Per the latest Statistics Canada report released last month, Canada’s population has been increasing at double the rate of the rest of the G7 countries. Because of the Trudeau government’s history and plans for more immigration, the government agency anticipates that the rates will further increase. According to the agency’s medium-growth forecast, Canada’s current population of 38 million will increase by 10 million by the year 2043 and per the high-growth forecast, Canada’s population is likely to increase by more than 52 million. Both of these forecasts indicate the population growth to exceed even the swift growth of recent years.
Alberta, Ontario, and British Columbia will be home to the majority of these new Canadians. Statscan’s high-growth forecast indicates more than two million new people in British Columbia, around three million new Albertans and Ontario’s population exceeding six million.
There is a high probability that the majority of new Canadians will live in and around the big cities. Statscan has not yet published projection rates of the cities, but the agency’s provincial high-growth projections and recent data indicate significant growth in metropolitan regions. Calgary’s current population of 1.6 million people could have around a million people by 2043. Currently, three million people in Vancouver and the Fraser Valley suburbs could increase by four million, and the Greater Toronto and Hamilton area, with a current population of 7.8 million people, could grow by 11 million
In the period of around a quarter century, from 1990 to 2014, immigration amounted to about 240,000 people a year. In the final full year of Stephen Harper’s conservative government In 2014, the number of yearly immigrants granted visas was 260,000. The Trudeau government significantly increased that number. Estimates of 340,000 immigrants a year in 2018 have been increased to the minimum target of 432,000 in 2022. For 2024, the number has been further increased to as many as 475,000 immigrants.
Canada’s provinces and municipalities have not been taking action which is in line with these estimates. Civic policies, especially around housing, are outdated, with most residential land limited to low-density homes. Across Canada, municipalities are hesitant to let go of these zoning rules. It is difficult to build new housing. Especially the limited zoning rules make it more difficult to create new housing and add new people to established neighbourhoods. With its old model, Greater Toronto will have to add more land and increase its capacity to include a few million more new people.
Actions to relax zoning have progressed extremely slowly, which has been causing delays in planning. Recently, after years of consultation and work, the Victoria city council delayed a judgment on changes to zoning until after an October election. The plan was to allow for the construction of townhouses on street corners.
The Canadian government has been putting emphasis on immigration, which is why it needs to put more importance on housing as well, to make sure the construction of new housing is according to the requirements. Other administrations like in California U.S., and New Zealand have taken some authority away from cities. British Columbia’s NDP government is planning to do the same. In Ottawa, the Liberal government has not yet taken action on their $4-billion ‘housing accelerator fund’ to tackle opposition by the residents of the area. In the last election, the Conservatives proposed to use the federal infrastructure dollars to compel cities to allow more density. Likewise, the new Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has a similar plan to deal with the citizens who oppose developments in their areas.
Canada’s infrastructure has not kept up with the pace of its population growth above which has to change.
This is the end of today’s blog update. We hope you found this blog useful. Please don’t forget to support us by subscribing to our newsletter and sharing this blog with your friends and family on Facebook, Whatsapp, and Twitter.
