Manitobans fleeing province at highest rate since 2006
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Manitoba suffered the largest exodus of people to other provinces in seven years last year, posting a net inter-provincial deficit of 4,465 people, according to recent figures published by the Manitoba Bureau of Statistics.
It was the largest loss of people to greener pastures in other parts of Canada since 2006, when Manitoba lost a net 7,277 people.
Despite claims by the Selinger government that Manitoba's economy is booming and people are coming to the province in record numbers for what they say are good jobs and high pay, the data tells a different story.
While the province made some progress between 2007 and 2010 by losing fewer people to other provinces than in past years, the number of people moving to other provinces is beginning to climb again.
In 2013 — the year the NDP government increased the PST to 8% — Manitoba lost 18,120 people to other provinces, while gaining only 13,655 during that same period.
Over the past 10 years, Manitoba has lost a net 44,563 people to other provinces, nearly equivalent to the city of Brandon.
That's a stunning number and a sobering statistic that contradicts claims by the provincial government that Manitoba has become an economic beacon for people around Canada.
It hasn't. More people are leaving Manitoba for employment opportunities and other reasons than they are coming here to live and work. The provincial government chooses to ignore that reality — at least publicly — because it's focused instead on trying to brainwash the masses that Manitoba is experiencing an economic resurgence. They hope the public just doesn't notice how many people we're bleeding to other provinces.
If Manitoba's economy truly were "booming," people would be flocking here from other provinces. We would be attracting more people to Manitoba than we're losing. At the very least, our inter-provincial losses would be falling.
But they aren't. They're growing.
The main factor driving Manitoba's population growth continues to be the record numbers of immigrants coming into the province, largely through the Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program. But even those immigration numbers are beginning to show signs of weakness.
The number of immigrants coming into Manitoba peaked at 15,964 in 2011, but have fallen in both 2012 and 2013. Last year, 13,087 immigrants moved to Manitoba while 1,648 left the country.
The Selinger government has blamed the Harper government for the dwindling immigration numbers, claiming a federal cap on immigration is the reason behind the fall. However, other provinces — including the burgeoning economy of Saskatchewan — have seen their immigration numbers rise in recent years, suggesting the real pull for immigrants is a robust economy and a strong job market, something Manitoba is obviously struggling to attain.
Manitoba's total net migration numbers — which includes inter-provincial and immigration figures — fell to 8,576 in 2013 from a high of 11,881 in 2010.
So the province is headed in the wrong direction when it comes to population growth.
Even Manitoba's natural population growth — the difference between births and deaths every year — has started to level off.
The province's natural population increase hit a historical low of 3,908 in 2004 but inched up close to the 6,000-mark by 2009. Since then, however, the natural population increase has fallen somewhat.
The problem with government is they refuse to acknowledge they even have a problem attracting people to Manitoba. They rely almost entirely on immigrants for growth and turn a blind eye to the economic shortcomings that are discouraging people generally from living and working here.
Until they admit they have a problem, we will continue to see people flocking to greener pastures because that's where the higher-paying, more skilled jobs are.
The data doesn't lie. Only governments do.
