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

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Mike Sadava, The Edmonton Journal
Published: Friday, March 30, 2007
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8 {  {4 j& I& P0 U3 D! E7 Y  GEDMONTON - Albertans are starting to be Saskatchewan-bound in growing numbers.

' S3 m0 J4 f6 K% h9 _- K9 \9 n5 |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.
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According 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.
% ^: u* b1 o8 \* n# O& pPhotograph by : Regina Leader-Post
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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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For years, between 2,000 and 4,000 Saskatchewan residents per quarter would head out to Alberta in search of the good life.

5 a. N) ?% ]& z$ _; u0 G' IEven 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.

1 ^. B; C* ?5 cStatistics 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.

: `- j& F+ W7 b9 b+ GCam moved here eight years ago to take a course in architectural drafting.
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9 d2 _, L9 X, J9 F9 VThere 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.
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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.

4 W( V0 ~. m; z) \( J5 ^"Because the economy is so much bigger in Saskatchewan now, there are jobs again," Crystal Hamilton said.
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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."

  _  l* P) J& f6 P6 h- u! c; mShe said they liked Edmonton, other than the traffic, and made a lot of friends here who they will miss.

1 l2 Q& l( k# O5 {"It was sad to move, but it's also good to be back."
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6 f% m1 Y8 G& y( N5 MVicki 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 S* m) ^: I6 g% F& q: Q8 A"In the end you have to figure out your priorities, and for us it was not being on the hamster wheel," she said.
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While 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.
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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.

"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?' "

# d: q) F3 i9 s; W% o; P! KSo far Delnea loves the city, finding her neighbours friendly and not missing the traffic of Calgary.

Frank 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.

/ m9 y: d6 @* ?7 D"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.

"Not everyone who moves to a province is there permanently," Trovato said.

Terry 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.

$ z# M) m  w  a0 B, b"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 $150,000 can still get you a decent three-bedroom home -- but are starting to rise. February set a new record in Regina, with 250 houses sold.
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AGAINST THE TIDE
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No. of people moving from Alberta to Saskatchewan: 2,838
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5 S% Q9 s; v5 \' g& ~7 W* Y% TNo. of people moving from Saskatchewan to Alberta: 2,710
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6 Y4 o% b5 H% E$ oNet loss for Alberta: 128

Net inflow of migrants to Alberta from the rest of Canada: 11,800

( e' G- }4 W1 HNet inflow of migrants in the fourth quarter 2005: 17,100
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Population growth Alberta: 0.65 per cent
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% N9 c' f* M% U0 T* \. R/ o  {' lPopulation growth for Sask.: 0.21 per cent

Population growth for all of Canada: 0.14 per cent
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' D  H# A0 a3 p" ~, r$ BSource: Statistics Canada figures for fourth quarter, 2006

yj151

这是些有先见且有勇气的人们。
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