Statistics Canada Reports II

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by theman23

^What is that a ranking of?

US based CBRE puts out a comprehensive study each year ranking tech eco-systems in Canada/US and elsewhere based on a myriad of factors like tech employment, quality of talent, critical mass of competencies, growth rates, etc. I've provided the link to the 2025 report here: https://www.cbre.com/insights/books/global-tech-talent-guidebook-2025

[jc_yyc_ca]

Originally Posted by isaidso

US based CBRE puts out a comprehensive study each year ranking tech eco-systems in Canada/US and elsewhere based on a myriad of factors like tech employment, quality of talent, critical mass of competencies, growth rates, etc. I've provided the link to the 2025 report here: https://www.cbre.com/insights/books/global-tech-talent-guidebook-2025

Beat me to it!

Also as a side note. The stats for Canada's cities comes from statscan, not sure sure where the US numbers come from. I'm assuming they're more or less apples to apples when it comes to US vs Canada.

This is the link direct to North American lists. https://www.cbre.com/insights/books/scoring-tech-talent-2025

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by jc_yyc_ca

Beat me to it!

Also as a side note. The stats for Canada's cities comes from statscan, not sure sure where the US numbers come from. I'm assuming they're more or less apples to apples when it comes to US vs Canada.

This is the link direct to North American lists. https://www.cbre.com/insights/books/scoring-tech-talent-2025

Try to beat me to the punch in 2026!

I like that the CBRE analysis focuses on tech eco-systems. It's far more important than how many tech giants are headquartered in each city. If one just looks at where Google or Microsoft are based it completely negates the operations these companies have around the world and the impact they have in the cities they're located in.

Canada is far stronger in tech than many realize but the rise of Waterloo Region is what impresses most. Concentration of tech is its trump card as a cross pollination of ideas is a key component that propels an eco-system. I wondered whether Waterloo was too small of a cluster to keep them in the game but it looks like they'll keep climbing up the ranks. 7th best in Canada/US is astonishing.

[Chinook Arch]

Originally Posted by isaidso

Try to beat me to the punch in 2026!

I like that the CBRE analysis focuses on tech eco-systems. It's far more important than how many tech giants are headquartered in each city. If one just looks at where Google or Microsoft are based it completely negates the operations these companies have around the world and the impact they have in the cities they're located in.

Canada is far stronger in tech than many realize but the rise of Waterloo Region is what impresses most. Concentration of tech is its trump card as a cross pollination of ideas is a key component that propels an eco-system. I wondered whether Waterloo was too small of a cluster to keep them in the game but it looks like they'll keep climbing up the ranks. 7th best in Canada/US is astonishing.

Yeah, KW’s rise is huge. Not just in numbers but in the rankings. It definitely on the map as a main tech hub. And rightly so. 30 years ago Ottawa was the only real tech area in Canada, now there are a few. Even my hometown of Calgary is showing impressive growth and has moved up well. I remember back when it broke the top 50 in the rankings. I think it was around 2018 maybe.

[Taeolas]

KW's Tech Hub status is pretty undeniable, and all due to UWaterloo's program (I'm a UW grad myself, though I'm now in Freddy). Part of the reason it happened, IMO, is because the University and the City did a lot of work to set up incubator space for Tech start ups spun out of the University, with RIM being one of the big early companies of that project.

Here in New Brunswick, UNB has a solid Tech/Engineering/CS reputation (Not UW's levels but not very shabby in its own right), and I fully believe we've missed the opportunity to provide proper incubation space in the city to take advantage of those programs. UNB should have more commercial office space near it, accessible for startup opportunities with University connections; but there just doesn't seem to be a push for it here.

[Wigs]

Originally Posted by Chinook Arch

Yeah, KW’s rise is huge. Not just in numbers but in the rankings. It definitely on the map as a main tech hub. And rightly so. 30 years ago Ottawa was the only real tech area in Canada,

I know Ottawa was home to Nortel, Corel, more recently Shopify and many other companies, but I think people forget the Greater Toronto Area had many tech companies and jobs located here since the 1980s.

Graphics chip maker ATI was based in Markham until being bought out by Intel competitor, AMD.

The GTA was always the home of Canadian branches of American tech companies like Microsoft, IBM, HP, etc. Just look at how the tech jobs is multiples higher than any other Metro on the CBRE list posted earlier.

K-W gets notoriety particularly in Ontario for jobs per capita and U of Waterloo's sterling reputation in Silicon Valley from the quality of graduates, but it's 1/8 the size of Toronto's tech sector.

