By Patrick Newhook/December 23, 2021
During the last budget meeting, Mount Pearl put forward it’s attempt to counter the prevailing population trend in the province. Newfoundland and Labrador has the oldest population in Canada, and this trend is expected to continue.
Mayor David Aker is hopeful the City’s plan will attract more young residents and families to live in Mount Pearl.
“We are looking at the demographics of not only Mount Pearl, but also the province and we’re very much an aging society,” said the mayor. “We want to somehow, if we can, reverse that trend.”
According to Stats Canada, Mount Pearl’s population in 2016 was 22,957. Out of that, 5,740 were over the age of 60. That means some 25 percent of the population were seniors. In the six years since, as the population continues to age, the percentage of residents falling into the seniors’ category has likely become higher.
The strategy is to make Mount Pearl appealing to young families to entice them into moving into the city. This involves providing incentives that would make Mount Pearl attractive to younger people.
The city is putting forward $20,000 to determine how they can attract young people to move into Mount Pearl.
Councilor Jim Locke, who presented the budget last week, pointed out some of the ways the City will be try to attract young families.
“In 2022, our city has invested $20,00 to explore best approaches to encourage and to welcome young families. We have invested over $110,000 towards park upgrades and improvements including $84,000 to the St. David’s smart accessible playground,” Locke noted. “Following public health guidelines, we have expanded our youth programming such as swimming lessons and day camps to pre-COVID capacities.”
The population growth strategy seemed to find favour with the rest of council.
“One thing that I am very happy about and excited to see in our budget is attracting young families and reversing the aging population trend,” said councilor Chelsea Lane. “This is very important and as a young mother of course this is something that I can relate to. As an educator and a mother, inclusion is so important and it’s so important for kids to have a safe place to play.”
