By: Bhagyashree Chatterjee
B.C. residents are packing up, and many are heading east for a better deal. A new report from the Business Council of British Columbia (BCBC) shows the province is facing the largest outflow of interprovincial migration on record, with nearly 70,000 people relocating to other parts of Canada over the past year, and according to recent data, many are choosing to reside in Alberta.
The council’s So Long, Farewell report, released July 28, uses Statistics Canada data to highlight this unprecedented shift. In 2023, according to Statistics Canada, an estimated 37,650 British Columbians moved to Alberta, while 22,400 Albertans relocated to B.C., a net loss of 15,250 people, the largest interprovincial migration gap between the two provinces on record.
This trend marks B.C.’s first year of negative interprovincial migration since 2012. According to the report, the reversal began around 2022 and has since intensified.
“Since 1972, nearly eight in 10 people who left B.C. moved to either Alberta or Ontario… with Alberta now clearly leading the way,” said BCBC economists David Williams and Jairo Yunis in the report.
The spike in migration comes as Alberta doubles down on its effort to attract new residents. Its Alberta is Calling campaign, launched in 2022, promised lower taxes, higher wages, and cheaper housing. In 2024, the province added a $5,000 “attraction bonus” for workers willing to relocate, according to the Government of Alberta’s website.
And it appears to be working because that migration wave helped Alberta hit a historic milestone. According to Statistics Canada, the province saw its largest-ever net gain from interprovincial migration in 2023, adding more than 55,000 people overall, the highest increase since national tracking began in 1972. Nearly 38,000 of those new residents came from B.C., far outpacing the 22,000 Albertans who moved west. That’s a net gain of more than 15,000 former British Columbians in a single year.
Since 1972, nearly eight in 10 residents leaving B.C. have moved to just two provinces – Alberta and Ontario, notes BCBC…
Source: dailyhive.com/vancouver/bc
