A lot of British Columbians were ditching their rain jackets last year and trading them in for winter coats as many hopped over to Alberta to live, according to Statistics Canada.
A report from StatsCan stated that many B.C. residents moved between July and September and many of those moved over a province. The report stated that “most of Alberta’s population gains through interprovincial migration were due to its exchanges with Ontario and British Columbia.”
Will MacTavish is ready for him and his wife to join that group.
MacTavish and his wife live in Victoria, and they’re planning to follow those who moved east – with an eye on Calgary. MacTavish believes that it will be more affordable and easier for each of them to excel in their career fields.
“There’s more work there. My wife’s a welder and on the Island, there is really not a lot in that kind of industry,” said MacTavish. “I’m a pilot and I’m finishing my schooling here and it’s going to be very expensive. It all comes down to, basically, affordability.”
MacTavish is currently paying $1,500 a month for a three-bedroom house and feels very fortunate.
“We got super-lucky with that, but in reality, this place is worth about $4,000 a month, but the places I’ve looked in Calgary or Edmonton we’d be spending the same, maybe a little bit more for the same size,” added MacTavish.
The Victorian is fine with living with the minus 30-degree winters in Alberta if it means he’s able to work for his ideal flight company based out of Calgary or has a well-paying job to start a family. He noted he would miss the beauty of B.C. without a doubt, but as long as he can see the mountains he’ll be happy.
According to StatsCan, all provinces and territories recorded interprovincial migration exchange losses between the late summer months, except for Alberta, which had the highest net gains of over 17,000, and New Brunswick with a small gain of 21.
StatsCan also reported that for the first time since their data was made available (1971), Alberta has registered interprovincial migration gains of 10,000 or more for five consecutive quarters. In contrast, B.C. experienced five consecutive quarters of interprovincial migration losses for the first time since the first quarter of 2013.
Alberta did its part in promoting interprovincial moving when the province launched its campaign, “Alberta is Calling.” The campaign praises Alberta for “Canada’s highest average wages and lowest taxes.” It specifically promotes the province’s zero-per-cent provincial sales tax. and the average residential rent of $1,435 along with several factors involving affordability, lifestyle, and careers.
Even if out-of-province Canadians didn’t move to Alberta, it still got many curious. Digital remittance service Remility analyzed Google search data for 164 cities globally to see what cities people were searching for the phrase “move to (city).” It looked across Canadian cities, determining what city each province is interested in moving to that isn’t within their province. Calgary was the top choice for six provinces, including B.C.
Many B.C. residents have moved to Alberta to save for the future, including Nanaimo resident Paula Gould, who spent 18 years living in Fort McMurray. Gould had originally only planned to spend three in Alberta, but her stay lingered after moving from Vancouver.
“We made basically our salaries that we made in Vancouver, but we were attached to a bonus structure as well,” said Gould. “So if we stayed longer, we’d make bigger bonuses every year.”
Her three-year plan in Alberta eventually turned into five then 10 and then 15. Finally, after 18 years she and her husband moved back to B.C. to retire.
“You move there and then you pay off your credit card and then you pay off your student loan and then you start to save for your first property and then you pay off your car loan and it just enables you to start hitting your debts,” said Gould.
The former Alberta resident is retired at 51 and her husband retired at 54.
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