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Gain of 2,820 from other provinces follows losses
8 P( ~& R, B2 EFrom Today's Edmonton Journal
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- b, ^8 E3 ]' jMigration to Alberta from other provinces jumped in the second quarter, Statistics Canada said Wednesday. ; [6 U: q0 k, M6 A0 N2 d9 ^/ G( z
* o1 r1 l; n0 K: k) t3 {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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' ~! n8 e5 i) N' K; `+ r! n* `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. 2 N' E7 H& a9 {+ S. G
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Between 2009 and this year, Alberta lost 2,200 people to other provinces. ) w! D, I; Y S9 c
5 W3 x1 D& m% m5 C: @, kIt was the first time Alberta had lost more people than it gained since 1994-95. 2 K/ u' n5 p* }, U
. ^, ^9 G8 a& x# B! V: r$ ~It followed a peak during 200506 when 45,800 interprovincial migrants arrived.
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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. 1 T$ W/ Q5 e" Q) K5 I' n
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“Alberta just experienced its most solid quarter of interprovincial migration in a year,” Sumner said.
' m$ j4 t% k: l L3 p k“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. + M& e% C* R2 S; C" y" v) N# m
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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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4 O7 F$ I) t( }That was the highest increase rate among provinces and includes arrivals from other provinces and countries, as well as births.
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0 Y4 J) G- u) o6 x4 H! q$ |# g“Almost half the growth in Alberta came from natural increase, the highest proportion among the provinces,” said the federal agency. 4 E% L: p7 t; X. k) l3 N8 B+ e) F
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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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3 h1 A& E$ @7 M8 `“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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