New Brunswick’s immigration minister says his government has been forced to make “difficult decisions” in light of federal immigration cuts.

Our province faces a 50 per cent cut in permanent resident nominations, meaning our allocation will from to 2,750 this year from 5,500 last year.

The allocation will be split between the Provincial Nominee Program with 1,500 nominations and the Atlantic Immigration Program with 1,250.

“Unfortunately, this move has forced us to make difficult decisions and we expect it will limit our ability to manage economic growth for our province and its businesses,” Jean-Claude D’Amours, minister responsible for immigration, said in a news release.

D’Amours said the province will focus on priority sectors such as health, education and construction trades, with “limited allocations” in other sectors.

As a result, workers in some occupations throughout the province will be restricted from receiving any permanent resident nominees this year.

“The changes go far beyond anything we could have anticipated, and the one-size-fits-all measure fails to recognize our province’s unique status as the only officially bilingual province,” said D’Amours.

The province has presented its concerns to the federal government and conversations are ongoing, according to a news release.