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Gain of 2,820 from other provinces follows losses
2 w8 i) o$ o' W( r0 nFrom Today's Edmonton Journal
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Migration to Alberta from other provinces jumped in the second quarter, Statistics Canada said Wednesday. ! N/ z5 u: M% X4 @ p; }0 r
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From April 1 to July 1, a net total of 2,820 Canadians moved to Alberta.
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- q3 e# ]; P' P4 g" O4 A/ BThat 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.
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Between 2009 and this year, Alberta lost 2,200 people to other provinces.
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1 W. c4 P7 f& l7 Q1 }It was the first time Alberta had lost more people than it gained since 1994-95. ; {3 m1 h( S- s; ^: N
; l; V! ^/ Z2 D0 X/ V: u; M. n3 lIt followed a peak during 200506 when 45,800 interprovincial migrants arrived.
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. V! _3 W# |) RATB Financial economist Dan Sumner said interprovincial migration is one of the best measures of the relative economic and social health of a region. 6 k2 w1 Z! B) C3 D
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“Alberta just experienced its most solid quarter of interprovincial migration in a year,” Sumner said. : r" m! w9 x1 L# |# p9 q; N
“The main factor driving Canadians to move between provinces is jobs and job prospects.
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# q8 W" D R9 w; M“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. 3 r9 H6 W* F- d4 i1 [( \7 b+ v
) s7 }: q( @, x6 N1 {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. ' f* c$ e6 Y8 X5 S5 Z
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“Almost half the growth in Alberta came from natural increase, the highest proportion among the provinces,” said the federal agency. ! G8 a2 A- m; G$ U4 o
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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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“More young people means more babies,” Sumner said. ! z- o4 t9 m0 p+ F
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As 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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