St. John’s, N.L. (December 27, 2024) – Lloyd Parrott, Progressive Conservative Shadow Minister for Immigration, Population Growth & Skills and MHA for Terra Nova, today criticized the Furey Liberals after an Access to Information request confirmed the failure of the government’s United Kingdom (UK) soccer team sponsorship initiative.
Parrott was responding to an Access to Information and Protection of Privacy (ATIPP) request that revealed none of the 900 residents of the United Kingdom who contacted the Department of Immigration, Population Growth & Skills have moved to Newfoundland and Labrador.
“The PC Official Opposition condemned the Furey Liberals’ sponsorship of a fourth-tier soccer team in the UK when it was announced in June,” said Parrott. “Now, six months later, the proof is in the pudding. This has been a total failure.”
Parrott pointed out that the Minister of Immigration, Population Growth & Skills traveled to the UK in late September to promote Newfoundland and Labrador as an immigration destination. This trip followed the controversial decision by the Furey Liberals to sponsor a fourth-tier UK soccer team for $171,000 in June. The Minister personally attended a soccer game while in the UK.
“Photo ops and fluff—that is all this government delivers. We asked questions in November, and the Minister boasted about big crowds attending recruitment fairs in the UK. As we suspected, the reality is that none of this has translated into UK residents relocating to our province. Zero,” said Parrott.
Parrott also highlighted that the Minister overstated the success of web traffic to a website linked to the initiative.
“Just 4 per cent of the website users—2154 people—were from the UK, not the 50,000+ the Minister claimed. This debacle has damaged our province’s reputation internationally, with the government forced to issue apologies and retractions."
It is time for the Furey Liberals to cancel this sponsorship and, as a suggestion, redirect the $171,000 to food banks struggling to meet demand this holiday season.”