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Gain of 2,820 from other provinces follows losses
6 c2 K! `, ]5 }6 NFrom Today's Edmonton Journal
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Migration to Alberta from other provinces jumped in the second quarter, Statistics Canada said Wednesday. * Z: k+ S6 q1 t9 M/ s2 M" N" L( U
: Q. j6 |8 V6 B8 N9 k$ h( ^/ wFrom 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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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. / B; r9 U' P3 m
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It was the first time Alberta had lost more people than it gained since 1994-95. " q8 N7 c& U& N# x+ ?
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It followed a peak during 200506 when 45,800 interprovincial migrants arrived. 1 M/ y1 h/ {* K E6 |. `
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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.
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3 Q- f2 z' V4 z“Alberta just experienced its most solid quarter of interprovincial migration in a year,” Sumner said.
* g9 }; O2 g6 d6 Y9 B# O+ ^“The main factor driving Canadians to move between provinces is jobs and job prospects.
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\/ l4 ?" M, R" b1 e“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 S7 P; |% [6 |0 G* c
( M$ I1 c' Z9 w8 l+ d3 DBut he said a still-recovering job market in Alberta means a quick return to the pace of migration seen during the boom is unlikely. % b! D" v* _3 v* Y
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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. 6 q. w8 Y) ?+ r; s5 t5 K
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That was the highest increase rate among provinces and includes arrivals from other provinces and countries, as well as births. , X9 P% N9 J7 y' g
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“Almost half the growth in Alberta came from natural increase, the highest proportion among the provinces,” said the federal agency. 7 h/ k i/ y7 u7 q M# Q
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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. 3 C# w) w- F8 E8 ]# R
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“More young people means more babies,” Sumner said.
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$ p- c* Y D4 I! H; ~( A4 yAs 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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