I went to Calgary from Halifax in '77, and that was about 5 years after the initial oil/tarsands boom. The company that recruited me was bringing people from England, Holland, Ireland and anywhere in Canada. The lure for many maritimers was steady work, not necessarily a 'pot of gold'. I remember being interviewed in Halifax for a job as an engineering design/draftsman, was offered almost three times the salary I had been earning when I was laid off from the job I was at for three years.
I stayed there for 10 years, and in retrospect, I should have stayed for 20. I have friends still there in the same business earning $150,000 a year. Paying $500,000 for a house on that salary is pretty easy. Of course to someone new to the work force housing is a bit more expensive (relatively) but everything else such as cars, food, clothing etc. costs the same or less than 'where you used to live'.
I made the trek west back in the 80s without any firm plans and ended up staying. It has always taken some time to get established and those that couldn't or wouldn't cut it went back home. Calgary has been booming for most of the last 30 years. The opportunities are simply better than they are in the Maritimes for most things.
How erudite nando, you must be a post-grad literature student working at a McDonalds in Vancouver.
Well, of course, I was right......
ALBERTA isn't the draw it used to be. The latest population figures from Statistics Canada suggest Alberta isn't attracting people from other provinces at the same pace it used to, and that many who went there are returning home.
In 2006, 4,842 people moved to Manitoba from Alberta, the most in 23 years and a leap upward from the 2,800 people who moved from Alberta to Manitoba in 2005.
"The bloom is off the rose in Alberta," said Manitoba chief statistician Wilf Falk. "The whole issue is 'Yeah, I can get a job in Calgary but where am I going to live and at what cost?' "
Alberta's net gain from other provinces is still big, 11,813 in the last three months of 2006 alone. But the rate of growth appears to be slowing. In the last three months of 2005, Alberta had a net gain of 17,059.
Manitoba, on the other hand, lost 24,548 people to other provinces in 2006, and only gained 16,718, posting a net loss of 7,830.
That is an improvement over 2005 when Manitoba had a net loss of 9,880.
And Manitoba's immigration numbers were up almost 2,000 people as well, hitting the 10,000 mark for the first time in 2006.
Manitoba Labour Minister Nancy Allan said the combination of better immigration and few net losses of people is a good sign.
"I think we're turning the corner and we're starting to make some progress," said Allan. "We're seeing high return flow from Alberta. We really need to stay focused now and keep our province economically viable."
But Dan Overall, director of policy with the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce, said Manitoba's net provincial losses are nothing to get excited about.
He said 2005 is the only year in the last decade in which net interprovincial losses were bigger than they were in 2006.
"We've put together, back to back, some pretty distressing numbers of net losses," said Overall. "If I add those two years together, it's more than the four previous years combined."
Overall said losing people to other provinces is a sign that Manitoba isn't offering people competitive, well-paying jobs, and to do that we have to be more competitive on the tax front, he said.
Phasing out the corporate capital tax and the payroll tax are Overall's top two hopes for the provincial budget, which will be tabled in the legislature April 4. Tory Labour Critic Ron Schuler said if immigration was not in the picture Manitoba would be a sinking ship.
"It's about jobs, it's about opportunity and we're not providing those," he said.
Schuler said with the Alberta advantage dwindling because higher paying jobs aren't making up for housing prices that have gone through the roof, Manitoba needs to step up to the plate with opportunities now.
"Alberta's success is killing them and we have an opportunity to do something about it," he said. "It's going to take strong leadership and it's going to take vision."
If Manitoba doesn't do it now, other provinces will take advantages, said Schuler. Saskatchewan already is. While that province recorded back-to-back population drops in the 2001 and 2006 censuses, it seems its fortunes are changing.
The population data figures released by Statistics Canada Thursday showed Saskatchewan had a net increase of over 1,000 people in provincial migration in the last three months of 2006, the first quarterly increase in that province in at least a decade.
Saskatchewan has no payroll tax, and with soaring revenues from oil and potash, was able to cut personal income taxes to levels much lower than Manitoba, and also recently cut its provincial sales tax as well.
mia.rabson@freepress.mb.ca
Alberta pop growth slows.....
"... Well, of course, I was right... ALBERTA isn't the draw it used to be..."
You're right. 130+ people per day moving there really demonstrates things are slowing to a crawl...
You are too funny...
Cheers,
Terry
The only contenders for most poorly managed province (fiscal division) in Canada are Manitoba and Quebec.
Ah Cheers, I was only try to cheer you up....I've noticed the no Molson's or Labatt's pubs in Calgary were getting way too crowded with effete Easterners. Clearly, statistical trends are not your speciality.
TP, I actually think the crown ought to go to Nova Scotia. They still regularly record deficits provincially and as you know, MB has now had what 10 years in a row of balanced budgets?
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<hr>as you know, MB has now had what 10 years in a row of balanced budgets? <hr></blockquote>
Yeah, right. 20% of their revenue is derived from federal (meaning other provinces) handouts. "Balanced budget" my ass, like Chretien/Martin balanced their budgets by simply cheating the provinces out of their own money. Manitoba should give out scholarships to the Ronald Reagan School of Advanced Voodoo Economics. Manitobas annual plea to Ottawa : "Hey, we're a couple billion short again, and it's time to pretend we are doing anything right".
Quebec though, with $127 billion in debt, coupled with a completely delusional electorate, is surely the champ.
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