If you're government and are concerned about tax revenues to pay for public services, then you're deeply concerned about an aging population. The combination of rising health care costs, more people using the health care system, and less people to pay to support that system, is not a healthy one for government balance sheets.
This was the warning on the front page of yesterday's Telegraph. Joe Ruggeri, a recently retired Professor of Economics at UNB gave this warning.
By the time New Brunswick expects to climb out of four years of deficits, its aging population threatens to plunge it right back into spending more than it takes in for several years, warns a prominent economist.
And neither the Graham government's self-sufficiency agenda nor proposed energy megaprojects worth billions of dollars will generate enough revenue for provincial coffers to change that, argues Joe Ruggeri.
Joe spoke eloquently about these issues when he spoke to the 2008 cohort of 21 Leaders, (Joe is second from right in the photo). Regardless of how government responds, increasing the number of working people in the province is an important priority. There are few organizations that fill this space like we do, creating opportunities and a community for young people to pursue their professional and personal goals in New Brunswick.
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