Canada’s population on Jan. 1 was 41,472,081 — 102,436 persons or 0.2 per cent lower than a year ago. Photo by Peter J Thompson/National Post files

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Statistics Canada this week released its latest population figures. Some of the trends will become increasingly worrisome if they continue.

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With the scaling back of temporary and student visas, it was widely predicted that population would sag. But the Liberal government had to reverse course after mismanaging immigration so as to pursue growth through a population burst rather than productivity.

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That’s not the only lesson from Statistics Canada’s data, however. Population flows continue to favour the two largest western provinces — Alberta and British Columbia — and that has important political implications. And the rise in emigration as we continue to lose our best and brightest to other countries, including the United States, means economic trouble ahead.

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Canada’s population on Jan. 1 was 41,472,081 — 102,436 persons or 0.2 per cent lower than a year ago. The decline was largely driven by a loss of 462,000 non-permanent residents, as well as another 66,000 who left Canada. Those losses were offset by 394,000 immigrants qualifying for permanent residency, plus a natural increase of 31,000 via an excess of births over deaths.

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What may be even more interesting than the absolute numbers is the continuing rebalancing of population away from Central and Atlantic Canada. Among the four largest provinces, accounting for almost 85 per cent of Canada’s population, Alberta had a net population gain of 60,000 this past year while the other three lost population — Ontario by 119,000, Quebec by 9,600 and British Columbia by 41,500. Together, the six smaller provinces and the three territories were basically static, with a gain of only 7,000 (or 0.02 per cent).

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Canadians are following that classic American advice: “Go West, young man.” About a third of Alberta’s population growth, 22,000 people, was from inflows from the rest of Canada. British Columbia gained 3,000 interprovincial migrants, while 14,000 Ontarians and 7,600 Quebecers sought greener pastures elsewhere in Canada.

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Ontario’s population was 33 per cent of Canada’s in 1949, Quebec’s 29 per cent — not far apart. Now those numbers are 38 and 22 per cent, a big gap. Together, B.C. and Alberta have almost one and half million more people than Quebec.

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As a recent Aristotle Foundation report showed, the shift to the West is creating a greater economic and political imbalance in Canada. Once just over a quarter of Canada’s population, the western provinces and the territories now account for a third (not to mention 36 per cent of GDP). Political representation hasn’t kept up with the demographic shift, however. Population per House of Commons seat is about 15 per cent higher than the national average in B.C., Alberta and Ontario. The big winners are the smaller provinces. Quebec is also over-represented, though only slightly, with 23 per cent seats compared to 22 per cent of the population.