Alberta’s upgraded immigration policies, benefits for newcomers makes it a better choice
By Charmaine Y. Rodriguez
With the steady increase in living costs, taxation and housing prices in British Columbia (B.C.), new immigrants are now looking for opportunities eastward.
Those who come to Canada to build up a life from scratch are avoiding Vancouver and are instead opting for Alberta as the middle-class life they want to have feels out of reach here, according to Yue Yu, marketing manager of Richmond-based Maple Gateway Consulting Inc.
“Many applicants have realized that Vancouver is not a welcoming place for middle-class immigrants who don’t come with pre-existing wealth,” Yu told the Business In Vancouver.
“We told them Vancouver is not only an economic centre, but also a consumer city, where people from all over the world come here with a high net worth and the salary might not catch up with the growing housing price,” Yu added.
Last year, Ontario and B.C. – Canada’s two most-popular provinces for immigrants – saw a slight decline in new immigrants, while provinces including Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta all saw significant growth in new immigrant numbers, the report also said.
The lack of middle-class won’t be good for the local economy and the labour market as this will worsen the labour shortage and affect the province’s “vitality,” according to Andy Yan, director of the city program at Simon Fraser University.
This will result in more businesses resorting to self-service and a faster degradation of the economy.
“We know many immigrants are also entrepreneurs – many immigrants in their struggle, in looking for an opportunity, also decide to open up small businesses and companies,” Yan further explained. “And in the long term, if that doesn’t happen, we will have further degradation within our economy.”
According to WorkBC, the most in-demand trades – such as cooks, auto repair technicians and construction workers – have salaries ranging between $33,370 and $52,140 annually. Renting a one-bedroom apartment in Vancouver costs an average of $33,240 per year, BIV added.
“We’re promising immigrants the Canadian dream, but we are exposing them to the Canadian housing nightmare,” said Yan.
According to a gov.bc.ca report released last June 27, British Columbia’s consumer price index (CPI) in May 2023 was 3.4% higher (unadjusted) than in May 2022.
Of the eight major components of the CPI, six increased in B.C.’s May 2023 CPI, namely food (+7.7%), health & personal care (+6.4%), alcohol & tobacco products (+6.2%), and shelter (+5.0%) had the highest price increases followed by recreation, education & reading (+2.3%) and household operations & furnishings (+0.1%).
The price of clothing remained the same year-over-year while the cost of transportation decreased (-1.9%).
The CPI measures the prices of goods and services on a yearly basis, comparing the changes in their costs to determine the cost of living and inflation rates.
As of May 2023, Saskatchewan (+4.3%) had the highest rate of inflation followed by Quebec (+4.0%), while Manitoba and B.C. were tied for third at 3.4%. Prince Edward Island had the lowest rate of inflation at 0.7%, followed by Newfoundland & Labrador (+1.7%), Nova Scotia (+2.0%), and New Brunswick (+2.3%), while Alberta and Ontario were tied at 3.1%. Within British Columbia, consumer prices increased in both Vancouver (+3.6%) and Victoria (+2.9%) when compared to twelve months ago.
B.C. is still a popular destination for immigrants, with 61,215 new international immigrants in 2022 or 14 per cent of the total number of immigrants to Canada but this already is a slight decline from a record year in 2021, BIV’s report said.
Alberta, which has shown efforts and employed policies to “compete with B.C. for new immigrants,” has become a “hot spot” for new immigrants in recent years, Yu noted.
By developing an upgraded immigration policy in 2022 called the Alberta Advantage Immigration Program and increasing its immigration nominees by 50 per cent to 9,750 in 2022 from 6,500 per year previously, Alberta is more applicant friendly.
“It also has lower language and work experience requirements than B.C. including for low-skilled immigrant workers, such as those in the home care and service industries,” Yu added.
Last year, the province’s new immigrant numbers rose from nearly 10,000 in 2021 to hit a record-breaking 49,460 in 2022.
Without provincial sales tax, plus much lower housing prices and decent education system for many new immigrants, it is a better choice than B.C., according to Yu.