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Gain of 2,820 from other provinces follows losses
6 B8 u& B7 G* r' z/ BFrom Today's Edmonton Journal
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/ [4 I6 ^0 ^3 W' v; iMigration to Alberta from other provinces jumped in the second quarter, Statistics Canada said Wednesday. 3 S( Y$ m& x) f3 I$ w- q8 w
/ {' Q$ p" ^6 ^. YFrom April 1 to July 1, a net total of 2,820 Canadians moved to Alberta. # Z; J2 X0 w% w" a# w
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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. ; M' c4 D" I! H: q
8 h+ L5 A7 N- JOnly 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. , X- p9 X& @2 r. H
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It followed a peak during 200506 when 45,800 interprovincial migrants arrived.
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c! o" w/ ]% V# PATB 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. ' w8 B2 I4 u0 o0 D
“The main factor driving Canadians to move between provinces is jobs and job prospects. * B5 b `& k. U. X" v8 [. c
/ f0 S( P: H! Y! K6 Y9 ]“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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" ]8 D9 O K' h2 y) r" EBut he said a still-recovering job market in Alberta means a quick return to the pace of migration seen during the boom is unlikely. 9 ^, u: h5 V6 w. ^9 R; b* x
$ P" F. d% Z" o# U" z c1 bStatistics 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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. \3 m$ e& o' Y: t! W. P% _+ AThat was the highest increase rate among provinces and includes arrivals from other provinces and countries, as well as births. : z B; Q4 G0 _' P2 A( k. I
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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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. c/ m- X( ^ d. S; l6 r% J( BSumner 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.
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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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