B.C. boom towns and busts

This time, B.C. went back to its traditional pattern of attracting people from other provinces.

The trend of population movement toward cities is prevalent across Canada.

Canada's six largest cities -- Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Ottawa-Gatineau, Calgary and Edmonton -- are home to 14.1 million people, or 45 per cent of the total population.

Just over two-thirds (68 per cent) of the population lives in Canada's 33 census metropolitan areas.

But B.C. is slightly more urbanized than the national trend, with 85.4 per cent of people living in urban areas here compared to an 80-per-cent average for the country.

That's likely due to the province's geography, economic context and its immigration pattern, experts suggest.

B.C. is more dependent on overseas immigrants than any other part of the country, says Ryan Berlin, an analyst with the Urban Futures Institute.

"We're not seeing immigrant families going straight to Kitimat," said Berlin. Instead, they are clustering in particular sectors of the Lower Mainland.

Statistics Canada noted that "between 2001 and 2006, an average of 25,000 immigrants a year settled in the Vancouver area. Because of international immigration, Vancouver continued to experience a higher population growth rate than the provincial average in the 2001 to 2006 period (6.5 per cent versus 5.3 per cent)."

As well, B.C.'s mountains produce a different population distribution.

People here aren't spread out on the kind of farmland that southern Ontario or the Prairies have.

"We are seeing all the growth being concentrated along the Trans-Canada Highway corridor and the Island Highway," says Berlin.

Finally, rural cities and towns have always been more dependent on the fluctuations of the resource industry, rising and falling with the ups and downs of mining, forestry, fish and oil.

The northeast sector is booming now. "But if oil falls back down to $30 a barrel, there'll be an exodus," said Berlin.

The Greater Vancouver region saw 6.5-per-cent growth, lower than in Calgary, Edmonton and Toronto, but higher than the national average.

Its growth was uneven, however, with suburbs like Port Moody and Surrey gaining population at Calgary-like rates, while others -- Delta, West Vancouver, Langley city, Coquitlam, and North Vancouver -- showed little or no growth.

Like the province, its growth is shaped by its geography and transportation lines.

"The urban spread in Vancouver is uniquely influenced by our terrain and the SkyTrain and West Coast Express," said Jerry Page, the director for Statistics Canada's western region.

(prepared by Frances Bula, with files from Peter O'Neil, Vancouver Sun)