In Alberta’s heyday, people flocked to the province to take advantage of the booming economy. Data released on Friday by U-Haul shows how different the circumstances are today.
Workers once came from every other province as Alberta was the shining light in Canada and a key economic driver for the country.
But the times have certainly changed.
With the collapse in oil prices in the latter half of 2014, the provincial economy took a major hit, going into a recession in both 2015 and 2016. A slow economic recovery is in place but significant challenges, concerns and uncertainties still persist.
And that economic climate certainly impacts the number of people wanting to move to Alberta from elsewhere.
That’s clearly evident in data released on Friday by U-Haul. It analyzed migration trends for 2018, looking at the net gain of one-way trucks entering a city versus leaving that city during a calendar year.
Only two Alberta communities made it to the 2018 list of the top 25 Canadian Growth Cities: Spruce Grove at 14 and Leduc at 25.
The top five in Canada, in order, were: Kingston, Ont., Victoria, Trenton, Ont., Halifax and Ottawa. The complete list can be found here.
Mario Toneguzzi is a veteran Calgary-based journalist who worked for 35 years for the Calgary Herald, including 12 years as a senior business writer.
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