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Emma Verville doesn't have to look far to find evidence of Alberta's baby boom.
On a sunny afternoon at the O'Leary Leisure Centre, she is surrounded by her four-year-old son, Mateo, and 11-month-old daughter, Kensey.
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Statistics Canada confirmed on Tuesday what many Albertans may suspect when they see malls filled with moms pushing baby strollers or playgrounds packed with rambunctious kids: Albertans are having more children.
According to the 2006 census, Alberta is the only province in which natural increase -- the difference between the number of deaths and the number of births -- did not decline between 2001 and 2006. The majority of the province's population growth, however, results from inter-provincial migration.
Not only has the absolute number of births increased in Alberta over the past several years, but women in this province are having more children than their counterparts in the rest of the country, as measured by the total fertility rate, said Frank Trovato, a sociology and demography professor at the University of Alberta.
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A higher birthrate, however, can lead to challenges such as the need for more maternity facilities at hospitals or more teachers and schools.
"In Canada and Alberta, our institutional structures are able to adjust because we have a good economy," Trovato said. "There shouldn't be a major problem accommodating these people as they get older."
That line of thought might be hard to sell to hundreds of young mothers in Alberta currently scrambling to find child-care spaces.
Verville considers herself lucky to have family that helps care for Mateo and Kensey. She is returning to work at the beginning of April and the children's grandmothers will help with child-care duties. She called the day home where Mateo spent time as a toddler but was told it was full until 2008.
"If you don't have outside support, it's tough," Verville said.
Another young mother at the O'Leary Leisure Centre, Jamie Rolfe, has been looking for child care for her four-year-old son, Taylor, since February without any success.
"They need to resolve day care," said Rolfe. "There will be so many people that won't work because of the lack of day care."
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- reprinted from the Edmonton Journal