A growing trend

Last summer's theory appears to have translated into reality, as StatsCan has confirmed that migration from Alberta to Saskatchewan is on the rise:

People who left Saskatchewan for the seemingly greener pastures of Alberta may be starting to come home, according to a new report from Statistics Canada.

The third-quarter preliminary population numbers show Saskatchewan received roughly 3,700 migrants from Alberta between July and September of this year, compared to 2,400 during the same time period in 2005...

Doug Elliott, publisher of Sask Trends Monitor, said the StatsCan report clearly shows people in Alberta are moving back to Saskatchewan -- something that has been talked about for a while but hadn't been evidenced in data. While the province's out-migration rate is roughly the same as a year earlier, the in-migration has increased by 33 per cent over last quarter.

"The bottom line is this will probably be sustainable for a while because it doesn't fluctuate from quarter to quarter," said Elliott.

"We saw an improvement in the first quarter, a little better improvement in the second quarter, a little more improvement in the third quarter. It is unlikely things will suddenly go wrong."

It remains to be seen how long the trend will last - and indeed hopefully this will only be the beginning of a wave toward Saskatchewan as workers realize the value of a location which offers not only job availability, but also the benefits of low-cost and high-convenience living. In any event, though, it's a plus that Saskatchewan's efforts to attract more people are already bearing fruit.