[jc_yyc_ca]

Originally Posted by Chinook Arch

Yeah, KW’s rise is huge. Not just in numbers but in the rankings. It definitely on the map as a main tech hub. And rightly so. 30 years ago Ottawa was the only real tech area in Canada, now there are a few. Even my hometown of Calgary is showing impressive growth and has moved up well. I remember back when it broke the top 50 in the rankings. I think it was around 2018 maybe.

A lot of Calgary's growth has been due to fintech, with some of it coming from IT service companies that have opened hub offices here in recent years. Companies like Emphasis, Infosys, Fortinet, etc..
The fact that Calgary has moved up to be one of the top cities (4th in Canada) for venture capital speaks to the Fintech sector.

[someone123]

CBRE also did an "emerging tech" list of the top 25 next markets in Canada and the USA. Halifax was #2 after Huntsville, Alabama. London placed at #4 and Winnipeg #9.

Halifax had 43.5% employment growth and 20.7% wage growth in 3 years. It also produces 1,300 or so graduates a year. In the past there were often more new graduates than jobs but I'm not sure that's true anymore. The wages are still a bit lower than the larger Canadian cities but housing costs would eat that up in some cases. Toronto for example is $77,226 and Halifax $69,543.

[cranes]

https://archive.ph/1JvFG
Waterloo Region is growing ‘extraordinarily fast’ and showing the strain as well-being frays
Residents feel less connected and less like they belong in the wake of nation-leading growth, a new Vital Signs report from the Waterloo Region Community Foundation shows.

Sept. 10, 2025 - Growth pains are showing in a region that’s now the nation’s youngest and fastest-growing, a new report has found.
People are losing their sense of belonging. Residents feel less connected. Well-being is fraying.
“We’ve been stressed by this race to grow,” said Eric Avner, president of the charitable Waterloo Region Community Foundation that aims to help people thrive. “Places where we would normally come together aren’t resonating in the same way as they have.”
The foundation’s Vital Signs report for 2025, released Wednesday, highlights the impact of massive population change.
The 80-page report is meant to focus public debate, inspire civic engagement and help people and groups take action with the greatest impact.
The foundation proposes a solution: build better “social infrastructure.” It defines this as shared spaces, shared experiences and shared resources that help people connect in meaningful ways.
...
This region contains the fastest-growing metropolitan area in the country after the population grew 33 per cent in a decade.
That’s almost twice the national growth rate. It’s seven times faster than average growth in most high-income countries.
...
By 2024 the metropolitan population of the region (excluding Wellesley Township) reached almost 700,000 — up more than 170,000 in 10 years.
...
But planners still see the region growing to an estimated population of one million by 2050.
...
A surge in young adults aged 20 to 34 has helped make the metropolitan population the youngest in the nation. Half the population is younger than 35, which is more than five years younger than Canada’s median age.
...
Only 46 per cent of residents in this region said they are highly satisfied with life, according to national well-being data collected between 2021 and 2024. That’s about four percentage points below the national average.
Since before the COVID-19 pandemic, no other part of the country has seen a sharper decline in life satisfaction, other data shows.
The region’s population surge has not been accompanied by a surge in support for key pieces of social infrastructure, the report shows.
Arts funding and attendance have yet to recover after plunging during the pandemic. People are less likely to use community or recreation centres than they were.
Libraries are seeing fewer in-person visits and reduced attendance for programs. Volunteering rates are down along with donations.
Only parks are reporting a surge in use...

[jc_yyc_ca]

Originally Posted by cranes

https://archive.ph/1JvFG
Waterloo Region is growing ‘extraordinarily fast’ and showing the strain as well-being frays
Residents feel less connected and less like they belong in the wake of nation-leading growth, a new Vital Signs report from the Waterloo Region Community Foundation shows.

Good point. Tech industry is nice to have, but isn't necessarily the be-all end-all. It's known as an industry that is fast paced with long work hours and has a high burnout rate.
It's good for cities to have a varied industries.

[theman23]

Low life satisfaction probably has more to do with the rapid population growth and a younger population. Young people in this country are far more likely to be unhappy than older ones

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by jc_yyc_ca

Good point. Tech industry is nice to have, but isn't necessarily the be-all end-all. It's known as an industry that is fast paced with long work hours and has a high burnout rate.
It's good for cities to have a varied industries.

Manufacturing remains an important part of the Region's economy. Iirc, it's still almost 20% of the labour force.

