Over 50

Grande Prairie is officially over 50.

I'm not talking about the age of our residents (StatsCan says we are actually one of the youngest communities in Canada with median age of about 29. That means that half our population is under 29 and half of it is over 29.)
What I am talking about is population, the total number of people living in the city. On Monday a report will go to the General Government Services committee with the results of the census that the city conducted in the spring of this year - we are officially over the 50 000 population mark with 50 227 people calling Grande Prairie home!

The really impressive thing this about this is that the 50 227 is a 6.69% increase over the federal census that was taken just last year. That's pretty fast growth, I mean look at it as this "what if":

What if we kept that same pace (6.69%) for the next two years and then dropped off a bit and grew a little slower, say only 5% in the next year?

2008 Pop. = about 53587
2009 Pop. = about 57172
2010 Pop. = about 60030

Wow! That number doesn't include the growth that we see in the County, Sexsmith, Wembley, Beaverlodge or Hythe. The region will be pushing the 100 000 mark in no time.