Alberta Grew by 76,419 People While Canada Nearly Stalled
People vote with their feet, and they're still voting for Alberta. The province grew by 76,419 people in the year to July 1, reaching 5,101,050. That 1.5 per cent gain was the fastest of any province, while the country as a whole barely moved.
By Jason LaFace | Alberta Radio
Monday, October 5, 2026
The numbers
Canada's population hit an estimated 41,798,407 on July 1, up 189,425 people, or 0.5 per cent. Statistics Canada says that's the smallest July-to-July increase in raw numbers since 1944-45, and the lowest growth rate since 1915-16. Alberta alone accounted for roughly two of every five new Canadians in that count.
Among the provinces, nobody came close. Ontario grew 0.3 per cent, Quebec 0.2 per cent and British Columbia just 0.1 per cent. Only Yukon and Nunavut, with tiny populations, grew at a faster rate than Alberta.
Where the people came from
Fewer Canadians moved here from other provinces than the year before, but tens of thousands still came from B.C. and Ontario, and more arrived from Saskatchewan and Manitoba. More than 50,000 immigrants landed in Alberta, about 8,000 fewer than the previous year and the fewest since the pandemic began. The province also saw a net loss of almost 8,000 non-permanent residents, driven almost entirely by international students leaving.
That reflects Ottawa's new levels plan, which caps permanent resident admissions at 380,000 a year until 2028 and non-permanent admissions at 385,000 this year, with further cuts coming. Alberta's growth rate is still the slowest it's been since 2021.
The referendum connection
Five of the ten questions on the Oct. 19 ballot deal with immigration, including whether Alberta should take more control over it and whether newcomers on temporary status should pay, at least for a while, to access services like health care and education. A spokesperson for Finance Minister Jason Nixon says the province will keep pressing Ottawa for "a more sustainable" approach, warning that "unsustainable levels" strain public services, housing and the labour market.
Business groups are watching the vote nervously. "Whether people want to come live here and invest their time and their skillset in the province, or if it's an organization or a massive company that wants to come here, certainty is going to be a big part of that," said Heather Thomson of the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce.
The take
Here's what the doom-sayers keep missing. For all the talk of uncertainty, Canadians from B.C. to Ontario keep packing up and moving to the province with no sales tax, cheaper homes and a government that at least talks about getting out of the way. That's the Alberta Advantage working in real time.
It also explains why Albertans want a say over who comes and how fast. Growth is a gift when the roads, schools, hospitals and housing keep up. It's a burden when Ottawa sets the numbers and Alberta pays the bills. Wanting control over that isn't hostility to newcomers. It's the same common sense that brought all those people here in the first place.
Source: Os1ris News Aggregation
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