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Why don't more people live in Canada? Talking to foreigners they always seem amazed that the second largest country in the world only has 35 million people. Heck, the US has states with that population.
The first thing that comes to mind is weather. Is it the dealbreaker? I Canadian weather just too horrendous for most people to consider living in? Yes, there are parts of Canada that are liveable so to speak (namely southern Ontario, the Saint Lawrence, Vancouver and Nova Scotia), but they are very far from ideal or even average climates. Moving from the BC to the US was interesting because people here consider places like Seattle, Detroit, Minneapolis, Buffalo and Maine to be the very worst climates in the country, while in Canada they would be the very best. Maybe it is because of weather? This map gives a grim outlook:
But the weather should be no problem for determined and hardworking immigrants. But still the population is still so small. It is because the US is next door? The US is more popular with prospective immigrants and lots of immigrants in Canada plan to get into America. In some senses, there are immigrants who "settle" for Canada. When I first moved to the US I was surprised at the low opinion that some immigrants from places like India had of their counterparts who immigrated to Canada. Not saying this is definitive in any way but it is worth mentioning. It is also interesting to wonder why so few Mexicans and Latin Americans try to come to Canada and go straight for the US instead.
The Canadian economy is still richer than most countries, and can offer better opportunity than say China or India or Mexico. So why so few people? Is it because of the Canadian economy? Most immigrants go to the Toronto area because it offers the most reasonable economy in Canada. Calgary is increasingly popular too thanks to oil, and according to Wikipedia it is the only Canadian province to offer the average person a US standard of living. French speakers obviouly have one real option in Montreal, and Quebec city is probably easily the least diverse major city in North America. And despite is Bana Republic economy Vancouver still attracts loads of Asian immigrants. But is it high prices and that keeps the population smaller? Lack of opportunity?
Here is Irvin Studin arguing some of the benefits that a Canada would offer:
I know Canadian usually tend to want to keep things the same and not change anything, but I tend to agree that Canada should have around 100 million. Canada could do much better economically, offer more opportunity, stop relying entirely on the US, and could probably forge an identity (besides QC). I would really like to see that. What do you think?
It probably is the weather and the relatively grim food scene (outside Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver/Victoria, Canadian cuisine is pretty bland and even the ethnic cuisines have been heavily modified to suit the Canadian palate, much more so than ethnic cuisines in the U.S). But this also represents an opportunity for entrepreneurs who want to invest in the culinary business. So really, Canada attracts the more flexible, hardy type of immigrant who sees opportunity and not despair.
It's very difficult for any American outside Alaska or the highest elevations of Colorado/Wyoming/Idaho to understand just what Canadian weather entails outside the balmy regions of Southern Ontario, Montreal, and BC. Yesterday, our high didn't even reach 50 degrees and it's still summer. Even during the second-warmest month of the year, there are days when you feel like curling up in front of a roaring fire and shivering yourself to sleep. It's not like this every day in the summer, but it still happens and it's normal.
BTW, I don't trust people who say they want to keep things the same. Things always change. Wanting things to stay the same reveals insecurity and ignorance. The trick is to allow change in a positive way.
Last edited by arctic_gardener; 08-25-2014 at 01:38 PM..
Going back to the early days of Canada and the United States, the first stages of migration were generally agriculturally-focused. Obviously if you look at Canada it was at a disadvantage compared to most of the U.S. So the base population from which both countries have grown their populations up to this point was initially a lot lower in Canada.
In the contemporary era I believe that immigration to Canada has generally been slightly higher than to the U.S. (relative to population of course). Which might explain why Canada is now slightly over 1/10th of the U.S. population (close to 35 million vs. just under 320 million) whereas historically it was always 1/10th of the U.S. or even slightly below in some periods.
There are historical reasons why the population is lower in Canada but a lot of it does comes down to weather and agricultural land as indicated in the previous post. Most the country is too cold and won't provide a quality of life most people are looking for as you move up north.
