Alberta's net inter-provincial migration shifts into negative

For the first time since 2009,more people left Alberta than arrived fromother provincesin the last quarter of 2015, according to the Alberta Treasury Board.

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From September to December 2015, 11,270 people came to Alberta from other provinces, while 12,247 left the majority of them to British Columbia and Ontario.

"While the net outflow of 977 is only about half of the outflows experienced during the province's last economic downturn, it represents a significant departure from the large net gains of the past several years," the board's quarterly population report said.

For the first time since 2002, Alberta lost population to Ontario a net total of 327 people.

Overall population grows

However, Alberta's population still climbed by about 15,000 in the last three months of 2015.

That was driven mostly by a very high number of people coming from outside the country, as well as Alberta's country-leading birth rate, the government says.

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"In spite of the challenges presented by Alberta's current economic downturn, the province continues to be very attractive to immigrants," the report said.

Alberta had a record-setting net international gain of 8,552 people in last quarter of 2015. That accounted for 18.4 per cent of all immigrants who settled in Canada over that period.

"The fourth quarter marks the eighth in a row that Alberta has attracted a larger number of immigrants than BritishColumbia," the report said.

Alberta's overall growth rate is still double the national average, however for the first time since 2011, the province did not lead the country.

Manitoba is number one with 0.41 per cent, followed by Alberta at 0.36 per cent and Saskatchewan at 0.32 per cent.