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The Thompson-Okanagan region saw a large, escalating spike in migration of people from the Lower Mainland during a number of years pre-pandemic, and it's a trend that will likely continue if not accelerate in the coming years, according to the Business Council of British Columbia.
Using data supplied from Statistics Canada, the council tells iNFOnews.ca the amount of people leaving the Lower Mainland for Vancouver Island and the Thompson-Okanagan region tripled within about four years to 12,000 people by 2018-2019.
"There are two million people in the Lower Mainland but in terms of impact... on population in the regions these people are moving to, it's significant," the B.C. Business Council's Ken Peacock said.
