Bad news for the claustrophobic.
Canada gained 208,234 new humans between July and September of 2019. That’s a 0.6% population growth, the largest quarterly increase since records began in 1971.
More than three-quarters (83%) of newcomers are immigrants, according to Statistic Canada. The agency says it “had never been seen before in a single quarter” with respect to the increase due to immigration.
Immigration is credited with driving strong labour and housing markets, as well as offsetting Canada’s aging demographic. In May, Canada posted a record number of new jobs in a single month. And we all know about the housing market (good for the economy, bad for people who need to live).
The biggest population gains were seen in British Columbia, while Newfoundland saw the lowest.
Back in 2016, several members of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government said they would like to see Canada reach a population of 100 million by the year 2100.
To reach this goal, the country will need to grow by 760,000 people per year for the next 81 years. It’s actually not that farfetched: Canada’s population was estimated at 37,589,262 on July 1, 2019, up 531,497 compared with July 1, 2018.