Calgary soars past million mark

Statistics released Wednesday show Calgary's population has grown tooverone million, although the city is mushrooming at a slightly slower pace than the year before.

The city of Calgary counted 1,019,942 people in April 2007, an increase of 28,183 from a year before, when the population stood at 991,759.

From 2005 to 2006, the city grew by 35,681 people.

Mayor Dave Bronconnier said the softening in the city's growth rate is due to fewer people moving to Calgary, stopped by the city's skyrocketing cost of living.

"We are very concerned about the cost of home ownership, we are concerned about the affordability index of Calgary. We want to remain very competitive as a city," he said.

"It was only2½ years ago that Calgary was one of the most affordable cities in the country."

Life-long Calgary resident Barb Rooney agreed the high costs are keeping people away.

"It's almost prohibitive for a lot of people. Once they get here they find out, so it's not a good place to be coming to."

Sal Abdo, whoruns a downtown pita shop, said the rising costs make it difficult to do business in Calgary's overheated economy.

"Business is good, but still you got to remember that your prices is still the same, but the costof running your business is higher."

University of Calgary economist Frank Atkins said fewer people moving to Calgary will slow down the economy, which is overdue and nothing to fear.

"This is the way an economy works."

Vacancy rate at 1.46 per cent

Over the past 12 months, 17,631 more people moved into Calgary than moved away and the natural increase in the city's population(the result of births over deaths) was 10,552 people.

The growing population has put pressure on Calgary's housing stock.

The vacancy rate fell from 1.73to 1.46 per cent between April 2006 and 2007, despite 11,768more homes in Calgary, either finished or under construction.

Two Calgary communities grew by more than 100 per cent— Auburn Bay expanded by 245 per cent and Silverado ballooned by 426 per cent.

Bronconnier celebrated Calgary reaching a million residents last summer.

Dashiell Waite, a newborn boy, was officially honoured as Calgary's one millionth citizen last July.

The Waites received several gifts from businesses and the City of Calgary, including $1,000 worth of free electricity fromCalgary, a $1,000 bank account from the Royal Bank of Canada, a spa weekend from the Hyatt Hotel and airline tickets for two from WestJet.