Booming Alberta lures thousands of Canadians

By Eric Beauchesne
Vancouver Sun
29-Mar-2006

It's not just Alberta's economy that's booming, so is its population.

The growth in the energy-rich province's population was more than five times the national average through the final quarter of last year as its economy lured thousands of Canadians from other provinces and territories, seven of which actually saw their populations shrink.

A record number of people flooded into Alberta from October through December, boosting the population by 25,100 or 0.76 per cent to 3.3 million, the strongest growth ever for the final quarter of any year, and well above the 0.14 per cent growth for the country as a whole, Statistics Canada reported Tuesday.

"Only during the oil boom period of 1979 and 1980 was there similar growth," it said, noting that net interprovincial migration accounted for just over two-thirds of the population increase, an all-time high for any quarter.

"We are a magnet destination in the country," said Harry Hiller, director of the Calgary in-migration study at the University of Calgary.

"Speaking from experience, the whole country knows Alberta and Calgary are doing phenomenally well," said Craig Coady, a senior recruiter with David Aplin Recruiting who moved from Halifax to Calgary in February.

Of those coming from other provinces, the most from any single province, was 6,625 from Ontario, followed closely by 6,553 who moved there from British Columbia.

"Inevitably when one region exerts such a powerful draw, the demography of the other regions is affected," the report said, noting that only twice in more than 30 years have as many as seven provinces and territories lost population in the final quarter of any year.

Other than Alberta, the only two regions to record a growth rate above the national average were British Columbia, up 0.19 per cent, and Nunavut, up 0.37 per cent, while three recorded below average growth -- 0.09 per cent in Quebec, 0.08 in Ontario and 0.02 in Manitoba -- the Statistics Canada report said. All four Atlantic provinces lost population in the fourth quarter, as did Saskatchewan, the Yukon and the Northwest Territories.

Don Drummond, chief economist at TD Bank, said that generally speaking a shift in population to a booming region like Alberta, where there are labour shortages and wage pressures, from economically weak regions where there are not enough jobs to go around, such as Newfoundland, is healthy.

The danger, however, is if those weaker regions lose too many people, which reduces demand for services, and in turn could further weaken their economies.

"A critical mass is necessary," Drummond said. "To have a service sector, you need people to service."