlantic caucus in Ottawa.