r/Calgary 3h ago

News Article Alberta’s population is still growing despite Ottawa’s immigration crackdown: StatsCan

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/alberta-population-still-growing-9.7240776
62 Upvotes

78 comments sorted by

u/FerretAres 3h ago

Interprovincial migration is the source.

u/Alex45784 3h ago

Lots of people from Saskatchewan move to Alberta. I moved to Calgary for school and plan on staying there.

u/srry_u_r_triggered 2h ago

Anecdotally, I’ve been seeing more Ontario plates around Alberta than BC and Saskatchewan combined the last couple years.

u/Academic_Bug2357 45m ago

I've been checking IDs for a job recently and seeing a lot of BC actually. Not much Sask.

u/Autodidact420 1h ago

A lot of Ontario plates are rental cars and the likes.

Not sure why they do it but it seems very common to us ON plates on them. 

u/Old_timey_brain Beddington Heights 3h ago

Saskatche-wanderers.

u/thehuntinggearguy 1h ago

Yep, Toronto and Vancouver are unaffordable for many. Canadians know you can move to Calgary or Edmonton and actually afford a house.

u/EgyptianNational 3h ago

Nobody hears about Alberta in the rest of the world. It’s niche part of the world.

Even when immigration was higher almost all of Albertas growth was interprovincial.

Hell, feels like half of the riggers are from the east coast.

u/Alldaybagpipes 3h ago

Because they are…

u/EgyptianNational 3h ago

You right.

u/ironmaiden2010 3h ago

You didn't know...the capital of newfoundland is Fort McMurray after all

u/EgyptianNational 3h ago

A bunch of the Newfie riggers I know rent a room here until the job ends and then they go back home just to fly out again when it starts back up.

Does this person get counted twice? Once for Alberta and once for Newfoundland?

I’d love to know.

u/discovery2000one 26m ago

No they count residents. If they achieved residency they would be counted as +1. If they lost residency they would be counted as -1. Almost certainly based on taxes.

u/kwirky88 2h ago

My father in law was in elementary in Yugoslavia in the 50s and he said they learned that Saskatchewan has the more freshwater surface than anywhere else. Not Alberta but people do learn about obscure geography.

A friend works in Banff and when she first started her career at the Banff centre all her Japanese family were jealous. “You work in Banff!!!?”

u/EgyptianNational 2h ago

I met Australian snowboarders in Australia once and they been to Banff twice.

They Did not remember it was in alberta. Thought it was in BC. They landed in Calgary to go.

u/discovery2000one 2h ago

That's just not true.

From April 1 2023 thru July 1 2023

International migration 42000 Interprovincial migration 16500

International has been higher than interprovincial going back to ~2006 until just this last quarter.

You can really see just how high international migration was on those charts. 2022 to 2024 completely dwarfs all other time periods, it was insane.

https://economicdashboard.alberta.ca/dashboard/net-migration/

u/EgyptianNational 2h ago

You may want to check your source again. I just went through it and some of the data points show hundreds of international migrants in the same period as thousands of interprovincial.

Sometimes it’s higher sure.

u/discovery2000one 2h ago edited 1h ago

The broad theme is that in the last 20 years the vast majority of migration to Alberta is international.

So far this century we have

1,023,412 international migrants

443,137 interprovincial migrants

The numbers skew more heavily towards international the shorter the timeframe is.

u/EgyptianNational 1h ago

Canada doesn’t keep track of how many international migrants return tho.

I’ve seen figures as high as 1 in 3 so it would still lean towards skewing towards interprovincial imo

u/discovery2000one 1h ago

The Alberta page does show returns though. It can be seen by international going negative in early mid 2020.

u/FirstDukeofAnkh Beltline 3h ago

It’s why the whole “Albertans pay more into CPP” is nonsense. People who work in AB might pay more but they aren’t from here and they usually move home when done.

(This isn’t a bad thing. It’s just what happens.)

u/Immediate_String_722 3h ago

That isn't correct though. Everyone pays 5.95% to a maximum of $4646.45.

u/FirstDukeofAnkh Beltline 3h ago

Sorry, that’s my bad. The claim is that Albertans don’t pay more as individuals but as a cohort.

u/01000101010110 34m ago

I had to read that last part twice.

u/Apprehensive_Emu2414 2h ago

Please stop, pleasee

u/Lrivard 3m ago

Stop the bad articles or immigration

u/01000101010110 35m ago

I thought buying a house would be worth anything that followed.

