So far, Albertans have been receiving plenty of warnings from the rest of Canada about how bad things will be for them if they separate from Canada. But on the flip side, if Alberta leaves, Canada will lose the most popular destination for Canadians from every other province seeking a better life, according to a new study by the Fraser Institute.
Over the past three decades, Alberta’s net in-migration from other Canadian provinces versus out-migration stands at +538,824. That means more than half a million more Canadians chose to settle in Alberta than left it between 1995 and 2024. This amounts to 10.7% of its population, a figure no other province can match.
Alberta Leads in Attracting Canadians
“When Canadians choose to move between provinces, it can signal a jurisdiction’s desirable attributes such as housing and job opportunities,” said Grady Munro, co-author of the study, “Interprovincial Migration in Canada, 1995-2024: What Do the Numbers Tell Us.” “Once again, Alberta is the most attractive province for interprovincial migration.”
The only other provinces with positive net in-migration are British Columbia (+214,883, or 3.8% of its population), Nova Scotia (+23,299, or 2.1%), and Prince Edward Island (+4,335, or 2.4%). In every other province, out-migration has exceeded in-migration: Quebec lost 255,988 people (2.8% of its population), Ontario lost 168,166 (1.0%), Newfoundland and Labrador lost 58,319 (10.6%), Manitoba lost 155,919 (10.3%), Saskatchewan lost 123,603 (9.8%), and New Brunswick lost 5,862 (0.7%).
Ontario’s Decline
“Ontario used to be seen by Canadians as an attractive place to move to,” Munro noted, “but for the past five years, Ontarians have been leaving the province and moving elsewhere in Canada in the greatest numbers in 30 years.” Relative to population, Newfoundland and Labrador, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan experienced the largest percentages of people leaving for other provinces. Newfoundland and Labrador saw the equivalent of 97.3% of its 2025 population aged 18 to 24 leave on net over the past three decades.
Implications of Separation
Of course, separation would hurt both Canada’s and Alberta’s economies. But those who constantly disparage Albertans as “ditchbillies” should remember that when Canadians from every other province vote with their feet, most choose Alberta in their pursuit of a better life.
