Saskatchewan was losing fewer people to other parts of Canada as the COVID pandemic was winding down.
Back in the peak of the pandemic, we were routinely seeing 1,500 to 2,000 people moving from here to Ontario every quarter. Alberta was an even stronger magnet, attracting 2,500 to 3,500 new Roughrider fans every three months. B.C. was also a popular destination.
But, in the last three months of 2021 and the first quarter of this year, the flow dropped sharply. Instead of nearly 2,000 heading to Ontario in a typical three-month period, that stream had shrunk to roughly 900. Alberta saw newcomer rates falling from a peak of 3,300 to 2,200.
The arrival of new immigrants from abroad was rising as COVID restrictions on travel started to lift. After falling to 1,700 every three months just over a year ago, the numbers grew dramatically to more than 4,100 in the first quarter of this year.
But one thing that did not happen was the baby boom many expected to result from COVID lockdowns as birth numbers in Saskatchewan remained virtually unchanged at 1,100 a month.
