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Gain of 2,820 from other provinces follows losses
5 b8 l! ^6 h4 K6 e7 {6 ^% x: OFrom Today's Edmonton Journal
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Migration to Alberta from other provinces jumped in the second quarter, Statistics Canada said Wednesday. * |4 D+ Y, F6 D9 C+ U( Z. W
$ d( ?9 a0 d$ l. I' B9 ^From April 1 to July 1, a net total of 2,820 Canadians moved to Alberta. ' y% v# T4 ]7 X. m
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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. 2 [6 ?0 C& A4 W. P9 x' h' y
4 y4 A. O' y! o# ?4 F. HOnly 312 Canadians moved to Alberta in the first three months of the year and Alberta posted net losses in the two quarters before that. 4 Q3 K% j5 C. v( B
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Between 2009 and this year, Alberta lost 2,200 people to other provinces.
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/ Q% F9 Q' @/ ~7 iIt was the first time Alberta had lost more people than it gained since 1994-95. / t6 c% O+ n" U% z: S
8 m: x* | E( x6 O4 GIt followed a peak during 200506 when 45,800 interprovincial migrants arrived. + ^/ o6 s8 @: y7 N) r
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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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“Alberta just experienced its most solid quarter of interprovincial migration in a year,” Sumner said.
8 {: P6 {- `" G, o! ~$ C9 c0 }% k9 _9 B“The main factor driving Canadians to move between provinces is jobs and job prospects.
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“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.” : a0 [8 `( u6 y* a) R) R
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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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' C' w' z. _6 x4 ZStatistics Canada said Alberta’s population in the second quarter climbed by 18,538, or 0.5 per cent, to 3.72 million. + D. K j7 u G0 D9 f$ X
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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. 2 w/ R+ E' u% R9 ?+ B3 Y& ~
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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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# {: k* {; a0 D' w; d“More young people means more babies,” Sumner said.
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% w8 W9 c2 [( G* cAs 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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