Alberta Population Growth

[Chadillaccc]

So in the most recent federal estimate, the Calgary and Edmonton CMAs grew by 34,000 and 32,000 respectively. Considering that each CMA is about 1/3 of Alberta, that would indicate that the province grew by about 90,000 from 2014 to 2015. This is contrary to the Federal quarterly estimates for provincial populations which say we only grew by about 76 000 over that period.

[Bcasey25raptor]

My Mother lives in Calgary and she told me most people are leaving. Does Calgary risk seeing a population decline or is this all anecdotal nonsense?

[RWin]

Originally Posted by Bcasey25raptor

My Mother lives in Calgary and she told me most people are leaving. Does Calgary risk seeing a population decline or is this all anecdotal nonsense?

Anecdotal nonsense would be my guess.

My own anecdotal nonsense is that most people are not leaving.

[Daveography]

Originally Posted by Bcasey25raptor

My Mother lives in Calgary and she told me most people are leaving. Does Calgary risk seeing a population decline or is this all anecdotal nonsense?

So Calgary is set to decline by about 600,000 people?

Yeah, anecdotes - especially exaggerated ones - are generally nonsense.

[Bcasey25raptor]

Originally Posted by Daveography

So Calgary is set to decline by about 600,000 people?

Yeah, anecdotes - especially exaggerated ones - are generally nonsense.

Should probably have clarified that she meant most people she personally knew.

[Daveography]

^ That makes more sense, and understand it might feel that way because a larger number than usual of people leaving is exceptional, but unless your mother has a social circle comprised almost entirely of very mobile workers with no actual roots in Calgary I would still take the claim with a grain of salt.

[Infrequent Poster]

Originally Posted by RWin

Airdrie is basically a neighbourhood of Calgary that happens to have it's own political boundaries. Of course back in the day it was a long way from Calgary but these days it is to Calgary almost what Surrey is to Vancouver (or Burnaby or New Westminster).

In my mind talking about Airdrie is like talking about Coventry Hills so a population increase there is really a population increase in the greater Calgary area. And therefore isn't really competing with Red Deer, Lethbridge, etc. in the size competition.

It annoys me when our Vancouver people talk about how dense Vancouver is and forget to mention how much empty space there is between Horseshoe Bay and Abbotsford (or even Chilliwack).

A city is more than just political boundaries.

But Abbotsford and Chilliwack are not part of metro vancouver. So any discussion about population or density would have nothing to do with them. In my opinion.

[Canadian Mind]

There is a lot more jobs in the cities than in rural Alberta ATM. I think it's entirely possible that Calgary and Edmonton would account for 65 000 out of the 76 000 population increase.

[jawagord]

Originally Posted by VIce

That's one thing that bugs me tremendously. It has been designer, photosensitive oil-derived chemicals that have allowed for the miniaturization of the transistor (ie: made the process of photolithography possible). The wide gamut of cheap and effective pharmaceuticals that have improved quality of life and life expectancy has oil-derived feedstock to thank. The multiple order-of-magnitude growth in agricultural productivity over the last century is at least partially due to high-performance oil-derived fertilizers and other engineered agricultural chemicals like Roundup. High-performance synthetic fabrics from athletic wear, to bullet- and stab-resistant clothes, to fire-resistant cloth. High-performance materials like CRP, CRC, fiberglas, and so on. High-performance adhesives, lubricants, photo-sensitive and other optical coatings. The list goes on and on.

We take the most valuable, versatile, and finite chemical feedstock on the planet, and what do we do with half of it? We burn it for heat. It seems so juvenile.

Most of these items are made from by-products of oil and natural gas processing, the bulk of the hydrocarbons in oil and gas are not suitable for making these products. Without oil refining and processing natural gas in large quantities for fuel we wouldn't have the cheap by-products to create all these beneficial products.

http://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=34&t=6

[MalcolmTucker]

Plus there is so much natural gas there is no reason to treat it as having scarcity. For practical purposes we will never return to the natural gas crunch of the early 2000s, the one where north america was going to have to start importing gas via LNG. North America now produces so much petrochemical feedstock that at times it trades below its heat value (propane even went negative in the Edmonton region last year!)

[MalcolmTucker]

[Chadillaccc]

Alberta just grew by another 18 000 people over the past 3 months to reach a population of 4 250 000. This translates to a 12-month growth of 74 000 people Not bad at all. Over a year into our worst recession in decades and we're still the 2nd fastest growing province by a very significant margin.

[RWin]

Babies!

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgar...owth-1.3638609

[Chadillaccc]

That's a great little article

[sunsetmountainland]

Originally Posted by RWin

Anecdotal nonsense would be my guess.

