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Gain of 2,820 from other provinces follows losses
: ]4 t2 H1 M! o2 ?From Today's Edmonton Journal/ ~$ f1 {7 X+ _
' c$ f5 V3 A6 pMigration to Alberta from other provinces jumped in the second quarter, Statistics Canada said Wednesday.
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' _; A0 q" o* O3 k) d1 {( I& C+ R; F/ uFrom April 1 to July 1, a net total of 2,820 Canadians moved to Alberta. ) f" L& J* f7 b0 U& _7 A9 q
# t) i- u, m+ L% p; n1 e5 ~That means people from other provinces are being drawn by Alberta’s economy after months of dwindling or negative interprovin-cial migration to Alberta. 8 C/ p2 @( C8 s0 y. o: e, S
# d3 ?/ H; t3 _0 N2 c" \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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- z! ?( d% b% {- WBetween 2009 and this year, Alberta lost 2,200 people to other provinces.
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& _' f8 [, c: @$ c, n5 ]It was the first time Alberta had lost more people than it gained since 1994-95. 9 b# ?) u. ]7 p% L
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It followed a peak during 200506 when 45,800 interprovincial migrants arrived. ' m7 ` _& ]* c( ] X: ?. _7 ~
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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. $ P' H" @2 N' p5 {0 c& o
“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.”
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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. ) B1 x4 s' G# n' B% U( v, }1 N6 \
: o- u" y0 P, ?2 xStatistics 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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+ ^" n% z! w+ r" _* j8 e% vThat was the highest increase rate among provinces and includes arrivals from other provinces and countries, as well as births.
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/ e8 R, r( j4 f! N9 U“Almost half the growth in Alberta came from natural increase, the highest proportion among the provinces,” said the federal agency.
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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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% b' A5 z7 B& y; B: e6 y* Z“More young people means more babies,” Sumner said.
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! E% ^: L0 O$ H, xAs 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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