REGION PROSPERED WITH SEILING AT THE HELM

WATERLOO REGION — The numbers say we got bigger and richer while Ken Seiling led our biggest local government for more than 30 years.

Look to 1986, the year after Seiling took over as chair of regional government. There were 329,404 people living in Waterloo Region. The typical family had an income worth $77,254 in today’s dollars, census figures show.

Now look three decades later to 2016. The regional population reached 523,894 and the median family income swelled to $97,379 in today’s dollars, census figures show.

So while Seiling helped lead us, the regional population grew 59 per cent, exceeding Ontario population growth at 48 per cent. Family income grew 26 per cent in real dollars.

The same dynamic exploded the urban area. In 1986 Kitchener, Cambridge and Waterloo ranked as Canada’s 12th biggest metropolitan area. Today it has advanced two spots to number 10.

All that growth comes with its costs. In 1985 when Seiling took the lead, you could buy a typical detached bungalow in a local city for about $80,000, or about $171,000 in today’s dollars after accounting for inflation.

This seems a tremendous bargain because today it will actually cost you $520,000 to buy a typical detached home, local realtors report.