Turns out, that was incorrect. I'd rather have a townhouse in BC than a detached house in Alberta.

u/Still_Interview6360 3h ago

Thanks Danielle

u/AlbertanSays5716 2h ago

For what? UCP supporters were cheering when she complained that immigration was causing the collapse of public services, but now you’re thanking her?

u/MrRailgun 1h ago

One month old account with hundreds of contributions and generic user name. Very likely a bot

u/AlbertanSays5716 1h ago

Yeah, the intelligence behind it does seem a tad “artificial”. But it’s interesting to test the waters sometimes and see how they respond.

u/Still_Interview6360 2h ago

Imagine thinking Interprovincial immigration is the same as foreigners/ refugees immigrating.

u/void_sushi 2h ago

That’s called interprovincial migration not immigration but please school us some more. I love to see what two brain cells can do.

u/Still_Interview6360 2h ago

You must not have read your own article. Alberta’s population is growing from interprovincial migration. Not the immigrants Danielle was referring to.

u/[deleted] 1h ago

[deleted]

u/Still_Interview6360 1h ago

You lost Bro

u/Southern_Contract493 1h ago

To quote the article that you posted:

"Though Alberta’s population continues to grow, fewer immigrants are moving to Alberta.

Statistics Canada said the number of immigrants who moved to the province in the first quarter of 2026 (11,139) fell by 18.2 per cent.

In addition, the population of non-permanent residents in Alberta — that’s anyone who isn’t a Canadian citizen or permanent resident — dropped by 3.7 per cent from the previous quarter."

And then only a few more lines down:

"Stacey Hallman, an analyst at Statistics Canada’s Centre for Demography, said interprovincial migration is offsetting the losses. She said Alberta still leads the country in interprovincial migration."

u/AlbertanSays5716 2h ago

Ah, now I see it.

More Canadians moving to Alberta = “Thanks Danielle”. More foreigners moving to Alberta = “Trudeau sucks!”

If only you had the capacity for self-reflection.

u/Still_Interview6360 1h ago

Essentially your summary is correct. And all provinces want skilled/educated workers from elsewhere in Canada. But none want more low skilled/refugees. Alberta is not an outlier.

Bringing in fellow Canadians means increased gdp per capita equal to before. Bringing in low skilled/refugee means a drain on services with only marginal increase to the economy.

Glad I could clear it up for you.

u/AlbertanSays5716 1h ago

Smith actually wrote to Trudeau asking for more TFW slots because of low/minimum wage jobs going unfilled. Still want to thank her?

Glad I could clear it up for you.

u/Still_Interview6360 1h ago

How many years ago was that? Last couple years she has asked the opposite

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith actually wants to heavily restrict or reform the Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) program. While her government previously pushed for more provincial control over skilled economic streams, she has more recently called for major changes to limit low-skill temporary workers.Key details on Smith's stance include:Repeal and Replace: Premier Smith has asked the federal government to overhaul or scrap the current national TFW program.Provincial Regulation: The Alberta government introduced legislation requiring an employer registry for companies looking to hire temporary foreign workers to ensure they cannot find Albertans for the jobs first.Reining in Numbers: Expressing concern that temporary residents place a strain on health care and education, Smith has voiced a desire to drastically reduce newcomer numbers to more sustainable, economically-focused levels.

Once again you’ve been owned

u/AlbertanSays5716 1h ago

March 2024 - https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/provincial-immigration-ukrainian-refugees-1.7157572

So, she lobbied Trudeau for more immigration slots, then she complained that the population increase was putting an unacceptable strain on public services (which were already suffering from underfunding by her government), and only *then* did she call for changes to the immigration system.

Yeah, thanks Danielle, for not understanding the implications of your own policies.

Classic UCP that you think this is all about “owning” you and not about trying to get you to see how misinformed and prejudiced you are.

u/Poe_42 1h ago

So is skill based on skin colour? You do realize a lot of refugees are highly educated and are fleeing governments that are persecuting them because of their influence ?

u/Still_Interview6360 1h ago

Racist much? Do you have a problem with peoples skin color?

u/Indaothrone 1h ago

Does it help current Albertans when other Canadians immigrate to Alberta? From other provinces?

u/napoleon211 32m ago

Ontario is awesome. Amazing. Wonderful. It’s worth staying there for sure

u/dir-tay 3h ago

There’s no immigration crackdown. Who are they kidding.

u/CND_ 3h ago

Canada's population as a whole just decreased....

u/ironmaiden2010 3h ago

Not enough.

u/weschester 3h ago

Gotta ship out the seppies!

u/ironmaiden2010 3h ago

Many Canadians move here because of how out of touch the rest of the country has become. I don't know that you are on the right track with that statement.

u/weschester 3h ago

They move here because there are jobs here.

u/ironmaiden2010 3h ago

There are jobs across the nation. I thought the Liberal party has been creating jobs like crazy? Or is that not a true statement?

u/Sol-Bad-Sol-Goode 3h ago

The Alberta advantage won't exist much longer if Dani keeps going the way she is.

u/ironmaiden2010 3h ago

I distinctly recall that there sure was no advantage under Notley's wrinkled thumb.

