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Gain of 2,820 from other provinces follows losses
3 ]7 u" D& q: fFrom Today's Edmonton Journal
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Migration to Alberta from other provinces jumped in the second quarter, Statistics Canada said Wednesday. & r' S; c, F6 c! t$ J
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From April 1 to July 1, a net total of 2,820 Canadians moved to Alberta.
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That means people from other provinces are being drawn by Alberta’s economy after months of dwindling or negative interprovin-cial migration to Alberta.
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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. ! X* d$ W& O( ~6 g+ p
% V* Y6 h. A) c% S' BBetween 2009 and this year, Alberta lost 2,200 people to other provinces. 4 K+ K% [" S# h- E6 |% P a1 t
. [; j9 F/ n U% ?- a( [6 d# eIt was the first time Alberta had lost more people than it gained since 1994-95. 9 d/ u/ J4 n; x3 w% [# _% `. F
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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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# p. a0 O+ X5 N, s8 g“Alberta just experienced its most solid quarter of interprovincial migration in a year,” Sumner said.
4 V& a' w5 ], @, B% p“The main factor driving Canadians to move between provinces is jobs and job prospects. 3 [; X$ y* J' E+ Y% q* @" Z
; F4 }: O6 [. ~, H5 n8 s( 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.” 9 v% ?7 y: Y3 N: S/ W7 k( ^
" U( O, |9 w" D; r! I" L3 v! {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. 3 u3 a! p" ?5 H: U# [
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Statistics Canada said Alberta’s population in the second quarter climbed by 18,538, or 0.5 per cent, to 3.72 million.
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That was the highest increase rate among provinces and includes arrivals from other provinces and countries, as well as births. + Z! ~1 ]% X8 D; N+ H7 {
! {; `& o* U, y1 k/ E2 \3 s“Almost half the growth in Alberta came from natural increase, the highest proportion among the provinces,” said the federal agency. 3 C& Y& [# `# h7 c( W6 w* c
2 R- c* T4 G) ]3 y, G' E; GSumner 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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4 V7 a/ R: u4 @) g9 N- U“More young people means more babies,” Sumner said.
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* F, H& d/ ]5 I: a$ G( KAs 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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