According to Statistics Canada, the metropolitan area of Medicine Hat has welcomed 3,985 new residents since 2006.--NEWS PHOTO IAN SORENSEN

Stacey Lee
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The city of Medicine Hat continues to expand and the proof is in the numbers released by Statistics Canada Wednesday.
Statistics Canada says the metropolitan area, which includes Medicine Hat, Cypress County and Redcliff, has welcomed 3,985 new residents since 2006. Business Support Manager for the City of Medicine Hat, Keith Crush, says the news is bittersweet.
"Anytime you see a positive uptake in the population base it is a good thing. It means you have growth in your community but what it translates into is only about one per cent per year averaged over five years. When I take a look at some of the other communities in Alberta we are trailing. We are not doing as well as perhaps other communities our size, or near our size, are doing."
Local growth can be compared to the 7,410 increase observed in Red Deer, the jump of 10,803 in Lethbridge, and the modest climb of 1,002 people who moved to Swift Current during the same five-year period. Crush says that increases, small or large, are still of benefit to communities.
"We are not booming along... appreciating that between 2006 and 2011 the economy tanked. Because our economy in Medicine Hat is driven, to some degree, by the energy sector we feel that economy is still faltering a bit. On the other side we have industries in this community that are substantial consumers of natural gas." He added that a growing population means more tax dollars for the city, as well as increased consumer/small business activity.
With that said, Crush was quick to point out that while growth is great for the city and its residents, too much growth could be destructive.
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"We would like to see that 1.5 . . . 1.8 per cent, and up into the 2.25-per-cent increase per year... that is nice and steady growth. It would be manageable. When you start getting into the five-per-cent-per-year margin, it gets really challenging... as a community to handle that kind of growth in population." Rapid expansion of the city would likely cause problems for the city in meeting infrastructure demands, and in the community with housing availability, he said.
Overall, Crush is calling the statistics good news, but isn't getting too excited about the numbers yet, saying more information must be released before the city can use them.
"We don't really understand, from a demographic perspective, what (the numbers) mean. If it is young people moving to the community it is encouraging from the perspective that you now have a younger population creating demand or interest in a particular part of the economy... that might be stimulated. If you're talking about middle-aged couples or empty-nesters that means something slightly different. Interpreting the numbers more closely will be helpful." Crush is waiting for Statistics Canada to release new figures on the ages and groups represented within the local population.
The two fastest-growing metropolitan areas in the country are Calgary and Edmonton. Calgary has reported a population of 1,214,839 (12.6 per cent increase), while Edmonton follows in growth with 1,159,869 residents (12.1 per cent).
Of all the provinces, Alberta has shown the fastest growth and is followed by Saskatchewan, the Yukon, and Newfoundland/Labrador.
Canada's population now rests at 33,476,688.
With files from Canadian Press