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

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Mike Sadava, The Edmonton Journal
# w0 M' M* H9 Y; b/ {: Q% CPublished: Friday, March 30, 2007

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.

7 v, d) l! W4 L" J4 A" jAccording to Statistics Canada, 128 more Albertans moved one province east in the last three months of 2006.

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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.
4 l  o% l5 F0 F. ]1 c# |Photograph by : Regina Leader-Post

That is not a huge number, but it is creating smiles in Regina.

"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.
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6 x" D7 q% Y& a1 C& o1 DFor 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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# t) K" J# }) Z, S$ C# lStatistics 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.

1 @7 o$ s: D2 O$ B8 Y. ~Cam moved here eight years ago to take a course in architectural drafting.
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9 W5 p# a5 H8 Q1 Q5 [0 m, ?/ @' YThere 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.

% u! g1 ~' v" J) ^After 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.

* S8 i: y2 d+ H+ m# E, g4 L"Because the economy is so much bigger in Saskatchewan now, there are jobs again," Crystal Hamilton said.

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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"We're financially set now," she said. "It was perfect timing and turned out to be good idea in many ways."

5 {/ l, r1 P: f2 e7 {She said they liked Edmonton, other than the traffic, and made a lot of friends here who they will miss.

"It was sad to move, but it's also good to be back."
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6 w" I. [. X) M2 v6 Q8 V. NVicki 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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1 x  L1 U8 I# z" h3 `$ s6 \* T- J"In the end you have to figure out your priorities, and for us it was not being on the hamster wheel," she said.

3 `2 r' K6 o0 m! M% zWhile 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.
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9 H' h- w) A3 L$ x5 l5 H"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.

1 V1 R" f& ?: m4 UFrank 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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  l( _) ^" U* t% P"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.
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! j5 p" Z) ?' \( r  y0 ~"Not everyone who moves to a province is there permanently," Trovato said.
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4 F' a5 ]' N6 J2 |/ E- OTerry 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.

"It seems that every time I pick up the phone it's either 780 or 403 (area codes)."

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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: U+ b- l* ]  D- R: vAGAINST THE TIDE
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7 K  @0 h7 i% [* j6 g& SNo. of people moving from Alberta to Saskatchewan: 2,838

No. of people moving from Saskatchewan to Alberta: 2,710

) r9 N; F' ~/ x+ ]3 QNet loss for Alberta: 128
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! P- i7 B1 Q' H$ uNet inflow of migrants to Alberta from the rest of Canada: 11,800

6 O$ L8 I4 \, DNet inflow of migrants in the fourth quarter 2005: 17,100
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Population growth Alberta: 0.65 per cent

- w" x9 m" B7 [- i" G+ H7 {Population growth for Sask.: 0.21 per cent
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Population growth for all of Canada: 0.14 per cent
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% V+ k2 j; c6 n9 oSource: 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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