1896 replies to this topic

[dasmo]

What's wrong with stagnant? Do we need to grow 30% every quarter or be deemed useless?

[VicHockeyFan]

No use really comparing a country as old and conservative as Japan with us. Japan has a pretty racist society. We do not. 

 

For me, it's not so much about immigration "funding" the baby boomers retirement. It's more to do with Canada is small as it is, and I'd like to see it become a much larger and more important country than just America's sidekick. I think this is a fabulous country, but as places like Europe and Japan recede in importance somewhat, I think it's up to places like Canada and Australia to help fill in the gap. We know China and Russia aren't slowing down any time soon.

 

I see no reason why cities like Victoria, Kelowna, Halifax, Moncton and Saskatoon shouldn't have 750k+ people. Calgary and Edmonton could easily sustain 3-4 million people.

 

Anyway, I guess you could say I am totally on board with these guys --> http://www.centuryinitiative.ca/ . 

 

I'm OK with most of this, but we have a built-in problem.  Our weather sucks.

[tedward]

I see no reason why cities like Victoria, Kelowna, Halifax, Moncton and Saskatoon shouldn't have 750k+ people. Calgary and Edmonton could easily sustain 3-4 million people.

 

Since we so rarely agree I just wanted to highlight when we do. Every time I talk about regional issues (especially long-term transit planning) this is what I have in mind. Transit and housing plans that have, as a long-term goal these kind of numbers, is what makes sense to me. Anything less will  cost us more in the long-term.

[Bingo]

I'm OK with most of this, but we have a built-in problem.  Our weather sucks.

 

No we have great weather, it's our forecasting that sometimes sucks, but don't tell anyone from out of town.

[UDeMan]

I believe that the Federal Government is projecting the population of Canada to be 100 million by 2100.

 

I can see Metro Toronto and area becoming a mega-city like Tokyo, Mexico City, or Sao Paulo

 

Vancouver doesn't really have much room to spread out, so it will go up.

 

Here is the article on it

 

http://www.huffingto...n_12618314.html

[lanforod]

I believe that the Federal Government is projecting the population of Canada to be 100 million by 2100.

 

I can see Metro Toronto and area becoming a mega-city like Tokyo, Mexico City, or Sao Paulo

 

Vancouver doesn't really have much room to spread out, so it will go up.

 

Here is the article on it

 

http://www.huffingto...n_12618314.html

 

Vancouver still has tons of room. It appears built out, but there is a lot of room yet. A lot of that is restricted by either reservations or ALR - at some point, ALR will have to be removed in major urban areas.

For Victoria, if we doubled the population, I would hope there is serious look into removing the Blenkinsop valley from the ALR, as well as some of the west Saanich forested areas.

[North Shore]

^But isn't the ALR and those forested areas part of what makes Victoria/Vancouver what they are?  I really enjoy the fact that I can ride ~ 25 minutes out of downtown on my bike, and be in relatively quiet farmland.  Likewise, while I was in Van, last week, I went south on Knight street, and instead of turning right at the bottom (byt the auto mall) I turned left, and drove straight into farmland.

 

Density before sprawl!

[tedward]

For Victoria, if we doubled the population, I would hope there is serious look into removing the Blenkinsop valley from the ALR, as well as some of the west Saanich forested areas.

 

I wonder why we don't fill in Rock Bay and build there. It serves no useful purpose I can see.

[jonny]

I'm OK with most of this, but we have a built-in problem. Our weather sucks.

Ever been to Cairo? 45 degrees Celsius is unbearable. Now that sucks. They have some 25 million people.

The weather in Montreal or Toronto really isn't that different from Boston or NY. Lots of people say Boston has terrible weather, yet millions live there. Ditto for New York.

Dallas Texas I think is the worst climate around. Absurdly hot summers and they still get ice and snow every year. Now that sucks.

If it was all about weather, VHF, Hawaii would have a billion people.

[VicHockeyFan]

Ever been to Cairo? 45 degrees Celsius is unbearable. Now that sucks. They have some 25 million people.

The weather in Montreal or Toronto really isn't that different from Boston or NY. Lots of people say Boston has terrible weather, yet millions live there. Ditto for New York.

Dallas Texas I think is the worst climate around. Absurdly hot summers and they still get ice and snow every year. Now that sucks.

If it was all about weather, VHF, Hawaii would have a billion people.

