The results are in from the 2006 federal census and it is exactly as some municipal politicians feared. Populations do not seem to come close to reflecting actual growth.
“I really question that,” said Denny Garratt last week, when he heard that the M.D. of Lesser Slave River had not grown by a single person between 2001 and 2006. “I know it’s a mistake.”
Census results posted on census2006.ca show the M.D. with 2,082 people, exactly the same number it had in the 2001 federal count.
Slave Lake fared a bit better, but an official population of 6,703 is hardly what town officials had in mind. It represents a growth of 103 people since 2001.
The 2001 figure itself was barely believable, showing an increase of only about 50 people in the previous five years.
“It’s ridiculous,” said Slave Lake Mayor Karina Pillay-Kinnee. “It’s not even close to what our projections are. It’s extremely disappointing.”
The mayor added that council would probably be looking at an appeal.
There are other methods of calculating population, or at least estimating it. All signs in the past couple of years have pointed towards rapid growth in Slave Lake and surrounding communities. The signs include new tax assessment in the form of residential subdivisions, new utility accounts, growth in school populations and the addition of many jobs through economic growth.
The numbers matter, because provincial and federal funding for roads, policing and other municipal expenses are doled out according to population. The town calculates that each resident is worth about $1,000 in such funding.
The new StatsCan census results will certainly solidify the impression that the census does not do a good enough job. Many municipalities were upset about the 2001 figures, believing that too many people had been missed.
The census figures show the Municipality of Wood Buffalo (which includes Fort McMurray) grew by 24.3 per cent to 51,496 people. That’s a pretty healthy figure, but apparently it doesn’t satisfy municipal politicians in the oilsands city, one of whom was quoted in the Mar. 14 Edmonton Journal as saying that StatsCan must have missed a lot of people.
Contrary to all forecasts and many authoritative pronouncements, Calgary’s population (officially) has not surpassed one million. The census has it at 988,193, a 12.4 increase since 2001. Edmonton grew in the same period by 9.6 per cent to 730,372, according to StatsCan. High Prairie added 13 people in five years, but the surrounding M.D. of Big Lakes apparently shrank by 40.
Overall, Alberta’s population grew by just over 10 per cent, according to the census. Last spring’s federal census was the first to allow census forms to be filled out and submitted on line. A few people took advantage, but not many. The forms could also be submitted by regular mail, but that also was not adequate. Statistics Canada officials assured interested parties at the time that their enumerators would be going door to door to fill in the gaps and that the results would be accurate to within acceptable margins.
“There’s definitely got to be a mistake,” said town councillor George Snider. “Based on the development we’ve seen over the last four years those numbers aren’t accurate.” Councillor Valerie Tradewell agreed.
“All indications (show) that 1.6 per cent (growth) in five years is not true,” she said. “I question the validity of the report.”

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