Immigration vital to Canada's growth
The Gazette (Montreal)
Thu 28 Sep 2006
Page: A2

Section: News
Byline: ERIC BEAUCHESNE
Dateline: OTTAWA
Source:
CanWest News Service

Immigration remains the main source of population growth
in Canada, and will be the only source within a few decades as deaths eventually
outpace births, Statistics Canada warned yesterday.

The report was made public only a day after a major economic think tank, the
C.D. Howe Institute, warned
that Canada can't count on immigration alone to deal with the challenges, such
as a shrinking workforce, posed by its aging population.

Statistics Canada's projections suggest the number of deaths will exceed the
number of births by around 2030.

So far this decade, net immigration has accounted for 60 per cent of the
population growth, up from 46.2 per cent a decade earlier, it noted.

Between July 1, 2005, and July 1, 2006, the population increased by 324,000,
or less than one per cent, to an estimated 32,623,500, with the number of
immigrants reaching a four-year high of 254,400.

Over the past year, Alberta's population growth rate of nearly 30 per 1,000
was the strongest in the country, or almost three times higher than the national
average, said the report, crediting its highest-ever level of migration from
other parts of Canada.

B.C. was the second-most popular destination for international immigrants,
passing Quebec for the first time this decade.

Among the provinces:

British Columbia's population growth, at 12.3 per 1,000, was also higher than
the national average, with 72.1 per cent coming from international migration.

Manitoba's population edged up 3.1 per 1,000, mainly because of a record-high
8,900 immigrants, while Saskatchewan's fell for the ninth time in 10 years.

Ontario's growth rate of 10.2 per 1,000 was just over the national average,
thanks to a strong net international migration that offset growing losses to
other provinces.

Quebec's population grew at a slower 7.1 per 1,000 thanks to both continued
high immigration levels but also an increase in births to the highest level in
nearly a decade.

In Atlantic Canada, only Prince Edward Island saw any population growth, as
Newfoundland and Labrador lost population for the 14th year in a row, and was
the first province or territory to experience more deaths than births over the
course of one year.

In the North, Nunavut's population grew at more than twice the national
average, thanks to a fertility rate that was double the national average. Yukon
posted its slowest population growth in four years, and Northwest Territories
its biggest population loss in almost a decade.

Edition: Final
Story Type: Statistics
Length:
400 words