Close X
Sunday, November 24, 2024
ADVT 
National

Canada passes 40 million population milestone amid immigration push

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 16 Jun, 2023 05:22 PM
  • Canada passes 40 million population milestone amid immigration push

OTTAWA — Canada's population has reached more than 40 million, Statistics Canada said.

The milestone comes amid a wave of new immigrants as part of Ottawa's promise to bring in 500,000 people a year by 2025.

The 40-million mark came faster than expected, Statistics Canada said, as the country added 1.1 million people in 2022, most of them permanent and temporary immigrants.

That's more than twice the federal government's plan to welcome more than 430,000 new permanent residents last year.

Last year was the first year Canada's population grew by more than a million people in a 12-month period, Statistics Canada said, with 95.9 per cent of that growth through international migration.

Canada's population passed 30 million in 1997, also amid increasing immigration levels.

By comparison, the U.S. population is around 335 million.

Statistics Canada said that if current immigration levels remain, Canada's population could hit 50 million in two decades. And by 2041, two in five Canadians could be born abroad.

Ontario is Canada's most populous province with almost 15.6 million people, while Quebec comes a distant second at 8.8 million.

Michael Donnelly, a political science professor at the University of Toronto, said immigration is imperative to Canada for a number of reasons, including the need to increase the working population.

"The people who are working today are paying for the pensions of people retired today," he said. Canada needs newcomers who will fill labour shortages, contribute to the economy and Canada's public pension program.

But a growing population also brings challenges when it comes to infrastructure and housing. Last year, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) said the country needed to build 3.5 million more homes than it is on track for in order to restore housing affordability.

"In effect we don't have enough housing for all the demand, and we need to add a lot more," said Nathanael Lauster, a sociology professor at the University of British Columbia who studies population and demographics.

Lauster said immigration can actually help alleviate the issue because "one of multiple constraints holding housing back is labour supply."

MORE National ARTICLES

BC Ferries wants public opinion on former buffet space

BC Ferries wants public opinion on former buffet space
B-C Ferries is asking for the public's help in deciding what to do with its former buffet spaces on its Tsawwassen-Swartz Bay route. It says an online survey will be open for three weeks and, using that feedback, it hopes to transform the space this fall.  

BC Ferries wants public opinion on former buffet space

Assault at a school in Maple Ridge

Assault at a school in Maple Ridge
Mounties in Ridge Meadows say they are investigating an assault at a local school. They say officers responded to the incident at a school at 116-B Avenue around 9:40 P-M on Saturday – outside of regular school hours.

Assault at a school in Maple Ridge

What the interest rate hike means for mortgage holders, home hunters

What the interest rate hike means for mortgage holders, home hunters
The hike is aimed at quelling inflation, which has proved stubborn, not moving down quickly enough toward the central bank's target of two per cent. However, the hike is also bound to weigh on those hunting for homes or holding mortgages.

What the interest rate hike means for mortgage holders, home hunters

BOC boosts key interest rate by 25 basis points to 4.75 per cent, highest since 2001

BOC boosts key interest rate by 25 basis points to 4.75 per cent, highest since 2001
As the economy continues to outperform expectations, the Bank of Canada has chosen to act sooner rather than later to clamp down on inflation, raising interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point on Wednesday. Its key interest rate now sits at 4.75 per cent, the highest it’s been since 2001.

BOC boosts key interest rate by 25 basis points to 4.75 per cent, highest since 2001

Vancouver Island scuba divers spot sixgill shark in rare shallow-water sighting

Vancouver Island scuba divers spot sixgill shark in rare shallow-water sighting
Connor McTavish and three companions had just planned to explore the site of a shipwreck in Alberni Inlet on Vancouver Island last month when he spotted something in the corner of his eye — a two-metre-long sixgill shark. McTavish and fellow divers Garrett Clement, Danton West and Matteo Endrizzi had made the trip from Nanaimo, B.C., to explore the waters of the inlet in late May. 

Vancouver Island scuba divers spot sixgill shark in rare shallow-water sighting

Known travellers from 13 more countries can skip visa to come to Canada: minister

Known travellers from 13 more countries can skip visa to come to Canada: minister
Travellers from the 13 countries can qualify for the faster, cheaper option if they have either held a Canadian visa in the last 10 years or currently hold a non-immigrant visa to the United States and are travelling by air.

Known travellers from 13 more countries can skip visa to come to Canada: minister