The new Statistics Canada population estimates are out as of a few days ago.
The Saskatoon CMA stands at a population of 336,614 as of July 1, 2020. We are closing in on Windsor (the next largest CMA) which is now only about 20k larger than Saskatoon, however any hope of surpassing it anytime soon is moot as the Windsor CMA is slated to absorb the Leamington CA and Essex County for the 2021 Census, adding on about 40k more people.
Troublingly, we have been seeing a pattern of increasing interprovincial out-migration since the last year of net gain in 2012. Saskatoon still ranks highly in terms of overall growth rate, but this comes as a result of intra-provincial migration, international immigration, and natural increase. It appears therefore that Saskatoon is a landing point for people internationally, and a nexus for people scaling up within Saskatchewan, before moving out to other provinces.
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/...020003-eng.htm
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1...pid=1710013501
What could be done to reverse this trend? We saw net interprovincial migration gains during the years of 2007 through 2012 -- was this an anomaly due to a cluster of favourable external conditions that may not arise again, or was there anything going on internally to help the situation as well? Obviously the resource economy was doing well but is that the end of the story?
In light of the statistics the solution seems to be twofold. First, we have to do a better job of attracting new residents from other provinces within Canada. And second (perhaps more importantly), we have to do a better job of convincing the people who do land here from within Saskatchewan and from outside Canada to remain in Saskatoon rather than moving elsewhere.
My hope is that we are seeing enough downtown development and improvement of civic amenities to turn the tide to make Saskatoon a more attractive place to stay. I also think that an improved cold-weather strategy is hugely important. Living in a winter city isn't so bad if you are accustomed to it, but my fear is that people arriving here from areas of the world that perhaps don't see such cold weather (or for that matter, lengthy winters) are not sufficiently prepared for the climate here, nor do they find enough winter-focused amenities or resources to make the season more pleasant, or at least sufficiently unpleasant.
Setting external forces aside, what can be done on the population attraction and retention fronts, practically speaking? I know skywalks have been raised, which although I wouldn't consider to be a panacea (they tend to cause street level activity to deteriorate). That said, I think a balance could be struck by placing them in key locations, such as from Midtown Plaza to the Scotia Centre. I also think that warming huts in parks could be popular -- if we can put them in bus shelters, why not parks, too? On another note, these are things that could only really be done by the city or private investment. Is there anything we can do as citizens to help the situation?
What do people think?