Population Sweepstakes

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by urbandreamer

Is Glace Bay worse than Espanola or Dryden?

Not much different.

[Loco101]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Hey, I got lost in Glace Bay, twice!!!

I was spending three months in Sydney doing an obstretrics/neonatology rotation in internship, and used to spend off time exploring the area. I went to Glace Bay twice, and got seriously lost both times. There seemed to be only one road into and out of town, and the street grid was confusing. I kept going in circles and couldn't find my way out.

I never went back again.

I betcha Milton is nowhere near as dreary, depressing or desolate as Glace Bay is in February.

I have a colleague at work who wants to move to Glace Bay. She and her husband lived there for a few years when they were young adults and worked at a call centre. She loved having a view of the ocean and the size of the town. And it's not very far from many services in the region so it's really not very isolated. She is now trying to see if she can move there and work from home for our Halifax regional office.

I know that we have had people move here from Glace Bay and other parts of Cape Breton in the past for employment in mining. I agree that Milton would be much less depressing in the Winter.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by goodgrowth

Alberta will eclipse BC and Quebec in the long run.

Why and how? In a world where oil is much diminished, what's the attraction to Alberta?

[Northern Light]

Originally Posted by ssiguy

All those cities will grow but Calgary {and Alberta in general} have some unique advantages.

Calgary has endless amounts of land to expand to unlike Vancouver......

You know what Calgary doesn't have?

Endless amounts of water.

Water shortages in southern Alberta are already a concern. Calgary is pouring money into mitigating drought risks.......

But can it fully compensate for climate change? For less snow and snow melt on glacier-fed rivers?

South of Calgary, water allocations are largely fully subscribed for farmers and industry.

I see that as a material growth-limiting factor in time.

Some of that can be offset by conservation, and by better and more water storage during peak-flows/rains; but that has its limits.

[Arrdeeharharharbour]

I found this a while back....

https://en.uncyclopedia.co/wiki/Glace_Bay,_Nova_Scotia

[Denscity]

Originally Posted by ssiguy

All those cities will grow but Calgary {and Alberta in general} have some unique advantages.

Calgary has endless amounts of land to expand to unlike Vancouver and yet has a far more pleasant climate than Montreal. It's high wages combined with low taxes and affordable housing make it a natural draw for young people. It is increasingly seeing ever larger amounts of immigration due to astronomical housing costs in Vancouver and the French language requirements of Montreal and Quebec's general xenophobia. It also has a demographic advantage by having the youngest and most well educated {along with Ottawa} population in the country giving it one of the highest birth rates as opposed to BC which has the lowest west of the Maritimes.

Calgary is a numbing 10X larger than it was in 1950 and although that rate will obviously not sustain itself, Calgary has always been "tomorrow's country" offering opportunities and a very high quality of life with excellent infrastructure and a vibrant downtown. As oil declines in importance and as Alberta diversifies away from it into other areas like high-tech and hydrogen development, it's future is secure without the wild boom/bust cycle of the oil patch.

I think by 2060/70 Calgary, Montreal, and Vancouver will begin to merge in population but Calgary will pull ahead of both Vancouver and Montreal by 2080.

What made you love Vancouver so much that you moved there instead of Calgary?

[lio45]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Nothing else new has been built since the 1930s........

Pure, authentic prewar built form?!?!? That's the dream of this forum!

Where is this paradise town again?

[GreaterMontréal]

Originally Posted by ssiguy

All those cities will grow but Calgary {and Alberta in general} have some unique advantages.

Calgary has endless amounts of land to expand to unlike Vancouver and yet has a far more pleasant climate than Montreal. It's high wages combined with low taxes and affordable housing make it a natural draw for young people. It is increasingly seeing ever larger amounts of immigration due to astronomical housing costs in Vancouver and the French language requirements of Montreal and Quebec's general xenophobia. It also has a demographic advantage by having the youngest and most well educated {along with Ottawa} population in the country giving it one of the highest birth rates as opposed to BC which has the lowest west of the Maritimes.

Calgary is a numbing 10X larger than it was in 1950 and although that rate will obviously not sustain itself, Calgary has always been "tomorrow's country" offering opportunities and a very high quality of life with excellent infrastructure and a vibrant downtown. As oil declines in importance and as Alberta diversifies away from it into other areas like high-tech and hydrogen development, it's future is secure without the wild boom/bust cycle of the oil patch.

I think by 2060/70 Calgary, Montreal, and Vancouver will begin to merge in population but Calgary will pull ahead of both Vancouver and Montreal by 2080.

