As I have mentioned before, I like “rules of thumb” because they help me to remember things and put them in perspective.

Yesterday, I presented a way to organize and rank the populations of the provinces and regions in Canada. Today, I’ll take you through the nation’s major cities. Maybe some of these little “catch phrases” will stick in your mind.

There are only six cities in Canada with populations over one million. In order, they are Toronto, Montréal, Vancouver, Ottawa-Gatineau, Calgary and Edmonton.

(1) Greater Toronto’s population (5.4 million) is about 40% of Ontario’s total. Remember that in its turn, Ontario’s population is about the same 40% of Canada’s.

In absolute terms, Toronto is adding people (about 100,000 per year) at more than double the pace of any other city in the country.

(2) Montréal’s population (3.7 million) is about half of the total population of the province of Québec (7.7 million).

(3) Vancouver’s population (2.25 million) is almost exactly half of B.C.’s total population (4.5 million).

Also, the population of Vancouver is almost exactly the same as Calgary plus Edmonton.

(4) Ottawa-Gatineau (slightly more than one million) is the fourth-most populous city in the country. I find this to be a curious coincidence, since Washington is the fourth-most populous city in the United States. Both cities are their nation’s federal capitals.

(5) Calgary and (6) Edmonton are almost exactly matched when it comes to population, at about one million each. Calgary has pulled a little ahead of Edmonton in the most recent period.

To put Canadian cities in perspective, there are more than 50 cities in the United States with populations over one million.

Finally, returning to country-wide population numbers for a second, the total population of Canada is increasing by an easy-to-remember 1.0% per year. This includes a “gross” immigration figure of approximately 250,000 annually. The “gross” figure is what governments aim for in their immigration targets. It does not net out emigrants.

Alex Carrick

Find Canadian construction-related economic articles in Canadian Construction Market News and in the Economic Outlook section of Daily Commercial News.

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