The Big Atlantic Canada Statistics Thread

[Nashe]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Schools will have to be built, and hospitals will have to be expanded.

Agreed. I think our highway system is at least decent, overall. Education seems to at least grow organically. Healthcare... well... judging by how full the ER is one block from my house and how many ambulances I see idling out there...

[MonctonRad]

Healthcare is a dogs breakfast, and, speaking as a practitioner, there is really very little the government can do about it in the short term.

The plain truth is that health care has been starved to death over the last 20 years or so. There were "cutbacks" almost every year, and health care economists advised the government that physicians were nothing more than cost centres, and that the only way to get health care costs under control was by having fewer physicians. The government loved this advice and cut medical school enrolments, despite knowing the demographic time bomb awaiting them in the 2020s.

If you were a provincial premier 20 years ago, well, then that simply wasn't your problem. This is the one major failing of multiparty democracy with elections every four years. You tend to have very short timelines in terms of policy development.

It takes a minimum of 11 years to mint a GP and 13 years to mint a medical specialist. Subspecialists might require 15 years of training. They are expanding enrolment at the medical schools in Halifax, Moncton and Saint John, and building a new one in Charlottetown, but it will take at least 12-15 years of pain before we start to see a dent in our medical manpower deficit. It is extremely frustrating and demoralizing to watch.

I will soon be part of the problem. I am 65 and will be leaving the call schedule at the end of the year (after 40 years of disrupted sleep patterns). I will fully retire in 2-3 years. There are many more like me. Things will get far worse before they get better...........

[q12]

As Ontario and BC Home Prices Sink, These 4 Provinces are Becoming More Expensive (Atlantic Canada)

PUBLISHED: 1:21 PM NOV 24, 2022
Since the February market peak, home prices in Canada’s most expensive provinces — Ontario and British Columbia — have taken a substantial hit. But not all provinces are on the same track. In fact, four have seen a jump in prices over the past eight months.

A new report from Zoocasa analyzed the change in the average home price in all 10 provinces from February 2022, when the market hit its high, to October 2022. As to be expected, Ontario suffered the biggest loss, with the average home price there falling $196,400 — an 18.26% change. It was followed by BC with an 8.5% drop, representing a difference of $89,300.

With interest rates up, and likely to continue rising, Canada’s most expensive provinces have unsurprisingly been hit the hardest by decreased demand due to buyers holding off on purchasing now rather than taking on a substantially larger interest rate on an already pricey home. In fact, a recent analysis by Ratehub.ca found that homebuyers with a mortgage in 2022 would pay 250% more in interest alone in the first year of their mortgage compared to a buyer in 2021.

The relatively more affordable provinces of Quebec, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta have also seen their prices fall over the past several months, although much more moderately than BC and Ontario. Quebec’s fell by $27,500 while Alberta’s prices are down just $2,100 — a 0.46% decline.

Amidst these losses, Atlantic Canada’s home prices have been resilient, with Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick’s average prices having gone up from February to October. According to the report, this is likely a reflection of “the increasing demand for more affordable housing, as well as out-of-province buyers migrating to more affordable areas.”

PEI has seen the biggest increase, with prices there up $33,300 since February — a 10.1% jump. Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia have seen an almost identical increase in the dollar amount of their homes, going up $16,500 and $16,400, respectively. New Brunswick has seen the smallest increase, with prices there up $4,000.

Looking at prices at a municipal level, Ontario has still seen the most significant losses, and is the only province with major markets that have had their average home prices drop by more than $200,000. The Greater Toronto Area, Hamilton-Burlington, and Kitchener-Waterloo are all down by more than $220,000.

But when it comes to cities that have seen price growth, unlike the provinces, they’re not exclusive to Atlantic Canada. In fact, Victoria, Calgary, and Regina have experienced price growth, with Victoria’s average home price up a substantial $20,600.

https://storeys.com/ontario-bc-home-prices-sink-four-provinces-more-expensive/

[darkharbour]

Is it me or are those Saint John numbers wrong in that table, in the sense that they marked a -0.67% change, but the price numbers they showed increased since February by $49,500?

[Pugsley]

Originally Posted by darkharbour

Is it me or are those Saint John numbers wrong in that table, in the sense that they marked a -0.67% change, but the price numbers they showed increased since February by $49,500?

