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Gain of 2,820 from other provinces follows losses
: x& d7 c# [' s1 Y6 |1 WFrom Today's Edmonton Journal
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' f8 f( Y \) s% p0 ~& F9 g& XMigration to Alberta from other provinces jumped in the second quarter, Statistics Canada said Wednesday. c+ M p! f0 W& z. A$ e
/ ]0 H3 R, L+ F6 E* hFrom April 1 to July 1, a net total of 2,820 Canadians moved to Alberta. ) W* b$ k7 c1 S' n
3 x5 ^# N* S5 S+ MThat means people from other provinces are being drawn by Alberta’s economy after months of dwindling or negative interprovin-cial migration to Alberta. . c3 w `6 A# s T# v4 b3 l+ U
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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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& \1 F! ?0 {$ hBetween 2009 and this year, Alberta lost 2,200 people to other provinces. ) i1 w( v2 H4 E4 f% n/ o# z
% E- v6 \8 @: NIt was the first time Alberta had lost more people than it gained since 1994-95. ! M* t( z! p) T8 l$ A! G: p
% z1 |5 F) K) M8 @/ e0 \6 r* c8 xIt followed a peak during 200506 when 45,800 interprovincial migrants arrived.
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4 o" \* y3 m( @: d3 w- ~/ [ cATB 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. ! Y; A7 L8 a/ ?9 c& o5 e, m
“The main factor driving Canadians to move between provinces is jobs and job prospects.
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" w2 `7 Q8 l; t$ H, 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. & ]+ K% w7 b7 `* O) ~
& `/ U; n4 O; }Statistics Canada said Alberta’s population in the second quarter climbed by 18,538, or 0.5 per cent, to 3.72 million. 6 }# k0 k3 ?# t$ F, t# ~
2 @6 s V- ~4 Y$ K$ gThat was the highest increase rate among provinces and includes arrivals from other provinces and countries, as well as births. * _1 O8 Y; Y( s# B
$ O( H6 T. i4 l& v4 I' }“Almost half the growth in Alberta came from natural increase, the highest proportion among the provinces,” said the federal agency. : x$ u1 o" r& c3 {
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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.
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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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