Despite Feds efforts Alberta’s attracting newcomers

BY JOHN MATHER

Well, well, well, despite all the doom and gloom spewed by the NDP during the provincial elections Alberta seems to be on the right track.

Last week, Statistics Canada released its first quarter populations statistics for the province. It shows that Alberta’s population is on track for its fastest growth since 1914. It’s fastest growth in migration in more than 100 years.

In the first three months of 2023, Alberta had a positive net migration of 15,786, with 920 people from Atlantic Canada, 356 from Quebec, 7,693 from Ontario, 1,262 from Manitoba, 1,621 from Saskatchewan, 434 from the Territories, and 3,500 from British Columbia.

In addition, 35,932 immigrants from outside of Canada moved to Alberta in that three-month period.

Premier Danielle Smith said in Calgary last week, after these stats were released, that it’s Alberta’s pro-growth environment that causes outsiders to want to live here.

Alberta’s policies designed to reduce taxes, cut red tape, and create jobs and wealth, are attracting all these recent newcomers, Smith said.

“The best and brightest are choosing Alberta. Businesses from all over the world are choosing Alberta.”

That’s not something you hear Rachel Notley saying.

One way to chart comparative wealth is to look at gross domestic product per capita. Alberta leads the way as of 2021 at the equivalent of US$68,726, well ahead of the Canadian average of $53,540. Alberta is the only Canadian province close to the U.S average of $70,160. Ontario is at $52,685, Quebec, with its abundant hydro resources, just $47.824.

Little wonder that other Canadians would want to move to Alberta.

Yet the Trudeau-Singh alliance in Ottawa continues to build walls doing their best to stifle our economy.

Add a new carbon tax. Welcome to July 1 which is what they did in the form of clean fuel rules.

In that process, add the four Atlantic provinces to those from the west complaining of Federal government overreach into provincial jurisdiction.

CONTINUED

The Parliamentary Budget Officer has already told the Feds their Clean Fuel Regulations would increase the price of fuel and shrink the size of Canada’s economy.

But the Liberals, supported by Singh, and the Greens, say the Parliamentary Budget Office ignored the advice because they said they couldn’t put a price on climate change.

Well what would you expect them to say?

The clean fuels rules will require producers or importers of gas or diesel to gradually reduce the carbon intensity of the fuels they sell. By increasing the price of carbonintensive fuels, the government hopes to encourage the production and consumption of cleaner fuels like hydrogen and biofuels.

Trudeau also claims there’s no market for natural gas in Europe, although that continent is crying out for it after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Many countries in Europe that had aban- doned coal fired generation plants in favour of wind and solar, are switching back.

Maybe this indicates people in the other parts of Canada are waking up.

Maybe they are realizing Alberta with good jobs, good wages and good social policies, makes it a better place to live and easier on a family.

Alberta has put out the welcome mat and people from across the world are taking advantage of it.

BY HAZEL ANAKA

Well, it’s certainly from one extreme to another weather-wise. From sizzling 30-degree days to Sunday’s cool, unsettled weather, you can get whiplash wondering what’s next. I’m writing this on July 2nd and wondering why I haven’t put on some woolly socks. On our home weather station, it only hit 12 Celsius but with the wind felt considerably cooler. Our HVAC system goes from cooling to heating and sometimes all in one day. Hilary and Gertie came out for a visit. After lunch, we settled in to watch Billionaire Murders, a four-part documentary series about the Barry and Honey Sherman case. To take the chill off, I pulled out throw blankets for everyone. This was the perfect day to hunker down, goof off, and doze. Let’s just say that at various times, Gertie wasn’t the only one snor-