ZT - Running back to Saskatoon, Moose Jaw, Regina ...

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Mike Sadava, The Edmonton Journal
Published: Friday, March 30, 2007
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EDMONTON - Albertans are starting to be Saskatchewan-bound in growing numbers.

For the first time since 1996, more people are moving from Alberta to Saskatchewan than the other way around. It's part of a slight slowdown in Alberta's population growth, which is still increasing at four times the rest of the country.

% X( N. z* @; RAccording to Statistics Canada, 128 more Albertans moved one province east in the last three months of 2006.
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9 }) U# I1 V* x4 S! a  ?Cam and Crystal Hamilton and their 11-month-old son Brady move back to Regina from Edmonton. Now they're in a bigger house and debt-free.
3 Q6 d' `, w) H7 ^, d0 ]1 kPhotograph by : Regina Leader-Post
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That is not a huge number, but it is creating smiles in Regina.
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' Z+ D" Z' B) U" |2 [! m"This is a good batch of numbers," said Roy Schneider, spokesman for Saskatchewan Industry and Resources. "We were bleeding so many people to Alberta for such a long time I'd be happy to see (a net increase from Alberta of) two.

" e1 N) G4 v- }2 C) eFor years, between 2,000 and 4,000 Saskatchewan residents per quarter would head out to Alberta in search of the good life.

Even in the third quarter of 2006, Saskatchewan experienced a net loss of 994 people to Alberta, and the province launched an ad campaign, extolling the better life of Saskatchewan in billboards popping up around Edmonton.
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Statistics Canada hasn't tracked who these people are, but Crystal and Cam Hamilton, who moved back to Regina at the beginning of the year, might be typical.
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. I% K, p: J; C2 u8 KCam moved here eight years ago to take a course in architectural drafting.

There were no jobs in Regina in his field, so he stayed in Edmonton to work. Crystal followed him here and they married, eventually buying a house in Lymburn in southwest Edmonton.
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& X) F! P, {6 J) H# z9 EAfter having their son Brady, who is now 11 months old, they decided it would be nice to be back in Regina with family, and that became possible.
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"Because the economy is so much bigger in Saskatchewan now, there are jobs again," Crystal Hamilton said.
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They ended up with a tidy nest egg from the move and managed to pay off their debts. The Edmonton house they bought two years ago for $157,000 got them $306,000, and they built a new, larger home in Regina for $190,000.

  I) A. F& I: |2 \! r! M"We're financially set now," she said. "It was perfect timing and turned out to be good idea in many ways."

She said they liked Edmonton, other than the traffic, and made a lot of friends here who they will miss.
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# z5 c$ N+ i3 Q$ s"It was sad to move, but it's also good to be back."
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Vicki Delnea and her husband Rod had similar reasons for moving to Regina from Calgary -- the difference in the cost of housing enabled them to pay off their mortgage.
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" v* B/ Z# k+ D3 n"In the end you have to figure out your priorities, and for us it was not being on the hamster wheel," she said.
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While she is from London, England, Rod was originally from Regina, and it will be great for her three-year-old, Joshua, to know his grandparents, she said.

: R9 n+ j/ z, V: a* ^! LRod, who works in marketing, was able to keep his job and is working out of a home office, which saves him a 40-minute commute.

"Everybody thought we were crazy moving here because there is a stigma against Saskatchewan. When we told them Regina, they said: 'Why?' We said: 'Why not?' "
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6 i, `- o; Y+ P, D% ?' DSo far Delnea loves the city, finding her neighbours friendly and not missing the traffic of Calgary.
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Frank Trovato, a demographer in the sociology department at the University of Alberta, said it's not surprising to see more people moving to Saskatchewan after such a long period of net outflow of people to Alberta.
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"When you see there's a lot of people moving to a place, there's also a countercurrent back," Trovato said.

There are likely a number of factors at play, including the lower cost of housing and greater economic opportunities back in Saskatchewan, but there were probably a number of people who found that Edmonton didn't provide the opportunities they were hoping for, he said.

+ x* I8 H9 c  \: |: O+ \! N"Not everyone who moves to a province is there permanently," Trovato said.

7 v; l( e! ^! m: x8 _Terry Hincks, a Regina city councillor and realtor, said Albertans are buying a lot of homes in Regina, either as revenue property or to eventually be their place of residence.

' c1 s9 ^" w7 |. T4 a"It seems that every time I pick up the phone it's either 780 or 403 (area codes)."
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Real estate prices are still much lower than Edmonton -- $130,000 to $150,000 can still get you a decent three-bedroom home -- but are starting to rise. February set a new record in Regina, with 250 houses sold.

AGAINST THE TIDE
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, ~2 S; b8 n$ PNo. of people moving from Alberta to Saskatchewan: 2,838

+ n" x# i0 j5 E) @( D  R+ ONo. of people moving from Saskatchewan to Alberta: 2,710
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1 E) p9 N! f7 v$ ZNet loss for Alberta: 128
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Net inflow of migrants to Alberta from the rest of Canada: 11,800
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Net inflow of migrants in the fourth quarter 2005: 17,100
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* M6 t0 O, P0 xPopulation growth Alberta: 0.65 per cent

) U+ e: U( _7 @) O2 B" r, O6 OPopulation growth for Sask.: 0.21 per cent
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Population growth for all of Canada: 0.14 per cent

! H, e( k5 Q+ Y; j" aSource: Statistics Canada figures for fourth quarter, 2006

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这是些有先见且有勇气的人们。
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