Category Archives: best city to live in Canada for immigrants

Vancouver 5th Place in Global Quality of Life Ranking

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Vancouver once again ranked at the top among Canadian cities in a global quality of life index thanks to its temperate climate and the quality of its infrastructure

The Mercer 2012 Quality of Life Ranking has again placed Vancouver as the top spot to live in Canada and the Americas. Beating out the West Coast city globally were Vienna, Austria (1st), Zurich, Switzerland (2nd), Auckland, New Zealand (3rd), and Munich, Germany (4th).

Other Canadian cities lost points to Vancouver because of their colder climates which according to the index affects quality of life. Calgary (32nd), which has experienced an economic boom over the last two decades thanks to Alberta’s expanding oil production, also lost points to Vancouver, and other Canadian cities, due to a lack of an international airport.

The Mercer index also ranked cities by the quality of their infrastructure, an area where Vancouver also ranked well in, placing 9th worldwide and first in the Americas. The top spot for infrastructure went to the South East Asian free market bastion of Singapore, followed by the Northern European metropolises of Frankfurt (tied 2nd), Munich (tied 2nd), Copenhagen (4th), Düsseldorf (5th) and London (tied 6th).

Three other Canadian cities ranked in the top five in the Americas in the quality of life rankings: at second Ottawa (14th), at third Toronto (15th), and placing fourth Montreal (23rd). Honolulu, Hawaii (28th) rounded out the top 5 in the Americas.

Census Shows Growing Multi-Lingual-ism of Canada, in Line With Immigration Trends

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Granville St in Vancouver. Thirty-one percent of Vancouver's population now speaks a language other than English or French at home, according to the latest census data (CICS News)

Twenty percent of the Canadian population now speaks a language other than French or English at home, according to the latest census information released by Statistics Canada.

The statistics point to immigration’s transformational effect on Canadian demography and culture, as hundreds of thousands of people from primarily non-English and French speaking countries settle in Canada each year.

The census shows a majority – 58.0% – of the Canadian population speaking only English at home, and 18.2% speaking only French.

According to the census, the fastest growing non-English-or-French languages in Canada between 2006 and 2011 were:

  • Tagalog, the national language of the Philippines (+64%)
  • Mandarin, the official language of China (+50%)
  • Arabic, spoken in the Middle East and North Africa (+47%)
  • Hindi, the official language of India (+44%)
  • Creole languages, spoken primarily in the Caribbean islands (+42%)
  • Bengali, a common language in India (+40%)
  • Persian, the official language of Iran (+33%)
  • Spanish, the official language of Spain and most of Latin America (+32%)

The list closely mirrors immigration trends, with the Philippines, India and China as the largest sources of immigrants to Canada:

  • Philippines (13%)
  • India (10.8%)
  • People’s Republic of China (10.8%)
  • United Kingdom (3.4%)
  • United States of America (3.3%)
  • France (2.5%)
  • Iran (2.4%)
  • United Arab Emirates (2.4%)
  • Morocco (2.1%)
  • Republic of Korea (2%)

Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC)

Among metropolitan areas, the highest concentration of non-English and French language speakers was found in Toronto, with 32.2% speaking another language at home. The most commonly spoken immigrant languages in Toronto were found to be Cantonese, Punjabi, Chinese n.o.s., Urdu and Tamil.

Vancouver had the next highest concentration of immigrant language speakers, at 31%. Among immigrant language speakers, Punjabi was the most common language spoken, at 17.7%, followed by Cantonese (16.0%), Chinese n.o.s. (12.2%), Mandarin (11.8%) and Tagalog (6.7%).

Montréal had a significantly lower proportion of immigrant language speakers than Toronto and Vancouver, at 16.5% of its population.

Arabic, at 17.2%, followed by Spanish (15.2%), Italian (8.1%), Chinese n.o.s. (5.7%) and a Creole language (5.4%) were the most common immigrant languages reported to be spoken in the city.

Canadian Non-Partisan Think Tank Finds Oil Sands Greatly Benefit Country’s Economy

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A technician at Syncrude, the largest producer of crude oil derived from the Athabasca oil sands (Syncrude Canada Ltd.)

The Conference Board of Canada (CBoC), the largest non-partisan think tank in Canada, has published a study today showing that development of northern Alberta’s Athabasca oil sands will create over 3.2 million person-years of employment in Canada over the next 25 years, a third of them in provinces other than Alberta.

The CBoC report projects $364 billion in investment will be made into developing Canada’s oil sands deposits over the next 25 years, which will create 880,000 person-years of employment in projects directly related to oil sands development and 1.45 million in production of goods/services linked to the investment through the supply-chain.

The combined 2.3 million person-years of employment are projected by the study to earn $172 billion in income, which will generate another 880,000 person-years of employment through the wealth effect of the employees spending their income.

