Federal changes to the Provincial Nominee Program mean P.E.I. will not be able to attract nearly as many immigrants, says the provincial minister responsible for the program.

'If it's not working, I'm definitely going back to the federal program.'— Innovation Minister Richard Brown

After Sept. 2, the Immigrant Partner Program section of the PNP underwent a major revision. Since it started in 2001, potential immigrants could get a visa, pending health and security checks, for $200,000, which was slated for investment in a local company.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada has now raised the bar for potential immigrants to $1 million or a one-third stake in the local company.

Through the summer leading up to the change, 1,800 potential immigrants applied to come to P.E.I., a number Innovation Minister Richard Brown expects to drop sharply.

"We did 1,800, we may be back may be to 20 or 30 a year," said Brown.

Controversy over last-minute rush

The rush of applicants leading up to the change came with some controversy. Citizenship and Immigration questioned the quality of companies being approved for investment, and others wondered about the involvement of government MLAs in the program.

That controversy did not become public until a few weeks after the program changes. In an e-mail to CBC News, Citizenship and Immigration said it made the changes because investors weren't required to be actively involved in the P.E.I. companies, so there was no incentive for immigrants to remain in the province.

Brown said he argued with Ottawa about its regulation changes, and the government feels the old partner program did give immigrants an active role in local companies.

"The federal government says, 'You'll do just as good under the new program.' We're going to try it," said Brown.

"If it's not working, I'm definitely going back to the federal program to say you've set the bar too high. I'm non-competitive now and we're not getting immigrants to P.E.I."

Brown will appear before the province's public accounts committee Wednesday to answer questions about how the program was run until September.