Category(s):
Population Dynamics and Immigration
Status: Closed
Principal: Ted McDonald
Project Number: P0033
Year Approved: 2018
Year Completed: 2022
New Brunswick is the only province in Canada that recently experienced population decline. Moreover, intra-provincial migration patterns show a trend towards urbanization. The decreasing rural population in New Brunswick raises some questions: Should policymakers try to reverse this pattern? Does closing a public facility in rural areas accelerate depopulation? If so, should government keep these facilities open to either reverse or prevent rural outmigration?
This project investigates the link between public assets and population retention in rural New Brunswick and to find out whether closing public facilities including hospitals, schools and libraries has any effect on migration patterns in rural areas in the province.
