As Canada prepares to welcome 25,000 new refugees from Syria before the end of the year, the business community in Nova Scotia is eagerly awaiting their arrival.

Some believe an influx of new and ambitious refugees could help stimulate the economy.

In February 2014, Nova Scotia's Ivany Report recommended that the province receive 7,000 new immigrants annually.

• Canada committed to resettle 25,000 refugees by Jan. 1

With the co-operation of the federal government, Nova Scotia would receive its proportional share — 2.7 per cent — of all new international immigrants to Canada, the report recommends.

The current five-year average is 2,400 immigrants per year. 

Rob Batherson, chair of the board of directors of the Halifax Chamber of Commerce, says that 7,000 immigrants would help maintain or even increase the overall population.

Rob Batherson is the chair of the board of directors of the Halifax Chamber of Commerce and a businessman. He says that 7000 immigrants would help maintain or even increase the overall population. (CBC News)

"We've had stagnant population now for quite some time and we have an aging population as well. So gradually the working age population is shrinking ... We need new, younger people to come into the economy to contribute, to set up businesses, employ other Nova Scotians and expand our tax base rather than manage with a shrinking tax base."

Batherson said Syrians, like other immigrant groups that have come to the province in the past, are likely to be entrepreneurs and have a strong willingness to work. 

"For example, many of today's most successful business leaders were refugees from Lebanon, from the civil war in the '60s and '70s," said Batherson. "[They] come into Nova Scotia, create wealth, create jobs, increase tax revenue. So what I'm excited about with the potential with more Syrian refugees coming in is who in that class of refugees will be the next Nova Scotia success story for the next 30 years?"

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/syrian-refugees-halifax-e...