 

But there is a reason that lots of retirees move to or live part-time in Arizona, but not Minnesota.  And let's face it, most of our country is like Minnesota.

[jonny]

Who cares where retirees live? So they take all the jobs and economic growth with them? They're almost dead anyway. They're not breeding. Their future is very limited and they spend less and less as they age.

I'd guess that very few permanently move far away from their families in Canada, anyway.

Most of where our population density is is in areas that have weather that's similar to New York, Boston, Detroit, Seattle, etc. Ie large urban centres.

London England has sucky weather. What's the population there? 20m? Doesn't matter if lots of British retirees live in Spain.

[jonny]

Is it better to have a population built around young families and communities or to be a transient vacation community like Palm Springs or Las Vegas? I’ll take the families, the small business owners, etc. I don’t think it’s really all that relevant, anyway. If you asked an average Chinese, Filipino or Indian immigrant why they moved to Canada, they’ll have plenty of good things to so. Not everybody is as down on this country as you are.

 

The largest cities in both the USA and Canada are primarily in areas that don’t necessarily have the “best weather”. It’s not really any sort of miracle that the whole of New York hasn’t moved to Boca Raton.

 

Weather probably limits a place like Edmonton or Winnipeg, but then again, Edmonton’s population is up, what, 30% in 10 years?

[VicHockeyFan]

Is it better to have a population built around young families and communities or to be a transient vacation community like Palm Springs or Las Vegas? I’ll take the families, the small business owners, etc. I don’t think it’s really all that relevant, anyway. If you asked an average Chinese, Filipino or Indian immigrant why they moved to Canada, they’ll have plenty of good things to so. Not everybody is as down on this country as you are.

 

I'm not down on this country, but I'm not its biggest cheerleader.  We have been brainwashed to think we are so superior.  Our education levels are poor, our productivity is low, poverty rates are high, healthcare is atrocious, and more people want to leave here to reside in other 1st world countries than want to come here from them.

 

I'm not surprised people want to come here from India, Syria, China or Somalia.  But we are not very attractive to others in the first world.  So we should not be so darned smug.  Instead we should shape up and make ourselves more attractive to real foreign investment, not just an influx of relatively unskilled 2nd and 3rd worlders.

[jonny]

So weather doesn't really fit in then, does it?

[VicHockeyFan]

So weather doesn't really fit in then, does it?

 

It explains in large part why we are all crammed along the southern border.  And secondly, our eagerness to trade with the giant next door.  If the border was 200 miles lower, you'd see movement of our population down.

 

15M people live in the Carolinas, and that's an awful lot about the weather there.

 

What thread are we in?     

[Nparker]

...What thread are we in?     

Yeah. Don't make me pull out my big red rubber stamp. 

[Mike K.]

People go where the jobs are and where there's industry (or whatever's left of it).

Local businesses and work-at-home dads don't make big cities. Big industry does, which is why half of this country lives within a day's drive of Toronto.

If we want the population of Vancouver Island to quadruple over the next century we need to open a deep sea container port in Port Alberni, start mining more coal, cutting down more trees and wooing major companies with insane tax breaks. Expanding ship building ten-fold and doubling the presence of CFB Esquimalt are also must-dos.

At best, one of those things might happen within the next 20 years. Just one.

[VicHockeyFan]

Local businesses and work-at-home dads don't make big cities. Big industry does, which is why half of this country lives within a day's drive of Toronto.

If we want the population of Vancouver Island to quadruple over the next century we need to open a deep sea container port in Port Alberni, start mining more coal, cutting down more trees and wooing major companies with insane tax breaks. Expanding ship building ten-fold and doubling the presence of CFB Esquimalt are also must-dos.

At best, one of those things might happen within the next 20 years. Just one.

 

I'm glad you know this.  Too many people repeat the mantra that "small business is the driver... blah blah blah".  It's not.  Small business exists to provide services and goods to people that work for big business, and often to the big business too.  They do not exist without big business.

 

http://www.forbes.co...y/#45bc9f7a6090

 

Sorry Class Warriors, Small Businesses Are Not The Backbone Of The U.S. Economy

 

[Mike K.]

Exporters create wealth. The rest of the economy is wholly dependent on their wealth distribution.

[Mike K.]

I should qualify that, and add that any business that draws an income from foreign capital is also a wealth creator, like Facebook, which is cited in that article. Without billions in earnings from overseas the company wouldn't be in the position it's in. Neither would Microsoft, Google, Fedex, etc.