CARSTAIRS/CREMONA/DIDSBURY - The latest Statistics Canada census (2016) has been released and Didsbury has passed the 5,000 mark, while Carstairs broke the 4,000 mark. Cremona, on the other hand, dropped slightly in population from the previous census (2011).
Didsbury's population as of 2016 is 5,268, up from 4,957 in 2011, a change of 6.3 per cent.
In addition, Didsbury has 2,119 total private dwellings with a population density per square kilometre of 321.7. The land area in square kilometres equals 16.37.
Christopher Atchison, manager of legislative and development services, said they weren't too surprised with the population increase.
"It is not really a surprise," said Atchison. "The Town of Didsbury continues to grow sustainability and our population growth as depicted by the last census shows that model of sustainable growth."
Atchison said that with the population increase, the pressure on the town's existing infrastructure will continue to increase.
"However, with recent improvements to infrastructure within the municipality, the Town of Didsbury is well placed for growth into the future," he said.
Didsbury will also be facing added costs for policing due to reaching the 5,000 population mark.
"There will be increased costs for policing in the coming years due to the transition of responsibilities onto the municipality once it reaches the 5,000 mark," he said.
Atchison said the town will benefit from having a higher population number when dealing with grant dollars.
The total population of Alberta for 2016 is 4,067,175, up from 3,645,257 in 2011, an increase of 11.6 per cent. Didsbury is ranked 689th in all of Canada and 86th in Alberta in population.
Carstairs hit a milestone as well at 4,077 in 2016, up 18.7 per cent from 2011's 3,442. The number of private dwellings is 1,544 with a population density per square kilometre of 342.1. The land area in square kilometres is 11.92.
Carl McDonnell, CAO for Carstairs, said he wasn't too surprised with the rise in population.
"We weren't too surprised based on the number of home starts we've had over that time frame," said McDonnell. "We knew our number would be over 4,000, somewhere around there. I think it shows good growth. I think 18 per cent growth is pretty aggressive but it's still manageable."
McDonnell said he doesn't foresee any immediate infrastructure issues.
"Most of our infrastructure is oversized already," he said. "We do have the plans put in place for when we do exceed 5-6,000 people for water and waste water and so on. So it gives us some examples of what our time frame will be for expanding those facilities."
McDonnell said the town will have to pay a bit more for some of its agreements that are based on per capita, "but depending on what the province rolls out for MSI (municipal sustainability initiative) funding," he said. "We could receive more funding from there as well. Once the provincial budget comes out and we see what that funding formula look like, we would anticipate that grants would go up, but we also know we'll have higher cost in other areas."
Meanwhile, Cremona dropped from 457 in 2011 to 444 in 2016, a drop of 2.8 per cent. The total private dwellings are 204 while the population density per square kilometre is 228.6. The land area in square kilometres is 1.94.
CAO Luana Smith said she was surprised that the village had dropped in population since the last census.
"That means less money because you get paid per capita for grants," said Smith. "I thought it would be up. We don't have any new builds or anything but we're hoping to start a subdivision."
Smith said that when a municipality gets MSI monies or any other grants, it's paid per capita based on the census. That's what we use for most of our capital projects. It costs us as much to pave a road as a town, but we have less money so we have to save up."
Smith said the village has been in talks with a developer who is hoping to build an eight-acre development in Cremona starting with nine new lots.
In Canada's 150th year, the population of the country is 35,151,728 (2016), up five per cent from 2011. The population count in 2016 was 10 times greater than in 1871 when the first census after confederation recorded 3.5 million people in Canada.
Calgary and Edmonton are the two fastest growing cities in Canada. The population of Calgary is 1,392,609 (2016), up 14.6 per cent from 2011. For Edmonton, the population is 1,321,426, up 13.9 per cent from 2011.
