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Gain of 2,820 from other provinces follows losses8 G: i" L2 e! r6 t/ C
From Today's Edmonton Journal
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0 w! O3 O, z8 _! p6 H" e7 S. O4 UMigration to Alberta from other provinces jumped in the second quarter, Statistics Canada said Wednesday.
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From April 1 to July 1, a net total of 2,820 Canadians moved to Alberta.
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' s2 S* P. ^8 sThat means people from other provinces are being drawn by Alberta’s economy after months of dwindling or negative interprovin-cial migration to Alberta. / P' z, P: c# l
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Only 312 Canadians moved to Alberta in the first three months of the year and Alberta posted net losses in the two quarters before that.
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Between 2009 and this year, Alberta lost 2,200 people to other provinces.
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It was the first time Alberta had lost more people than it gained since 1994-95.
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It followed a peak during 200506 when 45,800 interprovincial migrants arrived.
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ATB Financial economist Dan Sumner said interprovincial migration is one of the best measures of the relative economic and social health of a region.
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4 s5 h; n7 V3 ?/ ^3 R# J$ h1 p“Alberta just experienced its most solid quarter of interprovincial migration in a year,” Sumner said. ; Y) h8 ^9 D8 x& f& g+ v9 t
“The main factor driving Canadians to move between provinces is jobs and job prospects. + v6 Z+ G A: s$ v
, v; ^) O j# ^“During the mid-decade, unsustainably strong job prospects drove migrants to Alberta from all corners of the country, although this trend reversed course quickly during the recession.”
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But he said a still-recovering job market in Alberta means a quick return to the pace of migration seen during the boom is unlikely.
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3 q) b/ t1 O. gStatistics Canada said Alberta’s population in the second quarter climbed by 18,538, or 0.5 per cent, to 3.72 million. ) U |; h7 z! s5 O
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That was the highest increase rate among provinces and includes arrivals from other provinces and countries, as well as births.
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“Almost half the growth in Alberta came from natural increase, the highest proportion among the provinces,” said the federal agency.
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Sumner said the province’s strong natural increase was partly due to its population having the lowest median age at 35.8, compared to the national average of 39.7.
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2 V. P' ]* P- E2 X6 o1 n$ l“More young people means more babies,” Sumner said.
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1 E, z( l% O$ Q2 v/ Z/ V* G) NAs of July 1, Canada’s population was estimated at 34.1 million, up 120,800 or 0.36 per cent from April 1. |
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