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Gain of 2,820 from other provinces follows losses
. B. a; z0 G& d8 JFrom Today's Edmonton Journal& @3 ~: I, N: y! c4 o Y B9 P
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Migration to Alberta from other provinces jumped in the second quarter, Statistics Canada said Wednesday. 5 X8 E5 s8 D& R# K* y5 e/ G' P
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From April 1 to July 1, a net total of 2,820 Canadians moved to Alberta.
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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.
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! q& e' P9 I3 C: mOnly 312 Canadians moved to Alberta in the first three months of the year and Alberta posted net losses in the two quarters before that. 9 e& O, @, J( g+ |' h# m
7 C" c, p r2 c! O% K6 VBetween 2009 and this year, Alberta lost 2,200 people to other provinces. 8 s [* w0 R0 K
& ]! y& I! g" }* `4 b2 sIt was the first time Alberta had lost more people than it gained since 1994-95. 4 d6 i! |& m! k% O
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It followed a peak during 200506 when 45,800 interprovincial migrants arrived.
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" x( X$ x$ Z/ v9 S, D* k7 }ATB Financial economist Dan Sumner said interprovincial migration is one of the best measures of the relative economic and social health of a region. 2 ~+ p8 o) n) h5 S
% M6 [8 ^$ E- I, t) s“Alberta just experienced its most solid quarter of interprovincial migration in a year,” Sumner said.
, _$ [1 X E% P, v8 H6 B) 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.” 0 T# F+ `: v+ O; X: ?
. N# E) Z1 W4 C/ vBut he said a still-recovering job market in Alberta means a quick return to the pace of migration seen during the boom is unlikely. $ n* d0 a6 G! w& V) c
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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. : c0 ?( M8 Z* g2 s2 ]
7 o$ H8 M! ?3 \That was the highest increase rate among provinces and includes arrivals from other provinces and countries, as well as births.
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% _; M' l* D* {2 ^. x( g“Almost half the growth in Alberta came from natural increase, the highest proportion among the provinces,” said the federal agency.
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! i4 s" [1 O3 b ^+ {/ KSumner 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. i& W. D; u+ V
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“More young people means more babies,” Sumner said.
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/ a _8 T9 B* VAs 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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