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

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Mike Sadava, The Edmonton Journal
1 F! [" R1 I' S0 [9 iPublished: Friday, March 30, 2007

EDMONTON - Albertans are starting to be Saskatchewan-bound in growing numbers.

! [- S) j' p" ~$ w, h  a1 W0 ]0 bFor 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.

; H  Z) _, f) b/ }0 h( h! L* hAccording to Statistics Canada, 128 more Albertans moved one province east in the last three months of 2006.
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! w7 L3 Z: O9 z7 \; c' u1 VCam 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.
+ e  n& P% d' n0 V- F( FPhotograph by : Regina Leader-Post

! D/ H' e; l! f+ a& U! ZThat is not a huge number, but it is creating smiles in Regina.

2 ]2 b: y4 K) |2 u  C# C% g/ h) c"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.

0 I. w6 e* u, OEven 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.
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Statistics 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.
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Cam moved here eight years ago to take a course in architectural drafting.
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) ^2 z! R7 j5 a0 }6 v0 Q  @There 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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, T) G/ I* v2 m* t' y1 }# `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.
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"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."
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6 l1 @) b& A/ y2 KShe said they liked Edmonton, other than the traffic, and made a lot of friends here who they will miss.

"It was sad to move, but it's also good to be back."
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. D* B9 I, c! m5 P7 W  SVicki 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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. D) A' c7 c& e( Q, ?8 L! T"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.
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"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?' "

So far Delnea loves the city, finding her neighbours friendly and not missing the traffic of Calgary.
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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.
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"When you see there's a lot of people moving to a place, there's also a countercurrent back," Trovato said.

1 _- e# T$ u( a/ x3 m5 UThere 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.

8 E/ ?/ _+ `- k( ]"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.

. G5 C6 x# U# ?"It seems that every time I pick up the phone it's either 780 or 403 (area codes)."

, `4 ^& ?/ P+ z( sReal 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.

AGAINST THE TIDE

No. of people moving from Alberta to Saskatchewan: 2,838

' k( a6 [* ]3 i9 UNo. of people moving from Saskatchewan to Alberta: 2,710

" p; [& U& W' [( H& R! j& C' mNet loss for Alberta: 128
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5 f4 _5 x, M; MNet inflow of migrants to Alberta from the rest of Canada: 11,800
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Net 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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Population growth for Sask.: 0.21 per cent
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1 s/ x' |9 ]8 O1 v  k3 J, }" iPopulation growth for all of Canada: 0.14 per cent

( i3 |. Q8 E) g# L3 u6 Y2 Z! z9 r# WSource: Statistics Canada figures for fourth quarter, 2006

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这是些有先见且有勇气的人们。
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