Winnipeg CMA in 5 years (2026)

[GreyGarden]

Just in terms of population, I generally look at Halifax, QC, Hamilton, Winnipeg, and Saskatoon. I’d say Saskatoon is definitely similar. But despite being close in population all of these are different in so many ways that it makes them difficult to compare. Other than just anecdotal and subjective observations about similarly sized cities.

[BlackDog204]

Originally Posted by GreyGarden

Just in terms of population, I generally look at Halifax, QC, Hamilton, Winnipeg, and Saskatoon. I’d say Saskatoon is definitely similar. But despite being close in population all of these are different in so many ways that it makes them difficult to compare. Other than just anecdotal and subjective observations about similarly sized cities.

I've been to Quebec City and Halifax. They are completely different from Winnipeg. We may as well compare Buffalo and Detroit to Winnipeg, as they probably have more in common with Winnipeg than Quebec City or Halifax.

Saskatoon, Regina, and Edmonton (and to a lesser extent), Calgary have far and away more civic, geographic, demographic, economic, and social issues in common with Winnipeg.

[Spocket]

Originally Posted by GreyGarden

Just in terms of population, I generally look at Halifax, QC, Hamilton, Winnipeg, and Saskatoon. I’d say Saskatoon is definitely similar. But despite being close in population all of these are different in so many ways that it makes them difficult to compare. Other than just anecdotal and subjective observations about similarly sized cities.

I don't really feel it's nitpicking to question why you think Halifax or Saskatoon are in any way close to Winnipeg in population. Those cities are considerably smaller than QC, Hamilton and Winnipeg.

[TimeFadesAway]

Originally Posted by Hecate

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List...usehold_income

You've undermined your own point. Montreal has, by far, the highest per capita property taxes and yet manages to do this with a significantly lower median household income.

[roccerfeller]

Originally Posted by GreyGarden

Just in terms of population, I generally look at Halifax, QC, Hamilton, Winnipeg, and Saskatoon. I’d say Saskatoon is definitely similar. But despite being close in population all of these are different in so many ways that it makes them difficult to compare. Other than just anecdotal and subjective observations about similarly sized cities.

Saskatoon and Halifax are not “close in population” to Winnipeg lol

And as noted above, Halifax is a very different city

[borkborkbork]

Originally Posted by trueviking

I never would have guessed that. Montreal’s is crazy low.

200,000 students between Concordia, McGill, UdeM, and UQAM. I suspect that distorts things somewhat.

[Ozabald]

Originally Posted by roccerfeller

Saskatoon and Halifax are not “close in population” to Winnipeg lol

And as noted above, Halifax is a very different city

Indeed, Halifax is a very different city than Winnipeg. It's a city with a vibrant and safe downtown. A city that has a downtown retail high street (Spring Garden Road), lots of park and green space in the city core and a city with downtown grocery stores. Plus, there's no comparison with the Halifax Farmer's Market and what passes for one at City Place in Winnipeg.

[thebasketballgeek]

Originally Posted by Ozabald

Indeed, Halifax is a very different city than Winnipeg. It's a city with a vibrant and safe downtown. A city that has a downtown retail high street (Spring Garden Road), lots of park and green space in the city core and a city with downtown grocery stores. Plus, there's no comparison with the Halifax Farmer's Market and what passes for one at City Place in Winnipeg.

I agree with your general message but Winnipeg has lots of park and green space in the city core as well.

[BlackDog204]

From the population clock (April 1 2023- Q2):

Canada population: 39,756,200
Manitoba population: 1,435,200
Winnipeg CMA population: 888,400

The Winnipeg estimated population is based on 61.9% of Manitobans living in the Winnipeg CMA.

[SquarePegYWG]

Originally Posted by BlackDog204

From the population clock:

Canada population: 39, 756,200
Manitoba population: 1,435,200
Winnipeg CMA population: 888,400

The Winnipeg estimated population is based on 61.9% of Manitobans living in the Winnipeg CMA.

Is there any other province that has so many people by percentage living in one city?

[esquire]

Interesting discussion. I think it's fairly clear that Winnipeg's infrastructure, particularly in the area of transportation, has not kept up with population growth. We still have the collective mindset that we are a stagnant, no-growth city. But in reality we have added 164,000 people to the CMA over the last 25 years...it's like adding Thunder Bay and Brandon to our population. What kind of transportation infrastructure improvements have there been over those years? A couple of small expressway segments (Chief Peguis extension, Bishop Grandin/Kenaston connection, CentrePort Canada Way), and one BRT segment. A couple of interchanges on the Perimeter. It's a good start, but it's not enough.

