Note: National Bank of Canada is a commercial bank, not the Bank of Canada which is Canada’s national bank. Um. Which is Canada’s central bank.
The graphs in the presentation are the key takeaway for me. But, some key words:
“Canada is caught in a population trap that has historically been the preserve of emerging economies. We currently lack the infrastructure and capital stock in this country to adequately absorb current population growth and improve our standard of living.”
…
“To put things in perspective, Canada’s population growth in 2023 was 3.2%, five times higher than the OECD average.”
…
“But to meet current demand and reduce shelter cost inflation, Canada would need to double its housing construction capacity to approximately 700,000 starts per year, an unattainable goal.”
(from the other post) The problem isn’t a growing tax base - because that’s the awesome reason for immigration - but people living longer.
So either start murdering blue-hairs or find a better solution than cutting off the feet to improve dancing.
(Additionally)
Let’s quit the bungalow ponzi scheme, please, and grow proper modern density so we can preserve land for agrifood and parks and wildlife. We’ve already over-sprawled and need to claw some back, just because we’re still addicted to hoarded land for dedicated lawn space like we’re landed gentry.
The key graph to me, showing just how bad the housing situation is
We are so far behind on housing and transit. Hopefully these numbers help kick all levels of government into building more of both.