Alberta could overtake B.C. in population in the next 10 years: Statistics Canada

A new report from Statistics Canada says that in a decade, Alberta could overtake B.C. as Canada’s third most populous province.

“Alberta has a higher fertility rate than B.C.,” Jonathan Chagnon, a demographer with Statistics Canada, said.

“And B.C. has an older population than Alberta. So already this is a first factor… It means that Alberta will experience a higher number of births and B.C. at the opposite will experience a higher number of deaths.”

New numbers from Statistics Canada show that the population of Alberta could surpass B.C. as early as 2036.

Under a medium-growth scenario, B.C. could hit 6.6 million and Alberta could reach seven million people by 2050.

1:57 ‘Stay with BC’ campaign aims at keeping young people in province

The Business Council of B.C. says the trend seems to be young, highly educated, economically motivated people who are making the move to Alberta, where the cost of living is better.

“Young workers are important to our labour economy and they tend to contribute more in taxes than they consume in public services; they bring in new ideas,” Jairo Yunis, director of policy at the business council, said.

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“The private sector is usually the first place of employment for young workers. Our policy makers need to be more focused on creating the conditions under which all firms, all companies of all sizes can invest decisively and confidently in B.C. and that will create more opportunities for young workers.”

B.C. Premier David Eby said that the province has grown by about 300,000 people in a few years, but he believes that immigration numbers have been reduced by the federal government.

“This has very serious consequences for us for our provincial nominee program,” Eby said.

“This means we can’t recruit the number of health workers we need. The entrepreneurs, the technical specialists that help us grow our economy to the level that we would like to, so immigration is one of the key issues we will be raising with the (prime minister) around the council of federation table (on Thursday).”