My own anecdotal nonsense is that most people are not leaving.

Well perhaps not all of Alberta but the Calgary numbers are not so good.

2016 Calgary census by the numbers:

1,235,171 — Calgary’s population as of April 2016;

4,256 — The number of new residents compared to 2015;

6,527 — The number of people who left the city compared to 2015;

10,783 — The natural increase (births over deaths);

499,222 — The total number of dwelling units in the city, a 1.32 per cent increase from 2015;

20,843 — The number of vacant dwelling units in Calgary, up 8,317 from 2015;

9,508 — The number of dwellings under construction;

69.78 — Percentage of owner-occupied homes;

2,040 — The population growth in the southeast community of Mahogany, the community that saw the most growth in 2016;

6,322 — The number of new residents in southeast Calgary’s Ward 12, which saw the most growth in 2016;

2,114 — The number of residents who left east Calgary’s Ward 10, which saw the biggest population loss in 2016.

[kora]

Permanent residents (immigrants) by CMA, 2015, Top 5 countries of birth

Calgary CMA

Philippines: 5,380
India: 3,505
Pakistan: 1,245
Nigeria: 1,085
China: 845
Total all immigrants: 21,700


Edmonton CMA

Philippines: 5,365
India: 3,015
China: 645
Pakistan: 465
Syria: 425
Total all immigrants: 16,745

StatsCan, Permanent Residents by Census Metropolitan Area and Country of Birth
http://open.canada.ca/data/en/datase...a-756191a23695

[Rollerstud98]

Originally Posted by RWin

Airdrie is basically a neighbourhood of Calgary that happens to have it's own political boundaries. Of course back in the day it was a long way from Calgary but these days it is to Calgary almost what Surrey is to Vancouver (or Burnaby or New Westminster).

In my mind talking about Airdrie is like talking about Coventry Hills so a population increase there is really a population increase in the greater Calgary area. And therefore isn't really competing with Red Deer, Lethbridge, etc. in the size competition.

NO! Lol, can't compare us to Coventry. I do get that we're part of the greater Calgary area out here but we're more than just a subdivision of the city. Also know that along the QE2 corridor the 2 cities will never meet. Rockyview will not give up what they have going on now in Balzac. I'm fairly pationate about the city out here but do wish we would get something done to improve our downtown. It certainly is hurting.

We did have a proposal from city hall this last fall for $80 million+ development but it was shot down quick due to conflicts of interest. City owned business using city leases to justify being able to build out a completely new downtown on the east side of main street where city hall is.

Something that would help with all this is if we could get a college in Airdrie, and a hospital.

[Dalreg]

Originally Posted by Rollerstud98

NO! Lol, can't compare us to Coventry. I do get that we're part of the greater Calgary area out here but we're more than just a subdivision of the city. Also know that along the QE2 corridor the 2 cities will never meet. Rockyview will not give up what they have going on now in Balzac. I'm fairly pationate about the city out here but do wish we would get something done to improve our downtown. It certainly is hurting.

We did have a proposal from city hall this last fall for $80 million+ development but it was shot down quick due to conflicts of interest. City owned business using city leases to justify being able to build out a completely new downtown on the east side of main street where city hall is.

Something that would help with all this is if we could get a college in Airdrie, and a hospital.

Never say never

Only a matter of time before Airdrie is swallowed by Calgary.

[MalcolmTucker]

Originally Posted by Rollerstud98

NO! Lol, can't compare us to Coventry. I do get that we're part of the greater Calgary area out here but we're more than just a subdivision of the city. Also know that along the QE2 corridor the 2 cities will never meet. Rockyview will not give up what they have going on now in Balzac. I'm fairly pationate about the city out here but do wish we would get something done to improve our downtown. It certainly is hurting.

We did have a proposal from city hall this last fall for $80 million+ development but it was shot down quick due to conflicts of interest. City owned business using city leases to justify being able to build out a completely new downtown on the east side of main street where city hall is.

Something that would help with all this is if we could get a college in Airdrie, and a hospital.

I seem to recall land for a hospital complex has been set aside somewhere south of Highway 566 (176 Ave) along Centre Street.

Also, the regional tax jurisdiction shopping non-mandatory regional planning? As good as done now.

[Rollerstud98]

I have heard they are planning another hospital like the South Health Campus for the north. Just always been a thorn in peoples sides out here being I think the largest municipality in N.A. without having a hospital. Also as far as being swallowed I don't think Airdrie will amalgamate. I will vote against it anyway. Although by that time I may no longer live here as the density of Airdrie is already getting to be too much for me.

Also Malcolm, what is the regional tax jurisdiction shopping non-mandatory regional planning?