Paul Martin commentary
Saskatchewan represents about three percent of the Canadian population so when the newly updated quarterly estimate of the number of people in the country came out on Wednesday, we should have seen a decline in our provincial population to the tune of 1,600 people.
Instead, we saw an increase of 160. That’s not a big number but it is contrarian when considered against a backdrop of sharply reduced immigration flows.
Where we got those extra people at a time when the national head count was falling is found in two areas: more births than deaths and continued immigration flows. We still saw 3,300 new residents moving here from other parts of the world so the inflows have not completely stopped but that number is lower than in the same quarter a year earlier… about 1,200 fewer.
We also lost about 300 who moved to another country.
But where the biggest movements are found lie in interprovincial flows. When comparing Q1 of this year to Q1 last year, people moving to Alberta, Ontario and Manitoba slowed while migration to BC was up by 200.