That's not even getting into the other types of infrastructure that Winnipeg is lacking.

Originally Posted by roccerfeller

Saskatoon and Halifax are not “close in population” to Winnipeg lol

And as noted above, Halifax is a very different city

Halifax is closer to Winnipeg in population than Edmonton, which Winnipeg often compares itself to...

[BlackDog204]

Originally Posted by SquarePegYWG

Is there any other province that has so many people by percentage living in one city?

The Lower Mainland BC area, if we were to combine the Vancouver CMA with the Abbotsford CMA, and Chilliwack CA (combined population: 3.17 million), would come fairly close.

[roccerfeller]

Originally Posted by esquire

Halifax is closer to Winnipeg in population than Edmonton, which Winnipeg often compares itself to...

But they are Similar magnitudes difference. If you’re going by that then might as well lump Winnipeg in with Edmonton and Calgary, which I would say is equally not fair

in the context of prior comparison, especially if you’ve been to Halifax, you can see why it’s not an apples to apples one. Why not stretch these comparison boundaries; There are cities in Europe smaller than both Winnipeg and Halifax with more observed public transit infrastructure or pedestrian friendly topography. At least with respect to infrastructure it’s fair to compare Winnipeg more to a city like Saskatoon or Edmonton given theyre in the prairies with similar climates and spread out “motor centric” design, than by one bordered by the ocean with a more moderate climate. Winnipeg May be close to half Edmontons population but it has a ring road and spread out on flat-ish suburbs and such. The comparison is going to be more natural in that regard. If we are looking solely at population then there really isn’t an appropriate one in the prairies to Winnipeg. Edmonton is a fair bit larger, Saskatoon is a fair bit smaller. One could argue In reality Winnipeg is in its own tier and has to find its own way. Comparisons are only natural but no comparison is perfect.

Ultimately GreyGarden is right that for the reasons they mentioned those are not apples to apples comparisons, but they are not in similar population tiers. I don’t know how one could clump Halifax Saskatoon and Winnipeg as “similar” sized cities. They simply are not. Halifax and Victoria is a more apt comparison in that regard. If based on magnitudes one is putting Halifax there with a city ~2x it’s size then sure, put all of them together. Put victoria Halifax Kitchener all in the same lump as Winnipeg. But if ~2x is the same then Winnipeg should indeed be compared with Calgary. Calgary is half the size of Vancouver right maybe we can start comparing those two as well.
Then we can get into pointless semantics such as how steinbach and Winnipeg are closer in population than Winnipeg and Toronto. You can see the absolute population comparison holding less weight than one where magnitude is measured. I mean, steinbach and toronto are closer in population than Toronto and Beijing, right? That semantic is pointless; Halifax is shy of 500k and Winnipeg is well north of that number, which is why it’s totally fair to recognize the cities are in two different population tiers even if raw numbers makes your post accurate

[BlackDog204]

Originally Posted by Wpgstvsouth94

Anyone know what’s going on with the population estimates for Manitoba? I’ve been watching it lately and we just keep dropping. A month ago we were 1,392,895 but now we are all the way down to 1,392,002. Super weird we are about to drop to 1,391,000 again. Any opinions??

https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/...018005-eng.htm

An old post (late April 2022), but interesting. Stats Canada gives the total number of people living in Manitoba at the beginning of Q2 (April 1 , 2022), as 1,401,967, which is nearly 10,000 more people than the population clock.

I wonder what caused the discrepancy?

[Winnipegger]

Originally Posted by BlackDog204

An old post (late April 2022), but interesting. Stats Canada gives the total number of people living in Manitoba at the beginning of Q2 (April 1 , 2022), as 1,401,967, which is nearly 10,000 more people than the population clock.

I wonder what caused the discrepancy?

Statistics Canada does regular revisions to population estimates, and usually many of those adjustments occur after a census has been released to account for new information. This is because the data are just that, estimates.

For example, during the pandemic Manitoba's Vital Statistics agency had a massive backlog so the total amount of births and deaths being recorded was out of date most of the time. But at some point, StatCan needs to obtain that information from Manitoba Vital Stats even if it isn't accurate (due to the backlog). So when StatCan publishes the population numbers of Manitoba for 2021, they may be inaccurate due to them receiving inaccurate statistics from Vital Stats. Then, later in the year once Vital Stats catches up, StatCan will add the revised info the next time they update the national/provincial population numbers which only happens once per year, usually in February. You can often find this type information spread across the various footnotes in the StatCan data tables.

