Alberta regains growth title with record population gains

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Alberta regains growth title with record population gains
: {  n- F$ H& t' \( rLosses to other provinces with lower cost of living give way early this year to modest inflow
% D/ }( r3 s' P  l+ q% n8 ^The Edmonton Journal
Published: 2:03 am
EDMONTON - Immigrants and temporary foreign workers have helped Alberta regain the title of Canada's growth leader from Saskatchewan, Statistics Canada said Wednesday.
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"Alberta's population rose by 0.41 per cent over the January-to-March period to reach an estimated 3,512,400, mainly as a result of strong immigration and net inflows of non-permanent residents," the federal agency said in a news release.
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5 c, K& K/ i) G+ E: O"Alberta received 5,300 immigrants and posted a net increase of 4,000 non-permanent residents, both first-quarter records."

; h7 W% K$ A' rNon-permanent residents are foreigners here on work or student permits.
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In total, the province grew by 14,487 people between Jan. 1 and March 31.
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: S, x& p3 h1 F! G9 Q: ]Todd Hirsch, senior economist for ATB Financial, said in his daily commentary that Alberta's "weak spot" is interprovincial migration.

3 ?7 p( k3 v9 Y8 _" q8 C8 p6 \"Over the first quarter, an estimated 713 people moved to Alberta from other provinces (on a net migration basis). That number is relatively small, but at least it reverses a troubling trend that was brewing over the past few quarters in 2007 when the high costs of living and an overheated real estate market was causing Alberta to lose people to other provinces," Hirsch said.

2 v: W$ ?9 s0 b+ k0 _6 \The increase from interprovincial migration was the lowest for a first quarter since 1995, Statistics Canada said.

4 d: W6 g* |4 X! \7 l$ g2 ]4 FHirsch said another "small worry" for Alberta is growth in non-permanent residents.

: e6 [+ n! C* n. V: C2 o: ]"If (or when) a real slowdown in the province hits, those people will leave just as quickly as they came," he said.
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' ~' q2 z/ `; }: R7 \) |"Attracting new workers to the province is one challenge, but keeping them here to share in the growth and development of Alberta for the long-term is another."
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  Q& w/ U, X0 e& f  PStatistics Canada said the increase of 16,300 in the number of non-permanent residents -- mainly in Alberta, Ontario and B.C. -- was the largest for a first quarter since 1990. The number of non-permanent residents increased by 13,600 over the same period in 2007

! W' n/ `% r( b( z3 C0 }0 P1 lSaskatchewan, the nation's growth leader for the previous two quarters, had the second-highest growth rate in Canada at 0.35 per cent, bringing its population to 1,010,100, Statistics Canada said.
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/ z6 Q9 d% {" l4 `"It was the highest first-quarter increase for Saskatchewan in decades, mainly as a result of record numbers in immigration, interprovincial migration and in non-permanent resident net inflows."

% `: O5 q. D* d  N6 l& |Alberta, Saskatchewan and British Columbia were the only provinces where the growth rate exceeded the national average of 0.24 per cent. Canada's population on April 1 was an estimated 33,223,800, up 80,200 from Jan. 1, 2008.
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8 F; {& h: f7 Q  t! n# b© The Edmonton Journal 2008

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Attracting new workers to the province is one challenge, but keeping them here to share in the growth and development of Alberta for the long-term is another