Posted on 06/24/2009, 2:02 pm, by mySteinbach

Manitoba experienced remarkable population growth in the last 12 months, jumping by 14,007 people, Competitiveness, Training and Trade Minister Andrew Swan said.
 
“All Manitobans should be very pleased that more people are choosing this province as a great place to live and work,” Swan said.  “We are all looking forward to further strong population growth in the coming years.”
 
According to Statistics Canada data released yesterday, Manitoba’s population stood at 1,217,200 people as of April 1.
 
Since the current record-keeping system began in 1971, Manitoba’s population has never increased so much in a 12-month period.  The last record-growth year was 1983-84 when the population grew by 13,615.
 
Swan said a record number of international immigrants is behind this historic rise and, consequently, total net migration inflow levels are also at a 37-year high.  Manitoba welcomed more than 12,000 immigrants between April 2008 and April 2009 for another modern-day record.
 
Statistics Canada estimates 9,300 more people came to live in Manitoba than left the province in the last 12 months with about 18,000 more people arriving from other jurisdictions than leaving during the last 24 months.
 
This is a direct result of the Government of Manitoba’s Provincial Nominee’s Program, said Swan.
 
“In the first year following the launch of the Provincial Nominee Program in 1998, only 11.2 per cent of immigrants were provincial nominees. Now, they constitute more than 70 per cent of all the immigrants coming to Manitoba,” Swan said.