Calgary population surges by staggering 6%, Edmonton by 4.2% in latest StatsCan estimates
CBC
Calgary's metro-area population grew by nearly 96,000 people last year — a staggering six per cent increase in the span of just 12 months — according to new estimates released Wednesday by Statistics Canada.
Edmonton, meanwhile, added more than 63,000 people, marking a 4.2 per cent increase.
That's the largest year-over-year increase for both cities in the modern Statistics Canada records, which date back to 2001.
Alberta's recent population boom has been well documented, but these new figures provide a clearer picture of just how many more people are now living in its two largest metropolitan areas.
There were 1.68 million people living in Calgary and the surrounding area as of July 1, 2023, according to these latest estimates, up from 1.59 million the year before.
The Edmonton metro area grew to 1.56 million, up from 1.5 million.
Both cities have seen rapid population gains in the past but nothing like this in recent memory.
Calgary's growth rate of six per cent far exceeds its previous high of 3.5 per cent in 2006.
And Edmonton's 4.2 per cent growth bested its 2014 high mark by a full percentage point.
The majority of the population growth in both Calgary and Edmonton was due to the arrival of people from other countries, including both permanent immigrants and temporary international residents.
Natural increase (more births than deaths) accounted for less than 10 per cent of the growth in both cities.
Both Calgary and Edmonton also saw high levels of growth due to interprovincial migration — that is, more people moving to the Alberta cities from other provinces than people departing those cities for other provinces.
Calgary led the country in net interprovincial migration, with a gain of 26,662 residents from other provinces.
Edmonton was second, with a gain of 16,082 residents.
One of the leaders of the team tasked with modernizing Newfoundland and Labrador's education system says she never would have joined if she thought privatization was on the table.
If Tesla owner Dann Kingsley were in the market for a new electric vehicle (EV) today, he says he would strongly consider other brands first.
After a fender-bender before Christmas, 85-year-old Ossie Gildart was told he'd have to take a driver's test. But a surprise was waiting for him when he walked into Service New Brunswick in Bathurst.
One person is dead and another is in critical condition, after a fire broke out in a two-storey building in Montreal's Sud-Ouest borough.
Walmart Canada was recently selling one-litre cartons of milk in Manitoba stores for higher prices than provincial law allows.
Members of CUPE Local 456, which represents city workers in Melville, Sask., have voted in favour of job action due to wage disputes and high employee turnover.
Some schools in Queens and Prince counties are starting one hour later Wednesday due to road conditions following yesterday's storm.
Edmonton's city auditor has made eight recommendations to improve the effectiveness of the city's paratransit service, saying clients who rely on the service will benefit from the changes.
Electric bus manufacturers hit hard by pandemic-era supply chain chaos could soon find themselves pummelled by a trade war.
A workshop will be held Wednesday evening to help give Windsor residents the necessary tools on how to interact with people experiencing homelessness.
Buy Canadian — that's the message being pushed across the country. But on the other end of the movement, some small business owners in Calgary who feel the pressure to pivot to Canadian products say that isn't as easy as it sounds.
Inside a community centre in Nova Scotia's Annapolis Valley, poster board collages display photos of a young woman with a big smile on her face. She's shown with her arms wrapped around family members, being silly in selfies with friends, standing proud in a high school graduation gown.
As an outreach worker helping people with life-limiting illnesses in Thunder Bay, Ont., Julie Diner says she doesn't spend much time in the office.