“Yes, Canada is a large country. But when it comes to where people want to or need to live, not so much. Our population is concentrated in a very small portion of our land mass”
“The U.S. has 50 percent more urban land per person than Canada does. And keep in mind this discrepancy will have grown since 2015 as Canada’s rate of population growth has greatly exceeded that of the U.S. since then.“
“Well, couldn’t we just expand municipal boundaries and grow our urban land base? To some extent, Canada has been doing this over time, but the ability to do this around our major metropolitan areas has become increasingly constrained because of land use policies—for instance, the agriculture land reserve in British Columbia and the greenbelt in Ontario—that make such conversions less and less politically doable
The notion that we could insist new Canadians live predominantly in the yellow parts of the map above doesn’t make any sense economically as economic activity is increasingly being concentrated in major metropolitan areas. In any case, there would be no mechanism by which Canada could insist that the newcomers stay in the yellow, even if their initial entry permit required them to start their life in Canada there, which would not survive a Charter challenge to the courts.”
seanwd11 on
Only one solution… Neo New Delhi in the heart of Northern Quebec.
RmxRltr on
That is the exact reason for sky high home prices.
Ancient_Wisdom_Yall on
Another reason to embrace work from home and try to decentralize our resources from the most expensive real estate in the country. People don’t have a great chance of thriving if they are constantly pushed towards massively overpriced cities.
Conscious_Candle2598 on
on a side note. I can’t believe how big Sudbury and greater Sudbury has gotten.
Reasonable-MessRedux on
I remember a group called Immigration Watch Canada wrote a very similar article years ago. The fact is Canada, in many practical senses, a very small country.
neilmaddy on
Toronto and Vancouver
quebecesti on
That’s something I realized when playing flight simulator. Large land mass but very small at the same time. In Quebec the populated area is smaller than I’ve realized even living here, just on the edge of where the wilderness begins.
Small city or regional airports are sporadic where the USA are filled with them.
NormalMo on
Charter challenge meet Notwithstanding Clause and Reasonable Limits Clause
Propaagaandaa on
I’ve been shouting this from the rooftops for years. We don’t have the fucking economic geography for a massive surge in immigration. It is just not feasible.
Anyone with eyes could tell you we have like maybe ~10 urban areas that are “attractive” in terms of employment. So much of this country consists of rural towns that have stagnated or are on the decline. Our economic activity, again mostly from the same few cities, some of which have nowhere to grow.
10 Comments
“Yes, Canada is a large country. But when it comes to where people want to or need to live, not so much. Our population is concentrated in a very small portion of our land mass”
“The U.S. has 50 percent more urban land per person than Canada does. And keep in mind this discrepancy will have grown since 2015 as Canada’s rate of population growth has greatly exceeded that of the U.S. since then.“
“Well, couldn’t we just expand municipal boundaries and grow our urban land base? To some extent, Canada has been doing this over time, but the ability to do this around our major metropolitan areas has become increasingly constrained because of land use policies—for instance, the agriculture land reserve in British Columbia and the greenbelt in Ontario—that make such conversions less and less politically doable
The notion that we could insist new Canadians live predominantly in the yellow parts of the map above doesn’t make any sense economically as economic activity is increasingly being concentrated in major metropolitan areas. In any case, there would be no mechanism by which Canada could insist that the newcomers stay in the yellow, even if their initial entry permit required them to start their life in Canada there, which would not survive a Charter challenge to the courts.”
Only one solution… Neo New Delhi in the heart of Northern Quebec.
That is the exact reason for sky high home prices.
Another reason to embrace work from home and try to decentralize our resources from the most expensive real estate in the country. People don’t have a great chance of thriving if they are constantly pushed towards massively overpriced cities.
on a side note. I can’t believe how big Sudbury and greater Sudbury has gotten.
I remember a group called Immigration Watch Canada wrote a very similar article years ago. The fact is Canada, in many practical senses, a very small country.
Toronto and Vancouver
That’s something I realized when playing flight simulator. Large land mass but very small at the same time. In Quebec the populated area is smaller than I’ve realized even living here, just on the edge of where the wilderness begins.
Small city or regional airports are sporadic where the USA are filled with them.
Charter challenge meet Notwithstanding Clause and Reasonable Limits Clause
I’ve been shouting this from the rooftops for years. We don’t have the fucking economic geography for a massive surge in immigration. It is just not feasible.
Anyone with eyes could tell you we have like maybe ~10 urban areas that are “attractive” in terms of employment. So much of this country consists of rural towns that have stagnated or are on the decline. Our economic activity, again mostly from the same few cities, some of which have nowhere to grow.