After losing residents to the rest of Canada for five quarters in a row, almost 5,000 more people moved to Alberta from other provinces and territories than packed up and left during the third quarter of 2021.

According to the latest count from Statistics Canada, 22,013 people came to Alberta from another part of Canada during the July 2021 to September 2021 period, while 17,524 did the opposite, for a net gain of 4,489.

Most pandemic-related provincial public health restrictions in Alberta were lifted on July 1, 2021, but a new public health emergency was declared on September 15. We might, as a result, see a return to negative territory when we get the migration numbers for the fourth quarter. It also remains to be seen how the flooding that took place in British Columbia may have disrupted the movement of people between the two provinces during the last part of the year.

While the net gain in interprovincial migration in the third quarter is a positive economic sign, it does not make up for the 15,882 residents Alberta lost between April 2020 and June 2021.

Notwithstanding what might have happened over the last three months of the year, a strong economic recovery in Alberta should reverse the net outflow to other parts of the country we have been experiencing since the recession that began in 2015.

Today’s trivia question: From which province did the most people move to Alberta during the third quarter of 2021?