Saskatchewan's year-end population statistics capped off what has been another remarkably year for this province.
However, accompanying this good news are some interesting new challenges for Premier Brad Wall's Saskatchewan Party government.
The last bit of good news for 2012 is that Saskatchewan's population had hit a record 1,086,564 - well on the way to the Sask. Party's goal of an extra 100,000 in its first 10 years of government and Wall's updated goal of 1.2 million people by 2020.
Saskatchewan grew by 6,066 from July 1 to Oct. 1 and grew by 23,024 people since October 2011_ the province's fastest growth rate since 1921.
And what was most interesting is that it hasn't been a baby boom or people moving back from Alberta driving Saskatchewan's population growth. The key factor appears to be new Canadians moving here.
According to the Statistics Canada numbers for the third quarter of 2012, Saskatchewan had 3,905 births compared with 2,319 deaths _ a modest 1,586 natural increase. This natural growth rate is about the same as a year ago.
Also, the 7,178 Canadian residents that moved to this province in this three-month period are 1,286 more than the 5,892 people that moved out of province. This is a slight improvement from the net in-migration of 860 people in the same three-month period in 2011.
Of course, for a province that has traditionally seen more people move away than move in, any increase is good news. We didn't always win these battles.
However, half of those moving away are still moving to Alberta. In fact, for all of Wall's trumpeting of people coming home from Alberta, the in-migration from Alberta was only 34 more people than the out-migration of Saskatchewan people moving to Alberta in this three-month period. (Again, this is a battle in which Saskatchewan didn't often win, so maybe there is some solace to be taken in even a slight win here.)
But most interesting was the 3,734 more people born outside Canada that moved to Saskatchewan in the third quarter of 2012. This follows the 4,034 new Canadians moving to this province from April until the end of June.
It is these new Canadians that best exemplify why Saskatchewan is now near the top of the nation in housing starts, GDP annual growth, retail sales increases, etc.
But such growth is not without its challenges - especially in specific parts of the provinces.
For example, this fall the government had to fork over additional money for specific school divisions where the rate of growth has been more rapid than expected. These included the Regina Catholic school division, both divisions in Saskatoon, divisions in Lloydminster, Estevan, etc.
But much to the surprise of my neighbourhood in Â鶹ÊÓƵ Regina that have had an influx of the new arrivals, the city's public school board wasn't one that qualified for this additional funding. Teachers are now coping with an influx of English as an Additional Language (EAL) students that have made their classrooms a challenging place.
This is but one put one issue Wall's government will clearly have to do a better job of addressing in 2013 and following years. But it certainly isn't the only example.
Take Estevan where the homeless shelter has become the only option in that city for some with good-paying jobs and no other available housing.
This may seem to be a preferred problem for a government to be have, but people in communities like Estevan struggling with higher rents or finding any place at all just see it as huge problem.
There has been a lot of good news in 2012, but it's been accompanied by challenges.
Murray Mandryk has been covering provincial politics for over 22 years.
