Census data reveal contrast in generations
Apartment living the norm for more people here than any other Canadian community
My six-year-old daughter dreams of her own bedroom, a backyard and a dog.
She often wonders why her grandparents (both sets) dwell in roomy houses, while our family of four lives in a condo in the heart of the city. They have lawns with room to put up a playhouse for her. We have a balcony and flower boxes.
To her young eyes, there’s something backward about twoperson households having so much space while she is forced to share a bedroom with her little sister. But as it turns out, we are just living the new demographic reality illustrated by the latest 2016 census data.
In many ways, the statistics tell the story of grandparents and grandchildren — and the marked differences in their everyday lives.
For the first time in Canada, seniors outnumber children. There are 5.9 million people over 65, making up 16.9 per cent of the Canadian population, versus 5.8 million age 14 or under, accounting for 16.6 per cent. In Quebec, the bulges at both ends of the population spectrum are more pronounced. About 18 per cent of Quebecers are over age 65, higher than the national average. But thanks to a baby boomlet between 2006 and 2011, Quebec also has a greater share of children 9 and under. At 11.2 per cent, this is higher than anywhere else in the country except the Prairies.
Drilling down deeper, the Greater Montreal Area — which includes new exurbs, traditional suburbs and the city — has more children than seniors regionwide. But in the city of Montreal proper, there are slightly fewer kids 14 and under than residents over 65. In both cases, this reflects the large middle demographic bracket of working-age Montrealers, who for obvious reasons, need to live near the city’s job boom.
But Montreal’s traditional suburbs have the greyest residents in the region. St-Lambert has the oldest average age at 47, followed by Côte-St-Luc, Pointe-Claire and Westmount. The rapidly expanding exurbs, not surprisingly, have among the youngest. Chambly leads with an average age of 37.2, followed by Candiac, St-Constant and Vaudreuil Dorion. The average age of a city of Montreal resident is 40.3.
Smaller Quebec cities have some of the highest percentages of residents over 65 in Canada. Trois-Rivières leads the country at 22.3 per cent; Saguenay is in sixth position; Sherbrooke rounds out the Top 10.
Besides being a function of demographics — baby boomers aging — the newly released census data is a tale of housing, not only affordability, but how different generations are living.
Many greying boomers are happily entrenched in their suburban homes. Some are downsizing to condos or moving to the cottage. But many of their children are leaving the suburbs and flocking to urban areas. This includes millennials starting out in their careers and young couples getting a toehold in the real estate market buying condos.
Montreal, both the city and the region, have far fewer singlefamily homes than elsewhere in the country. Just 7.3 per cent of Montreal’s housing is singlefamily dwellings, versus 32.7 per cent in the region, 45.4 per cent in the rest of Quebec and 53.6 per cent in the rest of Canada. About 58 per cent of Montreal’s housing stock is in low-rise apartments; 14.2 per cent is highrises; and 13.6 per cent is duplexes — greater than the averages elsewhere in the region, province and country. It’s no secret Montreal is historically a dense city, although the proliferation of condo towers in Toronto and Vancouver means they are catching up.
Once couples have children, however, many young families face a choice dictated by the space-affordability conundrum. They sacrifice the extra bedroom, rec room and yard to remain in walkable, bikeable urban neighbourhoods, or they pick up stakes and move to a big new house in previously fallow fields. It’s a toss up between Notre-Dame-de Grâce and St-Lin-des-Laurentides; compact but convenient or spacious but with a long commute.
These are individual choices but they have profound consequences on society, infrastructure and the delivery of public services. Quebec already struggles to provide health care to an aging population, but so many seniors living alone in suburbs adds a new wrinkle. When families abandon traditional suburbs for the core or the doughnut around the city, schools are left vacant, while others are bursting and new ones must be built. Who lives where must inform the amount of green space set aside and the routes of public transit.
To my daughter’s dismay, we’ve opted for the cramped quarters of city living, eschewing our parents’ choices to raise us in the suburbs. But unless we have a change of heart — or she is old enough to forge a new path — at least she can visit her grandparents.
Montreal, both the city and the region, have far fewer singlefamily homes than elsewhere in the country.