The (yester)Daily

Somehow everyone — including Williams Government, who loves to crow about such things — missed this yesterday from Statscan:

In the Atlantic provinces, Newfoundland and Labrador's population grew for a second consecutive quarter after declining for several quarters. Its population rose 0.12%, the strongest increase in the region, to 508,100. The province had the second highest interprovincial migration rate in Canada. It was also the first time since 1988 that the province recorded net interprovincial migration gains in the fourth quarter.

This is one of three things:

- the usual might-as-well-go-home in-migration that has tended to accompany the onset of North American economic recessions for as long as Statscan has tracked interprovincial migration;

- the leading edge of let's-go-home baby-boom retirees; or

- real let's-go-home net-in-migration based on economic fundamentals.

Or, likelier still, a combination, especially of the first two.