3,000 new residents pad Victoria’s 2009 population estimate
Pedestrians crowd the sidewalk along Douglas Street. Photo © VibrantVictoria.ca.
Victoria’s metropolitan population grew by 3,071 individuals between June 01, 2008 and June 01, 2009, according to figures released by the Capital Regional District (CRD). The last official Census of Canada, undertaken in 2006, tabbed the CRD’s population at 345,164 (the CRD includes Salt Spring Island, Port Renfrew and other Gulf Islands), with 330,088 residents living in the Victoria Metropolitan Area (VMA), the area between Sooke on the westshore and North Saanich on the peninsula. The new estimate, based off of a “headcount” from the 2006 Census with a 2.9% undercount, pegged the CRD’s population at 369,791 and the VMA’s population at 353,928, representing a growth of roughly 1% over 2008’s estimate. The westshore communities of Colwood, Highlands, Langford, Metchosin and Sooke once again outpaced the growth of other areas of the region, absorbing 2,023 of new residents, or 66% of total growth.
In recent years there has been debate over other south Island communities eyed for the VMA’s population count. Communities currently part of the Cowichan Valley Regional District’s (CVRD) population, such as Shawnigan Lake, Malahat, Mill Bay, and Cobble Hill, increasingly rely on the VMA for employment, education, shopping and entertainment, due in part by the draw of more affordable real-estate. Employment figures from the 2006 Census of Canada show that among several CVRD communities over 50% of working residents commute daily to the VMA for employment, making them candidates for population planning in the VMA. The new commuter service launched by BC Transit connecting communities as far north as Duncan with downtown Victoria is an example of the growth in interconnectedness between Victoria and CVRD communities.
For full 2009 estimate figures for all VMA municipalities, refer to this document. For a discussion on Victoria’s population, please refer to this thread in the discussion forum. You may also be interested in the forum’s Victoria Regional Transit thread and the municipal amalgamation thread.
Copyright © 2009 by VibrantVictoria.ca. All rights reserved.
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Responses to this Headline or Article
The five most recent replies to VibrantVictoria.ca's discussion forum's Victoria Population Discussion thread, the most relevant thread to the above headline or article:
JohnN
Mar 25, 2012 at 6:53 am
Jack Knox
Times Colonist
March 25, 2012
Still can't believe that Victoria is a worse place to live than Regina, Rimouski or Red Deer.
Can't believe the City of Gardens (our motto: "Just looked in the mirror, fell in love all over again") even sits one spot behind Yorkton, Sask. (motto: "Come for the frostbite, stay for the swarming insects") in the annual MoneySense magazine rankings of Canada's Best Places To Live...
http://www2.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/capital_van_isl/story.html?id=02c8cf3f-a874-4aad-ab8c-49445c241d3e
mc9
Mar 25, 2012 at 10:08 amIf you take away that beautiful setting, Victoria is not left with very much. Families have at least a much greater chance financially in those other places you listed.
Robb
Mar 25, 2012 at 10:48 amQuote: If you take away that beautiful setting, Victoria is not left with very much. Families have at least a much greater chance financially in those other places you listed.
Absolutely! We pay a *very* high price for our beautiful setting.
Mike K.
Oct 24, 2012 at 7:48 amStatscan has released "mother tongue" figures for Canadian cities as collected in the 2011 census.
42,000 residents (or just over 12%) of Victoria's CMA speak a mother tongue other than English or French out of a total census population of 340,000. 288,000 speak English as a mother tongue and just under 6,000 speak French as a mother tongue.
See the complete data release at:
Mike K.
Oct 24, 2012 at 8:28 amI wasn't expecting Halifax to have even less non-English and non-French mother tongue residents than Victoria but that appears to be the case. 6% of metro Halifax residents fall into that category. Regina is about a percentage below Victoria's. I guess that dispels the assertion so many Victoria residents make that this is the least diverse city in Canada, etc., etc.
I'll tell you, for an expensive region with an almost non existing support structure for many immigrant groups, Victoria is fairly diverse.
