transportation route enabling easy access to
market.
“People love it here.”
Indeed, the town that's 159 kilometers from
downtown Ca lgar y and just three
ki l ome t er s more f rom downtown
Edmonton, has seen its population nearly
double since the 2001 federal census.
The Canada-wide count 13 years ago
logged Sylvan Lake in at 7,493 residents,
but that number had jumped to 10,208 by
2006, placing the town at No. 6 among the
fastest-growing municipalities in Canada
with populations of greater than 5,000. The
subsequent census in 2011 saw the total
climb to 12,327, another 20.3-percent
increase that continued an equal ly
important demographic shift aswell.
Its median age of 31.8 years is six years less
than the national average, and its
population aged 19 and younger makes up
33.2 percent of the overall total, compared
to a provincial average of 28.3. Only 6.7
percent of residents are aged 65 and older,
far less than the national average of 13.2
percent.
The town's transition employment rate,
meaning the percentage of residents who
commute to other communities for work, is
down from 38 to 34 percent thanks to the
arrival of national headquarters for oil and
gas industry service companies like Nabors
( na b o r s . c om) , Ne x S our c e Powe r
(nexsourcepower.com), Versatile Energy
Services (versatileenergy.com), and Red
Core Ltd. (redcoreltd.com).
Those people that do leave for work,
typically are employed at businesses in Red
Deer, RedDeer County or Fort McMurray.
Meanwhile, Kurz and other departmental
staff are in the midst of conducting a study
to determine the economic impact of
tourisminSylvanLake.
“Plans are under way for a variety of
community facilities. We're seeing a lot of
major infrastructure improvements and a
lot of growth in residential and commercial
sectors. “We have a very young population
with growing families and they are anxious
to access goods and services locally. The
downtown façade improvement program
and 50th Street redevelopment plans will
put a new face on the town's center.”
July-August 2014
| BusinessWorld | 53