Very true. I just emailed them. others can as well at [email protected]

[KnoxfordGuy]

From Statistics Canada:

Atlantic Canada experiences a recent uptick in retaining skilled immigrants.

https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/221212/dq221212b-eng.htm?HPA=1

In 2015 New Brunswick had a 48% retention rate.
In 2019 it was 72%

The other Atlantic provinces are experiencing much the same.

This is telling me that our population was going to go up without the pandemic. We just got a huge boost.

[KnoxfordGuy]

Statistics Canada has released their quarterly population figures for October 1st.

Canada: 39,292,395 +.9

Newfoundland and Labrador 528,818 +.5
Prince Edward Island 172,707 +1.2
Nova Scotia 1,030,953 +1.1
New Brunswick 820,786 +1.1

[MonctonRad]

The population clock has been updated again (NB at 822,898).

NB is going to crack 823,000 in just a day or two.

It should be remembered that NB just passed 800,000 in March. I can't recall the figure for January 1st, but it was probably in the 795,000 range.

That's about 28,000 new NB residents in only a year. This is pure insanity.

We may see NB at over 1,000,000 before 2030.

I wonder how long before NS catches Saskatchewan????

[bridgeoftea]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

The population clock has been updated again (NB at 822,898).

NB is going to crack 823,000 in just a day or two.

It should be remembered that NB just passed 800,000 in March. I can't recall the figure for January 1st, but it was probably in the 795,000 range.

That's about 28,000 new NB residents in only a year. This is pure insanity.

We may see NB at over 1,000,000 before 2030.

I wonder how long before NS catches Saskatchewan????

I feel like as long as growth continues for the big 3 cities with a big focus on housing and jobs, probably quicker than we think!

Definitely feels like a new leaf for New Brunswick with a build it and people will come which definitely didn't feel like that was the case 10 years ago. (could be wrong only been in the province 3.5 years now)

[Pugsley]

Originally Posted by bridgeoftea

I feel like as long as growth continues for the big 3 cities with a big focus on housing and jobs, probably quicker than we think!

Definitely feels like a new leaf for New Brunswick with a build it and people will come which definitely didn't feel like that was the case 10 years ago. (could be wrong only been in the province 3.5 years now)

I just hope we start promoting this growth to get more services into the three biggest cities. Moncton is doing OK, but still behind Halifax in terms of variety and quantity of retail available. Fredericton and Saint John are even further behind. It would be nice to get some more options for groceries, clothing, automobile, and more...not just more fast-food outlets. And of course, more flights and airlines!

[OliverD]

Originally Posted by Pugsley

I just hope we start promoting this growth to get more services into the three biggest cities. Moncton is doing OK, but still behind Halifax in terms of variety and quantity of retail available. Fredericton and Saint John are even further behind. It would be nice to get some more options for groceries, clothing, automobile, and more...not just more fast-food outlets. And of course, more flights and airlines!

The services we need more of are not of the retail kind.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by OliverD

The services we need more of are not of the retail kind.

Indeed. We should be paying special attention to health care, education and housing (especially affordable housing). We are at or near the breaking point.......

[jonny golden]

Originally Posted by OliverD

The services we need more of are not of the retail kind.

Agree. The explosion in population has put a strain on housing and health care in particular.

[SevenSquared]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Indeed. We should be paying special attention to health care, education and housing (especially affordable housing). We are at or near the breaking point.......

I would absolutely add transit to that list.

It was one thing to neglect transit when the overwhelming majority of the people we were attracting were rural transplants from the maritimes.

But now, our population growth is in large part people coming from urban areas all over the world, younger people in particular, who in many cases aren't keen on or used to being forced to buy and maintain expensive vehicles and have to drive everywhere.

We desperately need better transit if we want to retain a good portion of these newcomers. And we need more housing specifically in areas that are transit-friendly.

[bridgeoftea]

Originally Posted by SevenSquared

I would absolutely add transit to that list.

It was one thing to neglect transit when the overwhelming majority of the people we were attracting were rural transplants from the maritimes.

But now, our population growth is in large part people coming from urban areas all over the world, younger people in particular, who in many cases aren't keen on or used to being forced to buy and maintain expensive vehicles and have to drive everywhere.

