PEI is up to the same thing, and I maintain that if people are to be lured back, there better be something other than alot of golf courses to do it.

Yes that program is particularly ewird given a StatsCan report from a few weeks ago showing that within Canada people do not return home and that PEI would be better off luring Manitobans than ex-Islanders...though you are never an "ex-" in that respect, are you.

I find trying to lure Canadians back wierder than trying to lure Islanders back home. I think the interesting question is who exactly are these jurisdictions losing. In PEI, we are losing younger people of all education and occupation backgrounds, but notably trades. Is Canada losing tradespeople to New Zealand or France? I doubt it. Most likely, we are losing scientists and computer geeks and physicians and professors to the USA but all countries are losing this class of people to the USA because they've got the best universities and the best research facilities. Improve on those areas and there will be less migration. However, this class of people tends to be cosmopolitan anyway meaning borders and home countries tend not to be as big a consideration for them; they are lured by the challenge of their work. P.S. I sure hope they aren't going to try to lure lawyers back home -- we have enough lawyers and most of them aren't making any money anyway!

Correct. Islanders are NEVER ex-Islanders. And CFA's are NEVER Islanders....EVER, regardless of the fact that they might have gone to university in PEI and married an Islander, bore 2 real Island children (as opposed to fake ones), bought real estate, paid much taxes, and CHOSE to live here...nope, I will never be an Islander. I'll always be the 'one from Moncton'.

There's apparently a labour shortage in Canada. That's what this is about.

I guess what I am saying is why are people who choose to leave the best candidates for making a contradictory decision to return. The immigrant is not reversing themselves and so I would think would make a better bang for buck focus.

Well, one of the things that any country looks for in an immigrant is compatibility with the host nation. I think in some cases that just means willingness to learn the ways of that country and having compatible credentials. It's a method that ensures that no one is wasting his or her time. When you find suitable candidates you have to process them and usually educate them a little as well. If you recruit from Canadian citizens there's no paperwork and the returnee knows the country already so no costs are involved in cultural training or education. Also, someone who lives abroad likely has knowledge and experience about the way things are done elsewhere that could possibly be applied in Canada (and is also able to compare those ways with Canadian ways). It's not such a stupid idea, really. Presumeably the recruiters will try to show that Canada has improved in the last few years. Personally, I have my doubts about the extent of the labour shortage. There have always been a bunch of crappy jobs that only the very desperate would do. It's possible that employers are really only looking for cheap labour.

But Canadians do not move away for realy bad paying jobs do they? That would have to be the case for a cheap labour problem offering merely bad paying jobs being solved by recruiting ex-pat Canadians.

should i get an agent?

I think you're mixing up what I said with what they think. They (the Liberals) think there is a labour shortage. Given what they think, trying to recruit willing victims from the expat community isn't so dumb because if they succeed, it would be cheaper to bring in such people. There may also be a bunch of things happening demographically, i.e., Canada's population is aging and so some are worried that there aren't enough youngsters to support the boomers in their old age. Also, baby boomers are retiring around now and so you can see that in the long run there might be a shortage of people. But from my perspective, that is, when I ask around among my friends I'm not getting the impression that Canada is changing drastically. What I mean is, when I was in highschool in the 1980s one of my teachers told us about how he had been hired off the street (he had been a caribou counter and they hired him as a biology teacher) one day because they were so desperate for teachers (I can't think when this would be, the sixties?). I'm not getting the impression that this is what's going on now. That's why I expressed doubt. I know some people who teach and that's not what they're saying about the job market. Maybe they will say that soon. I don't know. Anyway, there are certainly some areas where the government may find success e.g. among lefty doctors or even a-political doctors who are tired of the elaborate billing system and insurance crapola in the US, it's also possible that they might be able to recruit for some of the other professions given that people also move home for family reasons as well, who knows?

That may be true but I think the underlying principle that someone who has chosen to leave and make a life elsewhere is unlikely to return unless there is a big incentive. As a result, even if it is cheaper to bring them back, they are unlikely to come back.

Yes, they will probably have to do more than just say: "Canada, it's a nice happy place. Come back!" Though I'm not sure what.

If I returned home to a good job in a country where a lot of my thirty something peers were still bartending or planting trees for a living, I would find that pretty depressing. I know people with degrees in math who drive taxis. The educational system needs money and it needs to be tightened up. I think a lot can be done to make university more affordable for those who go. I think the health care system needs more money and so does the CBC, those things, if they were done, would make me feel better about moving back.

but should i get an agent?

Portland, you are your own best advertisement, so no, you don't need an agent.

Incentives for returning? Would that be like an 'expat package' for returning expats? If so, where do I sign up? (though it does say "highly skilled," so I assume would journalists wouldn't qualify.)

But I hear you can work a wheelbarrow and sing shanties! There must be a spot in the fish flake industry up the Labrador.