Winnipeg metropolitan population growth slows during pandemic: Statistics Canada
New numbers from Statistics Canada show Winnipeg's population growth has slowed since the pandemic started, but one expert says this trend isn't specific to the city.
For 2021, Winnipeg's census metropolitan area population was 852,778, which is just up slightly from 851,211 in 2020.
This amounts to just 1,567 more people living in the area from July 1, 2020 to July 1, 2021.
Lori Wilkinson, who is a professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminology at the University of Manitoba, said several major cities including Winnipeg have been struggling with population growth during the pandemic and even before COVID-19 hit.
"There's actually four components to population growth. There's births, there's deaths, migration into the country and migration out of the country," said Wilkinson.
"As a nation we're getting older and we're having less babies."
Wilkinson said in 2019, Canada had the lowest growth rate on record.
"So if we look at Winnipeg in particular, its age structure, we are a little bit older than other metropolitan areas. So our average age is 38.6 years."
Wilkinson highlights that while growth has slowed in the Winnipeg area, even before the pandemic, with just over 35,000 people since 2017, it has been growing at a steady pace over the past 20 years.
"Our growth rate between 2001 and 2021 is 23 per cent, which is a little bit behind some of the other centres, but not all of them,' she said.
Wilkinson said Winnipeg was behind Toronto with a growth rate of 34 per cent, while places like Montreal and Hamilton had growth rates of 20 per cent and 17.9 per cent respectively in that same timeframe.
Tyler Markowsky, a city economist, said while growth has dipped recently he doesn't expect that to continue.
"We continue to monitor population trends, national and local, and will advise Council on how we anticipate these trends will impact growth in Winnipeg," Markowsky said in a written statement to CTV News.
"While it's too early to predict when it might occur, we do expect that population growth trends in Winnipeg will return to pre-pandemic levels."
Wilkinson said if the city wants to try and build growth at a pre-pandemic level again, it needs to highlight the positives of Winnipeg.
"I've lived in many cities in Canada and I think Winnipeg is the most underrated city ever…I don't think we take enough pride in advertising that. I think Winnipeg is Canada's best kept secret. And maybe as a province and as a municipality we need to celebrate our accomplishments and what you can do here in a much more open fashion than we have."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING NEWS Honda to get up to $5B in govt help for EV battery, assembly plants
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
BREAKING New York appeals court overturns Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction from landmark #MeToo trial
New York’s highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction, finding the judge at the landmark #MeToo trial prejudiced the ex-movie mogul with improper rulings, including a decision to let women testify about allegations that weren’t part of the case.
Residents of northern Alberta First Nation told to shelter in place
Residents of John D'Or Prairie, a community on the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, were told to take shelter Thursday morning during a police operation.
Monthly earnings rise, payroll employment falls: jobs report
The number of vacant jobs in Canada increased in February, while monthly payroll employment decreased in food services, manufacturing, and retail trade, among other sectors.
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.
Secret $70M Lotto Max winners break their silence
During a special winner celebration near their hometown, Doug and Enid shared the story of how they discovered they were holding a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million and how they kept this huge secret for so long.
Remains from a mother-daughter cold case were found nearly 24 years later, after a deathbed confession from the suspect
A West Virginia father is getting some sense of closure after authorities found the remains of his young daughter and her mother following a deathbed confession from the man believed to have fatally shot them nearly two decades ago.
Something in the water? Canadian family latest to spot elusive 'Loch Ness Monster'
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.
Metro Vancouver mayors call for serial killer Robert Pickton to be denied parole
A dozen mayors from around Metro Vancouver say federal Attorney General and Justice Minister Arif Virani should deny parole for notorious B.C. serial killer Robert Pickton, and reassess the parole and sentencing system for 'prolific offenders and mass murderers.'