[Docere]

Census divisions mapped by plurality-ancestry group (2021 census):

https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/1nl0bic/largest_ethnic_or_cultural_in_canada_by/

[Surrealplaces]

Ottawa was the undisputed Silicon Valley of Canada in the 80's and 90's. There were heavyweights Nortel, Newbridge, Mitel, BNR and Corel, Cognos and some other mid sized companies like Gandalf and Mosaid. It was one of the top tech centers on the planet.
The difference from Toronto, was that these companies were doing all their research and development in Ottawa. Ottawa's tech scene has dropped a lot since then, it's just a shadow of what it used to be. Still a fair number of jobs, but these days, mostly IT and software development jobs for the public sector and Spotify, but back in the 80's and 90's it was the real deal.

As you mentioned the Toronto offices were mainly regional offices for American tech companies and they supplied a lot of jobs, but very little R&D.
In today's world, 'tech jobs' have a different definition than they did back then, with most jobs these days being software development/IT. There is still some old fashioned tech, but it's changed a lot and now most cities have significant numbers. Even here in Calgary at 61,000. That's more than the number of tech jobs in Ottawa when it was the country's tech heavyweight.

Originally Posted by Wigs

I know Ottawa was home to Nortel, Corel, more recently Shopify and many other companies, but I think people forget the Greater Toronto Area had many tech companies and jobs located here since the 1980s.

Graphics chip maker ATI was based in Markham until being bought out by Intel competitor, AMD.

The GTA was always the home of Canadian branches of American tech companies like Microsoft, IBM, HP, etc. Just look at how the tech jobs is multiples higher than any other Metro on the CBRE list posted earlier.

K-W gets notoriety particularly in Ontario for jobs per capita and U of Waterloo's sterling reputation in Silicon Valley from the quality of graduates, but it's 1/8 the size of Toronto's tech sector.

[ssiguy]

Originally Posted by theman23

Low life satisfaction probably has more to do with the rapid population growth and a younger population. Young people in this country are far more likely to be unhappy than older ones

I agree with that. Younger people are indeed less happy than older ones and by how they are continually getting screwed, they have a right to be.

[harls]

Originally Posted by Wigs

Graphics chip maker ATI was based in Markham until being bought out by Intel competitor, AMD.

Intel is barely a competitor in the GPU market these days.

Nvidia has like over 90%, AMD almost the other 10... and Intel is a blip.

Intel just entered the discrete GPU market a few years ago, and they haven't made much of an impact. Maybe the investment by the American government might inject new life into them, but how do you compete against a multi-trillion dollar company like Nvidia?

[zoomer]

I’m surprised that Victoria is ahead of Calgary and many others in terms of regional employment as a % of population.

In 2024, Greater Victoria’s tech sector consisted of more than 1,100 companies, employing 21,000 people and generating $5.9 billion in annual revenue, with an overall economic impact of $7.9 billion.

Greater Victoria has a strong presence in the following areas within the broad tech sector:

Software as a Service (SaaS)
Ocean and Marine Technologies
Cleantech and Environmental Innovation
Advanced Manufacturing (specifically in Aerospace & Defence)
Applied AI and Machine Learning
Digital Health and Health Informatics

https://victoriarising.ca/sector-technology/

[svlt]

Originally Posted by harls

Intel is barely a competitor in the GPU market these days.

Nvidia has like over 90%, AMD almost the other 10... and Intel is a blip.

Intel just entered the discrete GPU market a few years ago, and they haven't made much of an impact. Maybe the investment by the American government might inject new life into them, but how do you compete against a multi-trillion dollar company like Nvidia?

Well if said company decides to invest a $5 billion stake in Intel.......

[Surrealplaces]

Originally Posted by zoomer

I’m surprised that Victoria is ahead of Calgary and many others in terms of regional employment as a % of population.

https://victoriarising.ca/sector-technology/

I'm not sure the numbers from the Victoria site are an apples to apples comparison to CBRE report. For Canada's numbers CBRE uses numbers from statscan as of May 2025 and Victoria's not listed in the top 75 of the CBRE report, but other cities with less than 20,000 tech workers are listed.
It's possible The Victoria report uses slightly different criteria, for example it lists SAAS as one of the focal areas, and SAAS covers a lot of area, some related and some not as much. It also doesn't specify if those jobs are mgmt or sales., of which are excluded from the BRE report.

I'm not trying to say Victoria's not a burgeoning tech hub, as it sounds like it is, but only that the two reports aren't apples to apples.

[zoomer]

Yah I'm not sure how the numbers are calculated so it's quite possible apples to oranges. Depending on who you talk to, Tech is either the number one, two or three industry in Victoria between tech, tourism and government. Hard to get consistent information partly because of the definitions I guess. The CRBE report doesn't appear to be based on employment numbers but a variety of factors so perhaps those Victoria numbers are still based on the same definition. From their report:

”The scorecard uses 13 metrics to measure each market’s depth, vitality and attractiveness to companies seeking tech talent and to tech workers seeking employment."