Canada's population keeps on growing.
Canwest News Service
June 23, 2009
OTTAWA – In the first three months of 2009, Canada's population grew at a rate not seen since the first quarter of 2001, according to Statistics Canada.
As of April 1, 2009, Canada's population was 33,592,700, up 88,000 from the start of the year, a growth rate of 0.26 per cent.
Statistics Canada attributes the rise not due to immigration, which actually fell from the 2008 numbers, but to a rise in the number of non-permanent residents in most provinces and territories. This segment of the population increased by 23,800, compared to an increase of 15,600 in the same quarter of 2008. Statistics Canada defines a non-permanent resident as a person living in Canada on a work or study permit, or a person claiming refugee status.
The population rose in all provinces and territories during the first quarter, except for Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia and the Northwest Territories.
Meanwhile, the western provinces continued to outpace the national average, led by Alberta which saw a growth rate of 0.59 per cent.
Canada's largest province, Ontario, estimated at over 13 million people, had a growth rate lower than the national average, at only 0.21 per cent. Inter- provincial migration, which helped keep the western provinces growing, was also the reason for Ontario's lower growth rate.
The number of immigrants to Canada in the first quarter, while lower than in 2008, totalled just over 50,000. Ontario remains the number one destination for new arrivals, with 42 per cent of them settling in the province.
