Alberta bound, Alberta bound, Canadians are once again Alberta bound

The late great Ontario-born songwriter Gordon Lightfoot wrote “it was good to be Alberta Bound” back in 1972. A half-century later, Canadians are once again Alberta bound, with almost half of the newcomers arriving in the first quarter of 2023 hailing from Ontario. 

It was a different story two years ago. During the first year of the pandemic, 56,669 Albertans left the province, and 47,530 Canadians arrived from other parts of the country, leading to an overall net migration loss of 9,139 from April 1, 2020, to March 31, 2021. 

Beginning with the third quarter of 2021, however, Alberta started recording migration gains, adding 68,265 more newcomers from other parts of Canada than those who left the province from July 1, 2021, to March 31, 2023.  

In the first quarter of 2023 alone, 15,786 more Canadians moved to Alberta than moved out, making it the fastest growing province in terms of interprovincial migration nationally. 

Almost half of the new Albertans in the first quarter used to call Ontario home 

Approximately half of the net migration to Alberta in the first quarter was attributable to Ontario (+7,693 people) and one-fifth to British Columbia (+3,500 people).  

Alberta also saw positive net migration from Saskatchewan (+1,621), Manitoba (+1,262) and Atlantic Canada (+920). 

What’s attracting Canadians to Alberta? 

Alberta (+5.1%) had the second fastest growing economy nationally in 2022, following Saskatchewan (+5.7%) and outpacing the national average of 3.6%. Alberta’s economic growth was mainly propelled by the energy sector, on higher oil and gas prices and ramped up production to meet demand.  

In June, Alberta’s unemployment rate (5.7%) on a three-month moving average was higher than the national average (5.2%) and the rates in British Columbia (5.2%) and Ontario (5.5%). The number of job vacancies in Alberta (4.2%)—which corresponds to the number of vacant positions as a proportion of total labour demand—was just below the national average (4.4%) in the first quarter.  

The employment rate for Alberta was 65.6% in June, higher than the Canada employment rate (62.2%) and higher than all other provinces.

Alberta workers were bringing home a province leading $1,284.46 a week on average in April 2023, up $14.52 from a month earlier and $85.32 more per week than their neighbours in British Columbia and $55.40 more than Ontarians. Factor in no provincial sales tax and that adds up to a substantial “Alberta advantage.” 

The other Alberta advantage to consider are the Rockies, Prairies and Badlands and, of course, the most sunshine in all of Canada.