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Gain of 2,820 from other provinces follows losses
# g+ j% B; c4 g' JFrom Today's Edmonton Journal
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Migration to Alberta from other provinces jumped in the second quarter, Statistics Canada said Wednesday. + @+ d9 ^6 U; l/ o8 C3 t
O# e0 r% o6 v1 W: H' HFrom April 1 to July 1, a net total of 2,820 Canadians moved to Alberta.
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( g* L6 I+ L8 w& iThat means people from other provinces are being drawn by Alberta’s economy after months of dwindling or negative interprovin-cial migration to Alberta. , U! H$ j7 A- B! f `# w1 @
! H% M9 `7 ~0 b! H [7 a2 AOnly 312 Canadians moved to Alberta in the first three months of the year and Alberta posted net losses in the two quarters before that. . W$ G# O" @& w; |
0 e) m. u7 N# F4 vBetween 2009 and this year, Alberta lost 2,200 people to other provinces. y$ c) { l- U# W' Q
/ l3 m: t2 O$ S$ c- |* n6 H2 p; wIt was the first time Alberta had lost more people than it gained since 1994-95. ! M B8 K# N' n/ M) R( Q+ n, A8 f
5 {* N' j8 E l: ?It followed a peak during 200506 when 45,800 interprovincial migrants arrived.
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+ B5 T+ H6 [4 ?5 ^ wATB Financial economist Dan Sumner said interprovincial migration is one of the best measures of the relative economic and social health of a region. ! M' Q) G% p- g+ U: L" g' w: Z C
L% |6 S8 T9 ~! Z) R“Alberta just experienced its most solid quarter of interprovincial migration in a year,” Sumner said. 4 f% F! G8 S5 W
“The main factor driving Canadians to move between provinces is jobs and job prospects. : l7 Q' M" R! r
1 g, m. N: v1 E& S* H8 K Z* n9 F6 {“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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4 ~; O+ f/ J5 j0 R3 ?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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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.
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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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( p* | }5 w6 |% D, K" d* L- }1 pSumner 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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1 t. F4 M) A7 c' D2 c“More young people means more babies,” Sumner said.
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5 m5 x, ^& a1 R8 Y2 w3 Y; AAs 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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