Alberta is calling, young people are answering

“Actually, I love Calgary.” This is the sort of statement that, when uttered to other Toronto-based millennials, used to earn me blank stares and dubious eye rolls. Most could never see themselves leaving the city for nearby Hamilton, let alone Alberta. I might as well have professed my fondness for Saturn's third ring.

Perhaps this is the type of attitude that led Ontario politicians to believe they could make life continually worse for young people with little risk of blowback. It's not like they were going to pack up and move to Alberta, after all.

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney thinks otherwise. He's spearheading a clever campaign dubbed “Alberta Is Calling,” which attempts to capitalize on millennial and gen Z strife in Ontario, in order to entice them to the Prairie province.

“A nurse, programmer and electrician all walk into a province,” starts one ad. The punchline: “They all get jobs.” Another simply reads, “Bigger paycheques. Smaller rent cheques.” A third poster points out that child care is 30 per cent cheaper in Alberta, which means “30 per cent more money for date nights.”

A subway station mural contrasts the $1.4-million average price of detached homes in Ontario with Alberta's $490,000 average.

Until very recently, such a campaign would've been a colossal waste of taxpayer money, but times have changed in Alberta's favour. The campaign is successfully generating buzz among its target demographic.

I've seen it mentioned, out of the blue and in a positive light, in several separate group chats this week alone — chats populated with young professionals who don't pay all that much attention to politics, but are upset about what their salaries can afford, and are skeptical of what kind of future they can build in Ontario.

In fact, the migration has already begun. Kenney's campaign doesn't have to spark a fire, it simply needs to keep fanning the flames. New Statistics Canada data shows that the number of people leaving Ontario each year increased 94 per cent between 2017-18 and 202122.

The recipient of the most Ontarians in 2021-22 was Alberta, which saw its intake increase 110 per cent since 2017-18. Nova Scotia's intake, although a lower total number, increased by a stunning 180 per cent over the same period.

You may recall that Nova Scotia recently ran its own ad campaign, “Work From Nova Scotia,” to lure remote workers from elsewhere in Canada. It's proposition: “If you can live anywhere, live in Nova Scotia.” The ads feature beautiful coastlines and, perhaps most importantly, affordable real estate.

As it turns out, life in Ontario has become so expensive, so limiting and economically unjust that people are willing to pick up and move. The trend represents an opportunity for other provinces — some with aging populations, others with unfilled jobs, all eager for an economic boost — to benefit from disillusioned and dejected young Ontarians.

There are some who doubt that significant numbers of young Torontonians would seriously consider Alberta, and who think Kenney's campaign is little more than wishful thinking. These people generally wave at Alberta's reputation as a province full of Conservatives, which, as everyone knows, young urbanites abhor.

Except maybe they don't — at least not anymore. Recent polls show Canada's youth increasingly shifting their support to Pierre Poilievre's Conservatives, whose leadership campaign also focused on housing and affordability, and who handily won all but two ridings in Ontario.

According to Angus Reid, the male 18-34 demographic's top three issues are: cost of living, housing affordability and the economy. For the female 18-34 demographic, it's: cost of living, health care and housing affordability.

Long-held political certainties about who young Canadians vote for, and why, are changing fast, as are notions about where they want to live. It's difficult to be precious about partisanship when you might not be able to afford next month's rent, or can't afford enough space to start a family.

Alberta is calling and, if Ontario doesn't get its act together fast, it may be surprised by how many young people pick up.