We desperately need better transit if we want to retain a good portion of these newcomers. And we need more housing specifically in areas that are transit-friendly.

Agree on that front!
Focus should be on densifying downtown cores that include at least 1 grocery store and some sort of "transit hub" that's in a walkable distance.

[gehrhardt]

I'm one of the people that actually left the Moncton area for NS. I needed a change and a great opportunity became available in the HRM. I have discovered that the easy access to services and transit is an intangible benefit that goes above and beyond salary.

Coming from Salisbury, I had no options to get to work besides a car. Maybe carpool, but that's it. Codiac Transpo needs to investigate park and ride for the outlying areas, even if it's only a couple of routes every morning and evening. The other issue was that even if I was able to take the bus into Moncton, there are only 8 total runs per day that go to the Caledonia industrial park. I would have loved to have the options then that I have now.

When we were looking for our new house, access to services and transit were major factors. I don't currently use transit to get to work, but should I need to a bus stop is a 5 minute walk from my house. Alternatively, I can drive 5 minutes to a major terminal to make the commute even shorter and easier. During the day, the major routes run every 15 mins. We are technically in the suburbs, but I still have these options.

[Pugsley]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Indeed. We should be paying special attention to health care, education and housing (especially affordable housing). We are at or near the breaking point.......

Yeesh folks, calm down. I wasn't referring to the government and agree all of those items noted should be priorities for the government. I was referring to how our region has often been overlooked by "businesses" as not having enough people to set up shop or invest. Most of it has been franchises by local investors, hence why we have lots of food chains and not a lot of diversity in other commercial areas.

If you look at many national retailers, there is a black hole on the map of their store locations when you hit places like NB and PEI with maybe a location in Halifax just to say they have an "Atlantic presence".

My point was that I hope we start seeing more diversity of offerings and competition for local consumers by finally being perceived as a "major market". For example, I live in Charlotte County and if I ever decided to not support Loblaws for groceries, I'd starve as they are the only game in the area. No Sobeys. No Metro. We need more variety, especially outside of the three cities to foster competition and lower prices. We have too few options and as a result, we all pay more for things as we don't have enough competition or variety of options to meet the different financial needs of consumers locally - be it groceries, airfare, gasoline, clothing, etc.

Now that we have more people living here and on an upward trajectory, maybe we will finally be seen as a "major market" and see more diversity and fewer monopolies. That was my point.

Yes, and also buses and nurses. We need buses and nurses. LOL

[someone123]

Originally Posted by Pugsley

If you look at many national retailers, there is a black hole on the map of their store locations when you hit places like NB and PEI with maybe a location in Halifax just to say they have an "Atlantic presence".

I think it is probably more that they do an analysis of the markets and some retailers conclude that the bigger market makes sense as a first or only regional location. In the same way that Halifax has some stores you don't find in smaller towns around the region, there are bigger towns in Canada that have a greater overall variety of shopping than Halifax does.

[JHikka]

There's tiers to retail as there is with anything else. Halifax is the top tier in Atlantic Canada barring some very rare exceptions. Halifax is a few tiers below Toronto, etc.

Better not to focus on attaining corporate franchises and instead focus on fostering local, community-driven ventures instead. There might not be any fancy new chains in Saint John but there's a very nice Chinese grocery store now Uptown, and many convenience stores are shifting more towards tiny Korean grocery store offerings. Those didn't exist ten years ago and represent the changing diversity of grocery options available to locals.

[bridgeoftea]

Originally Posted by JHikka

There's tiers to retail as there is with anything else. Halifax is the top tier in Atlantic Canada barring some very rare exceptions. Halifax is a few tiers below Toronto, etc.

Better not to focus on attaining corporate franchises and instead focus on fostering local, community-driven ventures instead. There might not be any fancy new chains in Saint John but there's a very nice Chinese grocery store now Uptown, and many convenience stores are shifting more towards tiny Korean grocery store offerings. Those didn't exist ten years ago and represent the changing diversity of grocery options available to locals.

Agree with Freshville, Indian King grocery stores are awesome!
I am sad to have seen the Middle Eastern store near the new Naan Ya Business only last a few months. Was hoping it would be a mainstay too.