ANTIGONISH, Nova Scotia, May 11, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) – At a graduation ceremony at St. Francis Xavier University May 2, Cardinal Keith O’Brien, prelate of Edinburgh and St. Andrews, asked Canadian students to consider a move to Scotland. The Catholic news agency Zenit reported that the Cardinal outlined the serious population crisis occurring in his native land, “The Office of National Statistics in Scotland has come out with frightening statistics indicating that Scotland’s population will soon fall back to levels last seen in 1915 with the working-age population supporting one of the highest proportions of pensioners in Western Europe.” Cardinal O’Brien was at St. Francis Xavier to receive an honorary law degree.
“Appreciating all that Scotland has given to Canada especially over the last 200 years, perhaps it is time for young people of Canada to think of returning to Scotland to help rebuild that Scotland to occupy a leading role in the world of today,” he said. Cardinal O’Brien described a scheme by the Scottish First Minister to promote increased immigration from Europe and abroad, to bolster a declining population.