Population estimates rely on a variety of provincial agencies outside the Federal Government to accurately calculate all the various components of population change (births, deaths, immigration, international post-secondary students, etc.), and things may not always be accurate or 100% complete by the time StatCan requests the info. That, combined with census data being updated every 5 years, can lead to historical population estimate revisions.

Also, I'm always surprised how much stock this forum and the national forum put in the population clock. I would never use the population clock numbers for any models or formal work because they are just representative. StatCan doesn't actually know how many immigrations arrive in BC on April 4 at 10:35 AM. They likely just take a look at aggregate numbers over the past few quarters and distribute them evenly over the next quarter while adjusting for seasonal effects. It's not really indicative of what's actually happening since it is just taking historical trends and projecting them forward. It's better than nothing obviously, but quarterly population estimates will always be the best number to look at, and will always supersede the accuracy of the population clock. The population clock is just for fun IMO.

[Luisito]

Originally Posted by Ozabald

Indeed, Halifax is a very different city than Winnipeg. It's a city with a vibrant and safe downtown. A city that has a downtown retail high street (Spring Garden Road), lots of park and green space in the city core and a city with downtown grocery stores. Plus, there's no comparison with the Halifax Farmer's Market and what passes for one at City Place in Winnipeg.

Downtown Halifax is very nice and safe. Lots of nice areas close together like Spring Garden Road, The waterfront, Historic properties etc etc. It is nice to see that Halifax is also going through a bit of construction boom. I really like following the Halifax threads on here.

Having said that I would still take Downtown Winnipeg over Halifax. Despite all the problems we have here there is still a lot of great things here that I feel go underapreciated by others. Downtown Winnipeg is simply bigger, there is nothing in Halifax like the Exchange district and adjacent areas like St Boniface, wolsley and Osborne. Once you're out downtown Halifax there is not much to see. The Halifax peninsula is very picturesque, but comparing the core of the cities I think Winnipeg has much more to offer.

[esquire]

Downtown Winnipeg is bigger, but downtown Halifax is arguably better in terms of what it offers. Spring Garden Road for instance may be a short street, but it is far more complete as a destination than anything in or around downtown Winnipeg. They have big downtown attractions just like we do... a downtown hockey arena, a big national museum, a casino (even we don't have that), a big waterfront boardwalk that is effectively their Forks Riverwalk, etc. They have a significant amount of what I'd consider fairly high end residential development going on too.

I will agree that downtown Winnipeg stacks up reasonably well against downtown Halifax, but it is a bit of an indictment of the state of downtown Winnipeg that we are basically comparing ourselves to the downtown of a city that is barely half the population of ours.

[optimusREIM]

Originally Posted by Luisito

Downtown Halifax is very nice and safe. Lots of nice areas close together like Spring Garden Road, The waterfront, Historic properties etc etc. It is nice to see that Halifax is also going through a bit of construction boom. I really like following the Halifax threads on here.

Having said that I would still take Downtown Winnipeg over Halifax. Despite all the problems we have here there is still a lot of great things here that I feel go underapreciated by others. Downtown Winnipeg is simply bigger, there is nothing in Halifax like the Exchange district and adjacent areas like St Boniface, wolsley and Osborne. Once you're out downtown Halifax there is not much to see. The Halifax peninsula is very picturesque, but comparing the core of the cities I think Winnipeg has much more to offer.

Not only more to offer but more potential in my view. I think that OV/Corydon, West Broadway, Provencher, Marion, parts of the West End, the Exchange, and even parts of the North End could be really amazing places. Even downtown proper has decent bones and a lot of potential, but we need to make it easier for smaller footprint buildings to be constructed (not sure what we would need to make that happen)

[drew]

I you think about it, it's a wonder that Halifax has remained so comparatively small population wise, especially compared to a city like Winnipeg. It has so much going for it that Winnipeg cannot hope to compete with - climate, proximity to the ocean, a lively downtown (thanks in no small part to a bunch of Universities all located in close proximity) just to name a few.

I spent a week long holiday in Nova Scotia almost 20 years ago, and loved it.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by drew

I you think about it, it's a wonder that Halifax has remained so comparatively small population wise, especially compared to a city like Winnipeg. It has so much going for it that Winnipeg cannot hope to compete with - climate, proximity to the ocean, a lively downtown (thanks in no small part to a bunch of Universities all located in close proximity) just to name a few.

I spent a week long holiday in Nova Scotia almost 20 years ago, and loved it.

Personally I think Halifax is a bit overrated, but it is certainly a nice city.

Given that it is a major regional centre in a way that Winnipeg isn't, you would think it would be bigger than it is, for sure.