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

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Saskatchewan lures Albertans
% ~2 @$ `0 X; Z2 y  M& xMike Sadava, The Edmonton Journal
Published: Friday, March 30, 2007
' @0 F& D- ]& g, d" M& jEDMONTON - Albertans are starting to be Saskatchewan-bound in growing numbers.

) C& L) Z% S5 XFor 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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' d* c9 B$ {) o7 ]According to Statistics Canada, 128 more Albertans moved one province east in the last three months of 2006.



* [& s) w0 \  O# }" [2 A4 \2 r"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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) s; k0 @% z- w8 \) LFor 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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Even 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.

: a. X9 E" ?) sStatistics 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.

& z1 t! J& W6 \$ CCam moved here eight years ago to take a course in architectural drafting.
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$ \9 ?( ^3 F4 a# U4 GThere 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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& I* u- [, M* S7 ~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.

9 {+ D8 m  b$ ^3 a"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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+ u; m" S: F4 D0 m) d. ^; A7 xShe said they liked Edmonton, other than the traffic, and made a lot of friends here who they will miss.
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5 C+ _0 @7 V. S"It was sad to move, but it's also good to be back."
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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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"In the end you have to figure out your priorities, and for us it was not being on the hamster wheel," she said.

. z) Y3 _) E" F2 Q- W0 kWhile 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.

8 a/ u, S' N/ S2 J( @& |- |4 eRod, 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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  Z4 @2 Z1 y3 }# D1 O4 T& f"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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' ]9 i6 ?+ c+ z  Y4 \So far Delnea loves the city, finding her neighbours friendly and not missing the traffic of Calgary.


3 x% t" D3 @0 l8 z& JFrank 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.
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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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( M- p* }! J: Z"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.

"It seems that every time I pick up the phone it's either 780 or 403 (area codes)."

$ K: h# P! V- R6 N% ~- i! V( aReal 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.

msadava@thejournal.canwest.com

AGAINST THE TIDE

0 g9 l6 i' e1 A2 PNo. of people moving from Alberta to Saskatchewan: 2,838

( E* D0 v: s  k3 C2 RNo. of people moving from Saskatchewan to Alberta: 2,710

Net loss for Alberta: 128

Net inflow of migrants to Alberta from the rest of Canada: 11,800
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* ^2 z3 L% |: \8 B; NNet inflow of migrants in the fourth quarter 2005: 17,100

Population growth Alberta: 0.65 per cent

3 E! r% ]( Z- K* dPopulation growth for Sask.: 0.21 per cent
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5 O4 @/ M6 D$ U2 ?/ f/ GPopulation growth for all of Canada: 0.14 per cent
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+ ^9 N% R' R4 i6 O* V8 W- eSource: Statistics Canada figures for fourth quarter, 2006