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Gain of 2,820 from other provinces follows losses9 i" w$ A8 e* B0 t6 x; C
From Today's Edmonton Journal
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* g" v+ A5 {5 _- i7 kMigration to Alberta from other provinces jumped in the second quarter, Statistics Canada said Wednesday. ; y+ o% Y. z2 b9 u# _
" K1 a F) y# o$ N! W$ mFrom 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. ' Z1 u$ M0 h+ p3 ?6 N4 W
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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.
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Between 2009 and this year, Alberta lost 2,200 people to other provinces.
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It was the first time Alberta had lost more people than it gained since 1994-95.
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( z& G" [% P1 U# K$ Y) B& [7 _* lIt followed a peak during 200506 when 45,800 interprovincial migrants arrived. 4 e3 Z" h1 u7 c2 L" ~3 E
, r! B/ ?7 |, w2 P$ YATB Financial economist Dan Sumner said interprovincial migration is one of the best measures of the relative economic and social health of a region.
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0 S+ S& |2 \! A5 a$ E5 X“Alberta just experienced its most solid quarter of interprovincial migration in a year,” Sumner said. # Q% n: a7 F8 U2 ]- Y
“The main factor driving Canadians to move between provinces is jobs and job prospects.
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6 J7 F5 i2 O' B7 W3 F0 n“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.” 1 @" t: K1 {7 Q& @
$ [ \8 i B. XBut 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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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. ( {& w* S) N, Z r' J
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“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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