Montreal was the 6th fastest growing metropolitan area in North America in 2019 just before the covid preriod. The city of Montreal was the 2nd growing city in North America.

https://dailyhive.com/montreal/montr...port-june-2019

All the fundamentals are still there, don't drink the Koolaid, Montreal will continue to be an immigration hub. I would say that the transition towards a green economy will benifit Montreal the most.

[Al Ski]

Originally Posted by GreaterMontréal

Montreal was the 6th fastest growing metropolitan area in North America in 2019 just before the covid preriod. The city of Montreal was the 2nd growing city in North America.

https://dailyhive.com/montreal/montr...port-june-2019

All the fundamentals are still there, don't drink the Koolaid, Montreal will continue to be an immigration hub. I would say that the transition towards a green economy will benifit Montreal the most.

I just want to see Montreal having continuous, sustainable growth. It's not a race.

If Toronto wants to be the 'magnet' then fine, go ahead. They can deal with their growing ethnic ghettos, crumbling infrastructure. They can be the Megashit city.

I want to live in a human scale city, not some mega tower, Blade Runneresque nightmare.

[goodgrowth]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

Why and how? In a world where oil is much diminished, what's the attraction to Alberta?

Land. Alberta's population distribution footprint is arguably the largest out of all the provinces. Certainly larger than Quebec and way larger than BC's.

It's the most scalable province imo.

[MolsonExport]

Calgary has a more pleasant climate than Montreal? Really?

hmmm...

[thewave46]

First thought: Man, I wish I could come onto a discussion forum and be openly abrasive just like it is 2004 again. It's a delightful throwback to an era prior to Twitter which sopped up so much of the garbage that used to permeate forums. Just break out the Linkin Park and it's the early 2000s again.

Second thought: Aside from space, what durable advantage does Calgary possess that makes it a likely candidate to be a city of 4 million in 2080 (58 years away)? What makes Phoenix-style growth a potential, and why does it grow that way? In the previous 70 year period (1951-2021), it went from ~130,000 to ~1.3m. Impressive growth certainly, but to get to 4 million, one would be looking at sustained ~20% growth rates per decade.

So, I'm curious as to what industry propels 2.7 million more people to relocate there, aside from the straight-line extrapolating graph lovers.

To wit: Winnipeg had a similar population to 1951 Calgary in 1911. It too had the advantage of space. Yet, Winnipeg - despite a 40 year head start - only has a metro area population of ~850,000 today. Inquiring minds and all.

[hipster duck]

Originally Posted by thewave46

First thought: Man, I wish I could come onto a discussion forum and be openly abrasive just like it is 2004 again. It's a delightful throwback to an era prior to Twitter which sopped up so much of the garbage that used to permeate forums. Just break out the Linkin Park and it's the early 2000s again.

LOL

Second thought: Aside from space, what durable advantage does Calgary possess that makes it a likely candidate to be a city of 4 million in 2080 (58 years away)? What makes Phoenix-style growth a potential, and why does it grow that way? In the previous 70 year period (1951-2021), it went from ~130,000 to ~1.3m. Impressive growth certainly, but to get to 4 million, one would be looking at sustained ~20% growth rates per decade.

So, I'm curious as to what industry propels 2.7 million more people to relocate there, aside from the straight-line extrapolating graph lovers.

To wit: Winnipeg had a similar population to 1951 Calgary in 1911. It too had the advantage of space. Yet, Winnipeg - despite a 40 year head start - only has a metro area population of ~850,000 today. Inquiring minds and all.

It won't. Phoenix mushroomed from 150,000 in 1950 to 4 million+ today because:

(a) The United States has 9 times our population, and about 11X our population in 1950.

An equivalent Canadian city would have grown from about 14,000 to 350,000 in the same time frame. Kelowna would be a better comparator.

(b) Americans are much more mobile.

[Jaws]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Calgary has a more pleasant climate than Montreal? Really?

hmmm...

Yes

https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia....imate-severity

[goodgrowth]

I'm generalizing but my flow chart on Alberta growth long term goes like this.

-> Canada has continued strong growth from immigration -> Ontario and BC can't reign in housing costs -> Don't speak French? -> Alberta is the first choice for most

It depends a lot on conditions 1 and 2 but if those continue Alberta will benefit

[travis3000]

Canada is on track to bring in 460,000 immigrants this year alone. Of those, half (230K) will end up in Ontario. Of those, 2/3 (152K) will end up in the GTA.

