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

ZJDX

Mike Sadava, The Edmonton Journal
* s/ X! b7 ]" I! X3 W; \0 [6 J7 l% KPublished: Friday, March 30, 2007
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$ a* H4 P6 N- }. qEDMONTON - Albertans are starting to be Saskatchewan-bound in growing numbers.

. A( J/ N# Y2 ?  Z: s& m7 nFor 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.
% z7 z* _3 n. g) }5 uPhotograph 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.

& `7 P! P/ u* e" x, F3 KFor years, between 2,000 and 4,000 Saskatchewan residents per quarter would head out to Alberta in search of the good life.

8 ^: y& \# v7 q% [0 B  `) K* R" tEven 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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( y: v+ N6 F% VStatistics 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.

* m# @0 R1 ^$ X! w1 m# m3 G% jThere 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.

1 e5 S! J: k/ m4 C" _% [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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1 O8 G- ?* }1 E$ L3 Y"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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2 j' y# l" v: W0 d' C4 Z5 O"We're financially set now," she said. "It was perfect timing and turned out to be good idea in many ways."

3 v8 Z" w6 Y! P/ u( RShe said they liked Edmonton, other than the traffic, and made a lot of friends here who they will miss.

$ R$ z: t1 y3 C, H% u"It was sad to move, but it's also good to be back."

Vicki 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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' P( C9 r0 J  h) H" P( z"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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: r& N9 A7 ^6 M' r4 s" SRod, 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?' "
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So far Delnea loves the city, finding her neighbours friendly and not missing the traffic of Calgary.
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. j) c; c% Y4 b) w! {/ _5 R# }" B) _& sFrank 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.

4 A. X" N* A" u1 j6 M" J1 t0 O"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.
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"Not everyone who moves to a province is there permanently," Trovato said.
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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.
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2 w* u6 q, n. @" {"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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2 J6 q/ L. u- F; c" e7 qAGAINST THE TIDE
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No. of people moving from Alberta to Saskatchewan: 2,838
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  j5 W) i# Z3 ^No. of people moving from Saskatchewan to Alberta: 2,710

Net loss for Alberta: 128

) A; M" L  {/ G* wNet inflow of migrants to Alberta from the rest of Canada: 11,800

Net inflow of migrants in the fourth quarter 2005: 17,100

Population growth Alberta: 0.65 per cent

, F: m8 L! M. F7 XPopulation growth for Sask.: 0.21 per cent
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Population growth for all of Canada: 0.14 per cent
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Source: Statistics Canada figures for fourth quarter, 2006

yj151

这是些有先见且有勇气的人们。