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Gain of 2,820 from other provinces follows losses
$ n7 W( d6 P8 w$ y! [* B( MFrom Today's Edmonton Journal" f7 T" g+ F5 ?6 A$ T
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Migration to Alberta from other provinces jumped in the second quarter, Statistics Canada said Wednesday. " u% t9 g( K5 `# n- L( d. {1 q6 V' Y. A
! [! E' f, L+ h* ]From April 1 to July 1, a net total of 2,820 Canadians moved to Alberta. [: c, w9 L/ \6 c1 ]
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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. # ?9 b9 \; ]/ z5 g
- x D+ F5 K) S% P, F3 c( k1 _$ k9 C" sOnly 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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# V" t L3 C3 z* u6 yBetween 2009 and this year, Alberta lost 2,200 people to other provinces. ! Z7 Q2 z+ s7 @4 K, l3 `
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It was the first time Alberta had lost more people than it gained since 1994-95.
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' L# k4 m6 E" l5 l5 M0 j4 JIt followed a peak during 200506 when 45,800 interprovincial migrants arrived.
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( V& J9 y: L9 I$ @/ m. f4 b) q1 }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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+ S1 N" @# K! A0 c“Alberta just experienced its most solid quarter of interprovincial migration in a year,” Sumner said. ; ^9 ^7 \. P0 ]( ?7 v7 G# b8 Y6 }+ u
“The main factor driving Canadians to move between provinces is jobs and job prospects.
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“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.” , H! J, p3 O5 I
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But he said a still-recovering job market in Alberta means a quick return to the pace of migration seen during the boom is unlikely. . M* r, z0 q- o1 D+ @, Z
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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. ( H/ }" }" P" j. j. g2 _ t# R, ~
! }' E+ G% p( PThat was the highest increase rate among provinces and includes arrivals from other provinces and countries, as well as births.
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! ?8 f; T9 l' e- D2 K$ ^+ C7 y“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. $ i8 H! ^( x9 v$ s# `" g3 j' b
0 T; h* N" m- z& Q“More young people means more babies,” Sumner said. 7 E! _1 Q0 Q& Z6 T3 X% V7 d8 A) y
$ `0 a4 f. q2 F1 g" G' nAs 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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