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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EDMONTON - Albertans are starting to be Saskatchewan-bound in growing numbers.
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- R6 f3 `2 K$ k% pFor 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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+ L' a' Q! P8 L" q" v. I+ Y% J6 ]6 BCam 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.
Photograph by : Regina Leader-Post

# d4 _" ?) w1 b. r. BThat is not a huge number, but it is creating smiles in Regina.

4 X& O$ Q  W9 q" `$ P6 k+ P5 D8 ?"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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2 ~! n; {4 Y' m( u: RFor 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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) M6 A0 u# G' L7 R- Z( MEven 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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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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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.

6 n0 ~. {6 z* b; v! b4 h  o"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.

"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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8 C7 d& ]6 t' |# RShe said they liked Edmonton, other than the traffic, and made a lot of friends here who they will miss.

4 F9 M- B: m  i/ V, \"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.

" R/ M. I$ {2 t* M+ O"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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! f( q  B' u8 ?4 t3 u! H1 h: Q; S( _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.

) }) E" c% S! B) q( WRod, 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?' "

  ~/ s- k$ E) n- JSo 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.
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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.

2 h& p' b/ T4 y% S0 q" Y) v# _( j"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.

5 C" l5 b# ~% `"It seems that every time I pick up the phone it's either 780 or 403 (area codes)."

" O( Z5 X3 |: {5 d0 b; X: c1 yReal 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.

. l! {0 y0 S% n8 w# XAGAINST THE TIDE
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( u+ V# ]3 a. S( i1 FNo. of people moving from Alberta to Saskatchewan: 2,838
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% h4 e6 r8 m2 ]. _0 d4 fNo. 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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0 F3 ~+ X( u1 d2 {6 t: jNet inflow of migrants in the fourth quarter 2005: 17,100

: W3 W1 c" W9 H; C, H, lPopulation growth Alberta: 0.65 per cent

Population growth for Sask.: 0.21 per cent

* K; ~* H* A, D* }5 aPopulation growth for all of Canada: 0.14 per cent
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Source: 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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