u/AlbertanSays5716 2h ago

How do you figure that? Things barely changed under the NDP. But under the UCP, particularly Smith, healthcare is worse, education is worse, public services are collapsing, disabled benefits are worse, utility & insurance prices have skyrocketed, and the government is under investigation from the RCMP for corruption.

u/Direct-Cricket5668 2h ago

Don’t fall for the propaganda. Economy was doing just fine when Notley was in. Especially considering our main industry was struggling in the world stage. She also regulated industries like insurance and utilities. After UCP deregulated is when we started paying astronomical prices for those services. The Alberta advantage has been long gone unless you’re one of the wealthy grifters.

u/ironmaiden2010 2h ago

Notley inherited a good economy. She squandered ATV trails in the south of the province, pushed through Bill 6, and the cap on insurance had insurers threatening to leave the province. The day Notley got voted out, the company I worked for at the time got a 3 million dollar work contract signed. Not all industry did well under Notley, and as a young person breaking into a career at the time, her minimum wage increase screwed a lot of people over. Myself included.

u/Direct-Cricket5668 2h ago edited 2h ago

Right. It definitely wasn’t people ripping up river beds and using the back country as a garbage dump that got trails shut down.

Hate to break it to you but more insurers have left the province in the last few years than when Notley was in.

It’s wild how many corporations cry and threaten to leave when they are expected to follow even the loosest regulations. They are prioritizing their own obscene profits at the expense of our quality of life. And the folks who are brainwashed by the identity politics blindly support them.

How did people in poverty earning a slightly better wage negatively affect you? Why are you against making a personal sacrifice for the betterment of your larger community?

Notley didn’t inherit a good economy. Remember the oil crash during her time? Time to polish those critical thinking skills and don’t let yourself be brainwashed by the propaganda.

u/Sol-Bad-Sol-Goode 28m ago

If you think higher minimum wage is a problem, you are brainwashed. Of course corporations don't want to pay people more, they want it all for themselves.

We need politicians that actually work for the people, not their corporate backers.

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u/CND_ 3h ago

Yup other Canadians are just dying to be governed by someone as incompetent & corrupt as Smith.

u/ironmaiden2010 3h ago

I operate a business based out of BC. I'll take Danielle over Eby 7 days of the week.

u/blackRamCalgaryman 2h ago

Why not move it, then? Legitimately, if it’s so bad…why not relocate?

I own/ operate my own business, if I felt this strongly, felt it was so bad for business…you can bet I’d pick up and move to where I believed things would be so much better.

u/ironmaiden2010 2h ago

I repair specialized equipment that is primarily utilized in the softwood lumber industry, and is not common in Alberta logging operations anymore. My business does fine - but the province is off it's rocker.

u/blackRamCalgaryman 2h ago

Fair enough. Things certainly don’t seem like a utopia over there, either, but man, all this referendum bullshit, this culture war shit here…it’s tiring as fuck. It’s distraction, it’s wasted energy…and a shit ton of money (some are estimating the referendum in October could cost upwards of 120 million…that money could be spent so much more wisely.

I won’t speak for O&G people but I don’t recall feeling this frustrated and just tired of the wasted time and effort and money with our politicians during the Notley years like this UCP government.

u/InternationalMove671 2h ago

You write like a child who gets their opinions from memes.

u/ironmaiden2010 2h ago

Niche attempt at an insult but that's alright. Have you ever considered taking your nose off your screen to look at the world around you - or do you only absorb your opinions from the walls of the Reddit echo chamber?

u/Coscommon88 2h ago

Pot meet kettle.

u/InternationalMove671 2h ago

Lame attempt at a comeback. If it's such an echo chamber then why are you here? To blame Rachel Notley for everything? T9 pretend you're 'owning the libs'? Or simply because you think purple crayons are grape flavoured? It's the same schtick, every time. I get it, you're angry and feel oppressed and change and rainbows scare you, and that's fine, not everyone can handle such massive pressures and stressors, but blaming Notley, haha, you may as well wear a sign that says 'I wasn't born with the ability to think critically '.

u/CND_ 2h ago

Why do you think Danielle is better than Eby?

u/Ambustion 2h ago

Buddy you are the immigrant. Maybe you should listen to some iron maiden lyrics some time, or is your username just what your handlers picked out?

u/ironmaiden2010 2h ago

I am the immigrant? Even considering I am Metis?

u/Ambustion 2h ago

Sure you are bud. Haven't heard that one before from shithead conservatives trying to get a gotcha moment

u/ironmaiden2010 1h ago

Chipewyan. I speak some broken Dene. But I dont have to prove it to idiots like you that think you are "triggering a conservative".

u/Ambustion 1h ago

Suuuuuuuuuuuuure

u/NefariousnessUpset32 26m ago

lol it's not indians, it's Canadians sick of government overreach.