Canada's Population Just Grew The Most Since Confederation... Where Will Everyone Live?
Canada's Population Just Grew The Most Since Confederation... Where Will Everyone Live?
The Canadian population sailed past the 40 million mark for the first time in history this summer and new data shows that the country continues to outdo itself, adding 430,635 people in the third quarter of the year alone.That figure, which puts Canada’s population in the ballpark of more than 40.5M...
Lately it is beginning to appear that among the many problems caused by this alarmingly rapid population growth is that it fuels anti-immigrant sentiment. We'll be paying the price for decades to come.
This is a really important point. I've already seen this when talking with people. And it's also really hard to differentiate the "immigration is good in moderation" sentiment from the "immigrants are ruining the country" sentiment.
Because in the proper numbers, immigration keeps our country alive by filling in gaps and growing the economy. But if the numbers are too high, we have more competition for work and housing and all our other economic resources.
I think nowadays the narrative is seems to be "immigration is always good and if you say otherwise you're a bigot". But we should certainly make sure we are intentional about how many people we bring in because we want our country to be the best it can be for everyone in it and everyone entering it.
What drives me crazy is that the population growth we're seeing now isn't even all that crazy.
It's a bit higher right now, but it's not a significant outlier when plotted on a graph going back 50 years.
Yes over the last 20 years immigration has been consuming a larger portion of that fairly consistent pie, but assuming we didn't stop having kids 20 years ago we would be in a similar spot as we are today.
The real problem is that we stopped building housing. The rate of houses being built slowed down a few decades ago, and that was always going to be cause us problems, regardless of if we had stopped immigration, but had we done that, our population stagnating would have caused us other problems.
I'm guessing within 100 miles of the US border
I get that we literally need immigration to support the ponzi scheme of social benefits. But maybe knowing that should have pushed literally anyone to take housing seriously for the last 10+ years?
The writing has been on the wall for over a decade. I'm constantly amazed at how short sighted every level of government was on this. You'd think that at least NOW we would be taking this seriously, but no. Instead we are simply drilling new holes on an already sinking ship.
At least other countries are trying to make things better.
Why would the more progressive government work for the long term if the electors will vote for the party that will undo everything after two mandates no matter what? The electors get the country they vote for.
Honest question: Is it growing the most by an absolute number, or by percentage?
Looks like absolute number to me. Searching for "canada historical population growth" shows sites like Statista and Macrotrends which show 1% increases pretty much every year. StatsCan seems to only show one year at a time.
Capitalists hate affordable housing so much…
Actually the opposite, according to economics free market regulates demand/supply so the more there's demand the most there's supply(and cheaper prices). I'm not sure what's the problem in this case, but sounds more like there's too much regulations on building housing, maybe? (More houses = Bigger supply = Cheaper)
Edit: Or you can cut immigration, and thus reduce demand, but it sounds like a bad option obviously.
In other news the rate of accumulation for anything compounded tends to increase.
Did we not study geometric progression in school?
Give me percentages or GTFO. The rest is all just "population increases, hyuk."
Great question. Not enough housing right now.
Related issue: Canada has ridiculous barriers to recognizing the credentials of foreign-trained health professionals. So we are increasing the demand for healthcare without increasing the supply. There is zero reason a more open approach, such as in the UK for instance could not be taken.
Let me answer your question with a question: are we still hoarding greenspace as personal lawns, and have we begun taxing that wasted hoarded space?
If not, then it'll be Yellowknife.
Yellowknife has had a housing crisis for decades. Bad choice.