However, most of the population (80%+) is located near the US border and if you zero in on this area of more desirable land, I think Canada is pretty well populated. Toronto is a big metro in the Great Lakes region, Vancouver on the west coast, Calgary in the middle, Montreal and Quebec City along the St. Lawrence are good-sized, especially for the climate.
I would like to see the country continue to grow but in a measured manner that emphasizes quality and not quantity for the sake of numbers. Weather will never be an advantage per se but it has not held back the growth into a relatively well-run, modern country that offers a high quality of life. Look at Chicago, Boston and Seattle - major US cities with similar weather to Canadian cities but all very successful in their own right.
That map is pretty damning. I think it's safe to say the weather, but finances are also important. Personally I would never live in many border area climates like Thunder Bay, Ontario unless I was given some sort of serious financial incentive. Even then, I would bolt after I saved some surplus money. If I feel this way as an American from a climate that is anything but free of winter, I can only imagine what most people in the world (Indians, Africans, Latin Americans, Middle Easterners, etc) would think of the climates in Canada. For me, quality of life is inseparable from climate. I could never be as happy in the climate of Timmins Edmonton as I would be in Honolulu or San Diego, and I think this is based on the health effects of enduring very long period or darkness and cold more than any conscious decision. So I think I can see someone from Mexico for example viewing a place like Canada as pretty much uninhabitable or at least unable to sustain any kind of quality of life.
I think Southern Ontario is well populated, but I can't say that for anywhere else. Even Montreal seems to lack the usual suburban sprawl found around population centers in America and Southern Ontario. From my perspective it is kind of just vast tracts of farmland and tiny New England-esque villages and then boom! A major city is there in front of you. BC especially could have a much larger population. It offers the best climate in the country (Okanagan plus Vancouver) as well as an unrivaled strategic location on the west coast for Canada. It seems odd that the city is so small.
Alberta though is an example of how finances can pull people to a region. Alberta has many more people there than one would expect according to climate. Look at it's population relative to the sparsely populated neighboring US states. If everyone could have a job and reasonable COL they would probably live in Vancouver, TO, or MTL but Alberta oil industry offers excellent opportunities that aren't so readily available in other areas. I also find Quebec City to be large enough considering it's isolated location and very harsh climate. Perhaps the fact that it has a thriving tourism industry and hosts the Quebec national assembly helps retain population.
Why don't more people live in Canada? Talking to foreigners they always seem amazed that the second largest country in the world only has 35 million people. Heck, the US has states with that population.
The first thing that comes to mind is weather. Is it the dealbreaker? .......
Every year the government of Canada's immigration planning sets a target between 240,000 and 265,000 new permanent residents being allowed to immigrate into Canada. Every year the target is met and every year there is still a great long waiting list of many more hundreds of thousands of people applying and waiting to be approved to get in. So I don't think the Canadian weather is a deal breaker for people otherwise Canada wouldn't be getting the applications or admitting the targetted quarter of a million people every year.
I think that you and the amazed foreigners that you've been talking to are trying to make something complex out of a thing that is really very simple. The rest of the world is becoming over-populated and crowded with teeming humanity where in some places they barely have room to breathe. That crowding and the poor economy and poverty and strain on resources that crowding leads to is what the rest of the world has become accustomed to because it doesn't know anything different. So it seems strange to crowded people that Canada does not permit itself to get dragged down to their level and become over-populated and crowded just like them.
Just because the rest of the world is going crazy and out of control doesn't mean that Canada has to follow suit. Canada's population is growing systematically and methodically every year in accordance with what the economy, resources and infrastructure can sustain every year. To bring in more people than what the country is ready to sustain would be insane.
To add to the above - OP, you should take another look at the map you posted. See all those white spots that cover most of Canada? Those are 3 million open lakes that are completely surrounded by deep swamp called muskeg. It's been estimated that there's approximately another 3 million smaller less visible lakes that are also surrounded by the same muskeg. Muskeg and open water is uninhabitable by humans and the habitable land that remains is already occupied or being slowly expanded into as the population and infrastructure increases. Canada is a big country but there is only about one quarter of it that is habitable by humans and I doubt we'll ever see the day that 100 million people get crammed into the habitable space.
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