Our Jordan Bateman gives you the heads-up on population shifts, BC finances, and housing starts trending down.
⬆️ Statistics Canada is out with their new population numbers, and Canada continues to climb – now more than 40 million people. Over the past year, Canada saw the highest population growth rate for a 12-month period since 1957 (+3.3%). Almost 98% of that growth came from immigration. The fastest growing province – Alberta, which saw not only out-of-country people move in, but a record number of Canadians moving to the province. The 56,245 Canadians who came to Alberta is the highest annual net interprovincial gains ever recorded for any single province in history. Alberta is calling – and people are answering!
📉 The David Eby Government released its first quarter fiscal report, and it’s bad – even by free-spending NDP standards. After Q1, finance minister Katrine Conroy says her deficit is now tracking to be $6.7 billion, $2.4 billion more than she projected. This comes on the heels of Eby blowing billions out the door last year, rather than paying down debt and preparing for this inevitable rainy day.
🏠 Also in that fiscal update was this little nugget: the Eby Government is projecting B.C. housing starts to drop drastically next year – from the roughly 51,000 we are on track for this year to 40,000ish in the next few years. This despite the big splash announcement from Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon with housing targets for 10 “naughty list” cities. As Vaughn Palmer reported, that plan has very little incentive or punishment for the municipalities to meet the targets. Oh, and 7 of the 10 cities are already on track to hit those targets. So, mix these three stories together: more people coming, government swimming in red ink, and housing starts going down: you don’t have to be the Amazing Kreskin predict that housing won’t become affordable anytime soon.
