According to a report from CBC News in Calgary, more and more residents are leaving Alberta. In fact, more people have been moving out of AB than any other Canadian province or territory during the first quarter of 2015. These numbers have been steadily rising each year since 2013, jumping from 10,000 to 14,700 to 17,600. But is this a cause for concern?
Real estate agent Melanie James says, "I don't see people panicking the way the were back in 2009." With fifteen years of experience in Calgary real estate, James claims that, though many renters may be leaving the area, the overall real estate market is still going strong.
Premiere Van Lines, a
moving company in Calgary, reports that customers leaving Alberta are headed for British Columbia, Ontario and the East Coast. So, the question is not
where these people are going but
why they are moving in the first place.
Kevin Phone, vice president of Premiere Van Lines Calgary, says this trend of people moving out of Alberta is "due to the lack of jobs." According to Phone, some companies are laying employees off because of budget cuts, and there may also be fewer well-paid positions available than in previous years.
Despite the increased rate of departures from the province, Alberta is still experiencing the fastest growing population in all of Canada. Since more people are
moving in to Alberta than moving out, the province's total population is still on the rise. Susan Thompson, a research manager at Calgary Economic Development, claims this is a reason to be optimistic for the rest of the year, as well as 2016.
Thompson says, "The good news, though, is our population is still growing, just at a slower rate."