Alberta’s thriving economic made our province a magnet for Canadians from other parts of the country. Not surprisingly, a fresh look at data confirms the trend has slowed in recent years.

“The recession of 2015 and 2016 knocked the wind out of the sails of Alberta’s growth from interprovincial migration.” states ATB Financial’s Economics & Research Team in its newsletter The Owl. “Over the last five years, the province has experienced a net loss of almost 6,800 people to other parts of Canada. We are once again seeing more people come than go, but the net inflow is lower than it used to be.”

Since 1972, Alberta’s hot economy has attracted more than 613,000 residents from other parts of Canada, on a net basis, ATB reports. Over this period, more than six million Canadians flowed into and out of the province. This works out to an annual average of 126,600 people.

Over the past five years, the majority of those new arrivals came from British Columbia — about 93,000 people. B.C. has also been the main destination of Albertans, with more than 131,500 of us heading west for a net loss of about 38,500 residents since 2015.

More than 171,000 people flowed between Ontario and Alberta over the last five years, marking a net loss to Canada’s largest province of 352 people, stated ATB.

“The two largest net contributors to Alberta were Saskatchewan (+12,953) and Manitoba (+9,128). The flow of people between Atlantic Canada and Alberta has slowed but is still strong, with just under 78,000 residents moving between the two regions over the last five years and a net gain for Alberta of 3,802,” said the report.

Mario Toneguzzi is a business reporter in Calgary.

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