The new census numbers are out and Saskatchewan’s population continues to rise, but the rate of growth has slowed significantly.
In the period from 2011 to 2016, we were second-best in Canada with a growth rate of 6.3 per cent. Only Alberta did better.
But in the latest period – 2016 to 2021 – Saskatchewan fell from second best to second worst with a rate of 3.1 per cent. That’s half the expansion the province saw in the previous five years. Only Newfoundland and Labrador did more poorly – it actually lost people.
Clearly the growth spurt resulted from the boom Saskatchewan experienced through the early part of this century as commodity prices rose on heightened demand in growth economies, such as China and India. But, the more recent five-year census period coincided with an extended commodity downturn.
Historically that would have been enough for us to see the province’s population decline. This time around it didn’t, which is a positive sign that we may actually be making some headway.
Maybe we should stop bragging about how cold it gets in this province and our morbid pride in surviving that kind of weather. It tends to chase people away.
