Are record numbers of people leaving B.C., as John Rustad claims?

There's one number B.C. Conservative Party Leader John Rustad has cited over and over again on the campaign trail.

"Last year, 72,500 people left British Columbia, a record in British Columbia's history," Rustad told supporters and journalists at his campaign launch in Vancouver's Crab Park.

"The only time we even came close to that was during the NDP in the 1990s, in 1998, where it was over 60,000 people that left this province." 

Rustad has used the number to criticize the B.C. NDP, saying people are fleeing the province in droves as they struggle with a lack of affordable housing options.

But is it true that a record number of people fled the West Coast for greener economic pastures last year?

Werner Antweiler, a professor of economics at the University of British Columbia, said while Rustad's number isn't inaccurate, it doesn't fully represent B.C.'s population trend.

"When politicians are cherry-picking numbers, it's usually an indication they are only looking at one side of the story. It is really important to look at the statistics and say — am I getting the full picture?"

According to Statistics Canada, 74,752 people left B.C. in 2023 to settle in another province or abroad. And just like Rustad has told voters, that represents one of the highest numbers since 1998.

But B.C. has also welcomed a record number of people in recent years.

In 2023, Statistics Canada counted 134,186 people who settled in B.C. from another province or another country. And B.C.'s population has grown steadily in recent years, sitting at around 5.6 million in 2023.

The data excludes the balance of 129,131 non-permanent residents who arrived or left B.C. in 2023, because only net data for permanent residents is available in Statistics Canada data sets before 2021.

Antweiler says data collected by Statistics Canada about interprovincial departures also doesn't reflect people's motivations for leaving. He said Canada's population is increasingly mobile, moving between provinces because of family circumstances, or to follow educational and professional opportunities. 

"We have a small loss interprovincially — mostly to Alberta — but we also have significant new immigration coming into B.C. and that is more than compensating what we are losing to other provinces," said Antweiler.

"Even when we are looking to other provinces, it's net migration that matters. So we see some movement to Alberta, but also some Albertans coming to B.C."