CENSUS FUEL FOR DEBATE
The latest release of census data from Statistics Canada is a gift to polemicists of every persuasion.
Proponents of immigration can argue that the City of Vancouver has not seen a dramatic increase in population, but rather steady, manageable growth of 4.6 per cent between 2011 and 2016. And in the larger region of Metro Vancouver, population growth slowed in the period from 2011-2016 to 6.5 per cent from 9.3 per cent in 2006-2011. Plenty of room for newcomers.
But those on the other side of the debate can point out that Vancouver has the highest density of any Canadian city with 5,492 persons per square kilometre, leaving health care, housing, schools and transit unable to cope. Besides, Canada has the highest population growth rates among G7 countries. No capacity or obligation to take more.
The census delivered to defenders of the vacant-homes tax the good news — or rather bad news — that 25,502 housing units in Vancouver are either unoccupied or owned by temporary or foreign residents. That’s more than double the figure the city has been citing (largely the result of different methodology) and 15 per cent higher than in the last census in 2011. But the latest census reveals that the number of dwelling units in Vancouver increased to 309,418 from 286,742, an increase of about eight per cent since 2011. If the population grew by only 4.6 per cent and the number of dwelling units increased by eight per cent, one might ask what problem it is we’re trying to solve.
The census also shows people are moving to the suburbs. The population of the Township of Langley, for instance, grew by 12.6 per cent since the 2011 census, while Surrey’s grew by 10.6 per cent.
Perhaps you can get twice the house at half the price, but affordability is not the only reason offered by migrants to the burbs. Their economies are also growing and sprouting job opportunities. Moreover, Vancouver is too crowded with few new housing developments suitable for families, not to mention better services from municipal councils less obsessed with an ideological agenda. And finally, some might argue, as many bureaucrats have done for years, that road infrastructure and transit patterns must change to accommodate the reality that the daily commute does not necessarily involve a trip to Vancouver’s city centre and back.
There’s much more to come from the 2016 census courtesy of StatsCan in the months ahead. So pick your data set and let the debates begin.