Winnipeg CMA in 5 years (2026)

[Hockey]

Link

https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1...pid=1710014801

[BlackDog204]

910,240!

We did it!!!

[bomberjet]

Canada has been on the extreme end of immigration post pandemic. Adding people at a rate of over 1 million people per year.

[Hecate]

Why do people celebrate this when our city’s infrastructure is barely sufficient for a city of around 600,000 people. More sprawl, more pollution, more wildlife trapped and killed by endless traffic. Housing for our locals is becoming more unaffordable by the week. It’s not something to celebrate.

[Biff]

I guess the fun race between the "next 3" has kind of been put to bed.

2022-2023
Winnipeg 910,240 (+34k)
Quebec 880,875 (+22k)
Hamilton 841,146 (+14k)

[Biff]

I suppose the thread poll is moot now as we are in 2024 and already surpassed the highest figure in the poll. We will probably hit the million mark before 2030.

What is the guess as to where we are at in 2024? Stats Can lists us at 910K as of spring of 2023.

I figure we should be in the 935-940 range.

[dmacc]

At this rate the CMA will be at 1,000,000 by 2026 and the City will get there in 2028.

[dmacc]

Originally Posted by Biff

I suppose the thread poll is moot now as we are in 2024 and already surpassed the highest figure in the poll. We will probably hit the million mark before 2030.

What is the guess as to where we are at in 2024? Stats Can lists us at 910K as of spring of 2023.

I figure we should be in the 935-940 range.

Immigration hasn't really slowed as far as I can tell. If we're increasing at a 3.9% pace last year, I imagine its similar this year. I peg us at ~945,000.

[The Jabroni]

It's nice to see we broke through to 910,000+ people in the city. I guess we'll find out the real numbers and how fast our population has actually grown in a couple years when the next census hits.

I just hope we are able to build more housing to accommodate the amount of people we have now, and quickly adjust our needs.

Why do people celebrate this when our city’s infrastructure is barely sufficient for a city of around 600,000 people. More sprawl, more pollution, more wildlife trapped and killed by endless traffic. Housing for our locals is becoming more unaffordable by the week. It’s not something to celebrate.

Why sprawl though? Just build up now. Renew older neighbourhoods and roads. Develop more medium density residential properties.

[bomberjet]

Originally Posted by dmacc

Immigration hasn't really slowed as far as I can tell. If we're increasing at a 3.9% pace last year, I imagine its similar this year. I peg us at ~945,000.

Immigration is at all time highs.

[Winnipegger]

Much of the recent surge in population growth across Canada, and here in Winnipeg, has been in the non permanent resident category of immigrants. So people moving here to "study" or work, in hopes of gaining permanent residency in the coming years. I don't think these students or low-wage workers are contributing to buying large, single detached homes at the edges of the city. Rather, they are more likely to occupy apartments. This is evidenced by the fact that the city-wide apartment vacancy rate fell from 5.1% in October 2021 to 1.8% in October 2023.

[Jammon]

Originally Posted by Hecate

Why do people celebrate this when our city’s infrastructure is barely sufficient for a city of around 600,000 people. More sprawl, more pollution, more wildlife trapped and killed by endless traffic. Housing for our locals is becoming more unaffordable by the week. It’s not something to celebrate.

I definitely agree with some aspects of this post. While its amazing to see this type of growth in Winnipeg, I just drove down Route 90 last week, as an example, and I am floored at how poor our road infrastructure is on many main streets- potholes, significant cracks and breaks, etc. No plans for LRT or even expanding the rapid transit and how long are we going to wait for work to occur on Route 90? I think a lot of these infrastructure projects need to be expedited.

I, too, am concerned about the housing crisis, especially for lower income individuals. The costs are driving up and salaries are not keeping up with the cost of living.

[wags_in_the_peg]

i wonder what % of that increase pay taxes and contribute? the school my wife works at is bursting and they cant handle the huge class sizes. the add'l wear on our roads is showing.

[dmacc]

Originally Posted by wags_in_the_peg

i wonder what % of that increase pay taxes and contribute? the school my wife works at is bursting and they cant handle the huge class sizes. the add'l wear on our roads is showing.

My understanding is that immigration(non-refugees), has a high rate of employment since Canada's immigration is based on a points system to ensure that people coming to Canada will meet the job needs of the country. For the most part they would be paying income tax, sales tax and any other tax that would apply to them. I'm not an immigration expert however.

[Jammon]

Originally Posted by wags_in_the_peg

i wonder what % of that increase pay taxes and contribute? the school my wife works at is bursting and they cant handle the huge class sizes. the add'l wear on our roads is showing.

Yup. We talk so much about the positive aspects of immigration, but how much of the system can't support the growth- from education to health care and infrastructure? There's an important counter-balance here that I feel is missing from the dialogue.

[pspeid]

Originally Posted by Jammon

Yup. We talk so much about the positive aspects of immigration, but how much of the system can't support the growth- from education to health care and infrastructure? There's an important counter-balance here that I feel is missing from the dialogue.

I think this is a fair question, but I suppose it'a a chicken-and-the-egg kind of thing. Capacity is needed to support increased immigration, and increased immigration is needed to justify the cost of expanding capacity (not to mention fill gaps in certain economic sectors and start paying taxes).

[Justanothermember]

Eventually Ottawa will crack down on immigration, potentially hard if the Tories get in. When that happens, these record growth rates will disappear because the city is not a top destination of choice for Canadian citizens. I think this is the crux of the situation and something that both the city and provincial governments need to address in order to keep a reasonably steady growth rate during leaner times.

[FactaNV]

Originally Posted by Justanothermember

Eventually Ottawa will crack down on immigration, potentially hard if the Tories get in. When that happens, the growth will disappear because the city is not a top destination of choice for Canadian citizens. I think this is the crux of the situation and something that both the city and provincial governments need to address in order to keep a reasonably steady growth rate during leaner times.

What can we do for the attractiveness of interprovincial migration since increasing birth rates are out of the question as they've been declining across the entire West.

Jobs is the big thing imo, people will move for good jobs. How do we attract high paying jobs to Manitoba? How do we incentivize small and medium business to expand or relocate to Manitoba? What kind of public projects and policy can help facilitate this? These are all questions I have no answers for but are things I'm hoping the government is thinking about.

[Justanothermember]

Originally Posted by FactaNV

What can we do for the attractiveness of interprovincial migration since increasing birth rates are out of the question as they've been declining across the entire West.

Jobs is the big thing imo, people will move for good jobs. How do we attract high paying jobs to Manitoba? How do we incentivize small and medium business to expand or relocate to Manitoba? What kind of public projects and policy can help facilitate this? These are all questions I have no answers for but are things I'm hoping the government is thinking about.

Spot on. These are the fundamental types of issues that need addressing in order to attract and retain people here. The leadership models in this province and city have been horrendous in these aspects since the 70s/80s and we have lost a lot of ground (and people) since then. Many times it has felt like provincial/civic governments have given up caring about the well-being of the province/city and simply revering to bare minimum governance, which is why things are the way they are today....not great.

[Atrial78]

Canada's population is likely growing too fast for our infrastructure, housing, healthcare, etc. to adapt accordingly. However, most immigrants and especially non-permanent residents generally are more open to denser housing options and public transportation.