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Saskatchewan lures Albertans
Mike Sadava, The Edmonton Journal
0 N' C3 J9 J( R9 pPublished: Friday, March 30, 2007
5 ^: ?/ }% |) u4 S& sEDMONTON - Albertans are starting to be Saskatchewan-bound in growing numbers.

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.

" ~' ^# ?0 P( @' n- fAccording to Statistics Canada, 128 more Albertans moved one province east in the last three months of 2006.
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8 F' g1 w  s$ k" ^& e"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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, N1 X& F7 Q6 k( N3 qFor years, between 2,000 and 4,000 Saskatchewan residents per quarter would head out to Alberta in search of the good life.
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5 G7 |2 }( `4 M. a6 c& r( ZEven 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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; K$ A6 ?9 d/ Y2 u. q3 m8 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.

0 ]& r' _9 W  C6 g9 lCam moved here eight years ago to take a course in architectural drafting.
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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.

/ j# N6 h2 e2 \9 F- b8 i5 TAfter 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.

) k* J/ f! `. S7 N+ L$ L' V- {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.

; x7 P, _: C! L  _  }; R"We're financially set now," she said. "It was perfect timing and turned out to be good idea in many ways."

' Z1 R7 E6 ]' o1 @+ r' ~0 R) ^She said they liked Edmonton, other than the traffic, and made a lot of friends here who they will miss.
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"It was sad to move, but it's also good to be back."
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; j( _, c# C, M: P/ ~6 p- m7 zVicki 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.

$ m1 w3 N" t7 d: o7 W- X% p! L, Z# ~" Y"In the end you have to figure out your priorities, and for us it was not being on the hamster wheel," she said.

( h, O2 @# H. m  RWhile 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.

2 b6 K: M+ R  e* K1 u0 ?2 i  NRod, 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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: `9 v& V$ [- H' w"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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+ }5 y5 T4 U5 U4 C) H0 F. eFrank 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.

"When you see there's a lot of people moving to a place, there's also a countercurrent back," Trovato said.

- W- D2 W  b9 xThere 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.
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5 p- l4 U+ B7 fTerry 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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4 ^$ E) ?# j# R) y/ c* ~"It seems that every time I pick up the phone it's either 780 or 403 (area codes)."
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3 s9 r5 S4 _1 e1 X# G& S4 A" eReal 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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% Z" p( ^! y9 a5 Imsadava@thejournal.canwest.com

AGAINST THE TIDE

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

No. of people moving from Saskatchewan to Alberta: 2,710

Net loss for Alberta: 128
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Net 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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0 a* x6 P: S, p: M9 a5 VPopulation growth for Sask.: 0.21 per cent

; p9 ~- t, [; o4 k& gPopulation growth for all of Canada: 0.14 per cent
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Source: Statistics Canada figures for fourth quarter, 2006