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by ssiguy

All those cities will grow but Calgary {and Alberta in general} have some unique advantages.

Calgary has endless amounts of land to expand to unlike Vancouver and yet has a far more pleasant climate than Montreal. It's high wages combined with low taxes and affordable housing make it a natural draw for young people. It is increasingly seeing ever larger amounts of immigration due to astronomical housing costs in Vancouver and the French language requirements of Montreal and Quebec's general xenophobia. It also has a demographic advantage by having the youngest and most well educated {along with Ottawa} population in the country giving it one of the highest birth rates as opposed to BC which has the lowest west of the Maritimes.

Calgary is a numbing 10X larger than it was in 1950 and although that rate will obviously not sustain itself, Calgary has always been "tomorrow's country" offering opportunities and a very high quality of life with excellent infrastructure and a vibrant downtown. As oil declines in importance and as Alberta diversifies away from it into other areas like high-tech and hydrogen development, it's future is secure without the wild boom/bust cycle of the oil patch.

I think by 2060/70 Calgary, Montreal, and Vancouver will begin to merge in population but Calgary will pull ahead of both Vancouver and Montreal by 2080.

Calgary has over doubled in size since I was born but I cannot see your prediction of it eclipsing Montreal and Vancouver coming true. I can see it hitting 3 million but I don't see it going far past that. Water scarcity is also a major threat as the glaciers that feed the Bow are melting at breakneck speed.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Loco101

I have a colleague at work who wants to move to Glace Bay. She and her husband lived there for a few years when they were young adults and worked at a call centre. She loved having a view of the ocean and the size of the town. And it's not very far from many services in the region so it's really not very isolated. She is now trying to see if she can move there and work from home for our Halifax regional office.

I know that we have had people move here from Glace Bay and other parts of Cape Breton in the past for employment in mining. I agree that Milton would be much less depressing in the Winter.

I will admit that my experiences in Glace Bay were from the winter of 1984, so the bleakness and austerity of the season may have coloured my perceptions of the place. It may be more pleasant in the summertime.

Could things have changed in Glace Bay in the intervening 38 years? Perhaps, but not much had changed in the preceding 50 years, so, given this precedent, I wouldn't get my hopes up.

Things have certainly improved in the CBRM, but mostly in Sydney and Eskasoni. Other places like Glace Bay, Donkin, Dominion and Reserve Mines have remained pretty stagnant (as far as I know).

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Calgary has a more pleasant climate than Montreal? Really?

hmmm...

It's a trade off. Montreal has a beautiful fall and hot almost oppressive summers with hard snowy winters. Calgary gets chinooks but suffers from unpredictable weather. We switch from winter to summer and summer to winter with a big sloppy snow/rain/sun/sleet mix for the transitional seasons.

[travis3000]

Originally Posted by ssiguy

All those cities will grow but Calgary {and Alberta in general} have some unique advantages.

Calgary has endless amounts of land to expand to unlike Vancouver and yet has a far more pleasant climate than Montreal. It's high wages combined with low taxes and affordable housing make it a natural draw for young people. It is increasingly seeing ever larger amounts of immigration due to astronomical housing costs in Vancouver and the French language requirements of Montreal and Quebec's general xenophobia. It also has a demographic advantage by having the youngest and most well educated {along with Ottawa} population in the country giving it one of the highest birth rates as opposed to BC which has the lowest west of the Maritimes.

Calgary is a numbing 10X larger than it was in 1950 and although that rate will obviously not sustain itself, Calgary has always been "tomorrow's country" offering opportunities and a very high quality of life with excellent infrastructure and a vibrant downtown. As oil declines in importance and as Alberta diversifies away from it into other areas like high-tech and hydrogen development, it's future is secure without the wild boom/bust cycle of the oil patch.

I think by 2060/70 Calgary, Montreal, and Vancouver will begin to merge in population but Calgary will pull ahead of both Vancouver and Montreal by 2080.

Im also bullish on Calgary. It has the ingredients for continued growth. The weather part is subjective. Lots of sunshine is good, winter is broken up with chinooks which is nice. But there's also the likely prospect of snow 10/12 months, lots of ice, hail storms, smoke from the mountains, and a general roller coaster pattern all year long etc. Winters are for sure worse in Montreal, but at least Montreal gets a guaranteed 5 month break from snow with hotter summers.

Regardless, I think Calgary will easily become a city of 2 million in our lifetimes and its future is bright. Whether or not it will pass Montreal? Unlikely, but the gap will narrow.