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

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Mike Sadava, The Edmonton Journal
3 q  j1 v2 V  H6 dPublished: Friday, March 30, 2007
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2 w8 q! U8 ^8 G; C! B( C7 UEDMONTON - Albertans are starting to be Saskatchewan-bound in growing numbers.

( c* y# z5 `1 I6 {2 zFor 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.
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According to Statistics Canada, 128 more Albertans moved one province east in the last three months of 2006.
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0 G; Q, P& t+ }1 `, v- BCam 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.
/ f6 k/ m: d5 _* n1 T4 bPhotograph 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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+ N/ O% M% F# g# T- Z"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.

) z( [' i: ?" m4 F2 qFor 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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& a2 y# K1 v1 u3 p. u: HStatistics 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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! d. l. @6 S0 K; p6 qCam moved here eight years ago to take a course in architectural drafting.

" d% n6 t( L9 P  K4 @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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& d6 a5 ~  H- x5 RAfter 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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8 y0 G: ~- f; z4 d. {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.
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+ y/ s% e) V2 @+ g! d"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.

3 S% n$ \2 |0 A8 V' U5 c+ h"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.

! _0 @1 l6 Y: w: S"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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5 _" k+ t+ p7 y- A: f- F9 IWhile 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.

Rod, 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.

( O2 w2 z$ j8 c1 t"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?' "

So far Delnea loves the city, finding her neighbours friendly and not missing the traffic of Calgary.

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.

"When you see there's a lot of people moving to a place, there's also a countercurrent back," Trovato said.
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# A/ y/ e: F; Q( k1 j# iThere 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.

"Not everyone who moves to a province is there permanently," Trovato said.
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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.
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6 c7 ?1 ]; A7 x' m4 I5 U"It seems that every time I pick up the phone it's either 780 or 403 (area codes)."
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4 r  U, y$ n! `# X& k3 W$ E# u* ]Real estate prices are still much lower than Edmonton -- $130,000 to $150,000 can still get you a decent three-bedroom home -- but are starting to rise. February set a new record in Regina, with 250 houses sold.
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AGAINST THE TIDE
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" P3 K$ A8 F4 u. \) pNo. of people moving from Alberta to Saskatchewan: 2,838
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1 \% X. u; ^0 B; eNo. of people moving from Saskatchewan to Alberta: 2,710

Net loss for Alberta: 128

Net inflow of migrants to Alberta from the rest of Canada: 11,800

4 o! l; g8 B, PNet inflow of migrants in the fourth quarter 2005: 17,100

' b/ A8 |% B" T; tPopulation growth Alberta: 0.65 per cent
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Population growth for Sask.: 0.21 per cent
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Population growth for all of Canada: 0.14 per cent

Source: Statistics Canada figures for fourth quarter, 2006

yj151

这是些有先见且有勇气的人们。
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