The province has posted substantial population gains brought about by interprovincial migration over the last few quarters
Alberta is benefiting from interprovincial migration stemming from every other province and territory in Canada, according to the national statistics agency.
During the third quarter, the Canadian population increased by more than 430,000 (representing 1.1% quarterly growth). This brought the national total to around 40.528 million people as of October 1, and was the fastest quarterly pace in 66 years, Statistics Canada said.
In the third quarter, every province and territory recorded losses in their interprovincial migration exchanges, except for Alberta. StatCan reported that Alberta continued to have the greatest net gain (17,094 newcomers) brought about by interprovincial migration.
“Alberta has registered interprovincial migration gains of 10,000 or more for five consecutive quarters for the first time since comparable data were made available (1971),” StatCan said.
“Most of Alberta’s population gains through interprovincial migration were due to its exchanges with Ontario and British Columbia. In contrast, British Columbia experienced five consecutive quarters of interprovincial migration losses for the first time since the first quarter of 2013.”
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As for other major markets, despite the continuous net loss of interprovincial migration in Ontario, the province posted a smaller net decline in Q3 (down by 5,952), StatCan said.
“Meanwhile, the Atlantic provinces observed a negligible or negative net interprovincial migration, which is a contrast to the trends seen from 2020 to 2022, during the COVID-19 pandemic, when they recorded strong growth from population exchanges with other provinces and territories,” StatCan said.
“This can be largely attributable to the recent decrease in the number of migrants moving from Ontario to the Atlantic provinces.”
