Alberta's population keeps growing despite federal immigration freeze
New Statistics Canada data shows Alberta is the only large province avoiding population decline, driven by Canadians moving from other provinces.
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Alberta is the only large Canadian province still growing, even as the federal government clamps down on immigration. New data from Statistics Canada shows an estimated 5,057,077 people lived in Alberta as of April 1 — a 0.2 per cent increase from the previous quarter.
That's remarkable when the populations of British Columbia, Ontario, and Quebec each fell by 0.2 per cent in that same time period. "The only large province breaking the trend on that one is Alberta, which has not experienced a single drop, a single quarter of population decline," said Stéfane Marion, chief economist with the National Bank of Canada.
Canada's overall population, meanwhile, fell by 0.1 per cent to an estimated 41,417,056 people.
Fewer immigrants are moving to Alberta, though. Statistics Canada said the number of immigrants who moved to the province in the first quarter of 2026 fell by 18.2 per cent. The population of non-permanent residents in Alberta — anyone who isn't a Canadian citizen or permanent resident — dropped by 3.7 per cent from the previous quarter.
So what's driving the growth? Interprovincial migration is offsetting the losses. Stacey Hallman, an analyst at Statistics Canada's Centre for Demography, said Alberta still leads the country in interprovincial migration. "More people are moving to Alberta than are moving from Alberta to other provinces and territories in Canada," she said.
That's been the case for years — since around the time the Alberta government, led by former premier Jason Kenney, launched its Alberta is Calling campaign. Marion said it's a stark difference from other large provinces in Canada. "All the other provinces — think about Ontario, think about B.C. — they're still seeing inflows of permanent immigrants on a year-over-year basis. But the outflows of foreign students and temporary workers is greater than the inflow of permanent residents," Marion explained. "In Alberta's case, it's neutral. So that makes the overall population grow."
According to Hallman, Alberta's population growth is slowing down after the record highs seen in recent years. "It seems like the trends and growth are kind of returning to what we saw before the pandemic."