The report estimates that over 90 percent of the direct-effects employment, 70 percent of the supply chain employment, and 59 percent of the wealth effect employment will be generated in Alberta, where the investment activity will occur.

Other Canadian regions will benefit in the order of Ontario, deriving the largest benefit, then BC, Quebec, the Prairies, and Atlantic Canada, which will see the smallest gain in oil-sands-investment-related employment.

The CBoC report only studied the projected effects of the oil sands investment, and not the oil production itself, which it estimates will be even larger than the investment activity.

The report projects Canadian oil exports will increase by 2.9 million barrels of oil per day (mmbd), from 2011 levels, to 4 mmbd of oil by 2035, increasing direct employment in the oil and gas industry to 175,000.

Continued immigration into Alberta

The employment effects predicted by the CBoC study suggest that high-levels of inter-provincial and international immigration into Alberta will continue for the forseeable future.

Alberta led Canadian provinces last year with a population growth rate of 2.5 percent, thanks to having the highest per capita GDP and, alongside Saskatchewan, the lowest unemployment rate in Canada.

Canada Has Fastest Population Growth in G8, Driven By Immigration and Led by Prairies

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The Prairie provinces, prospering from their abundance of natural resources, led Canada in population growth in the year ending June 30th, 2012. Two thirds of the world's potash reserves are near Saskatoon, pictured above, the largest city in Saskatchewan.

A Statistics Canada report released today estimates that Canada’s population grew by 1.1 percent in the year ending June 30 2012, giving it the fastest population growth among the G8 countries.

In comparison, the second fastest growing population in the G8 was that of the United States, which grew by 0.7 percent over the same period. Japan, with its shrinking population, had the lowest population growth rate, at negative 0.3 percent.

The largest source for Canada’s population growth was immigration, as the country has continued to sustain the highest immigration levels in the world as a percentage of its population.

Among Canadian provinces, Alberta saw the fastest population growth, at 2.5 percent, as the province, which has the highest per capita GDP in Canada, continued to lead the country in inter-provincial and international immigration and natural population growth.

The economy of Alberta has benefited in recent years from a booming oil sector as production in the Athabasca oil sands, which is one of the largest oil deposits in the world, continues to ramp up.

Other Prairie provinces also saw rapid population growth, with Saskatchewan and Manitoba’s populations growing by 2.1 and 1.2 percent respectively.

A recent Fraser Institute study found that Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba have the best labour markets in Canada, with the lowest unemployment rates and fastest employment growth in the country, thanks to strong performance from their resource sectors.

Edmonton and Calgary to Have Fastest Economic Growth in Canada

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Suncor Energy Centre in Calgary, Alberta. Edmonton and Calgary are expected to have the fastest economic growth in Canada according to the Conference Board of Canada’s Metropolitan Outlook-Autumn 2012 (Chuck Szmurlo)

The Albertan metropolises, Calgary and Edmonton, will have the fastest economic growth in Canada this year, followed closely by Regina, Saskatchewan, according to a forecast by the Conference Board of Canada’s Metropolitan Outlook-Autumn 2012, released today.

Alberta is expected to benefit from high levels of energy-industry-related investment for the next four years, which will help fund economic growth of 3.8 percent in Calgary and 4.6 percent in Edmonton in 2012.

Saskatchewan’s cities, also enjoying a resource-sector-led boom thanks to the province’s large oil and gas, potash, uranium, and lumber resources, will see strong growth over the next four years according to the report. The provincial capital, Regina, is expected to lead the province with economic growth of 3.6 percent in 2012.

Perhaps surprisingly given the city’s real estate slowdown, Vancouver is expected to have one of the best performing economies in Canada in the coming years, with economic growth of 3.1 percent in 2012, and average annual economic growth of 3.3 percent forecast for the next four years.

Alberta Has Best Labour Market in North America -Study

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Suncor Energy Centre in Calgary, Alberta. Alberta has seen the fastest employment growth in North America according to the latest Index of Labour Market Performance report by the Fraser Institute (Chuck Szmurlo)

A new Fraser Institute study finds that Alberta tops all Canadian provinces and US states in labour market performance.

The report, by Nachum Gabler, Niels Veldhuis, and chief economist for the Fraser Institute, Amela Karabegović, rates jurisdictions by five indicators: average total employment growth, average private-sector employment growth, average unemployment rates, average duration of unemployment, and average labour productivity.

In the overall index, Alberta received a score of 8.9 out of 10, higher than any other province or US state. Saskatchewan came second in the rankings, with a score of 8.3, and Manitoba ranked 5th, with a score of 7.2.

All three high-ranking provinces have enjoyed strong employment growth thanks to booming natural resource sectors. Alberta leads the provinces in oil production, followed by Saskatchewan. All three have large mining and agricultural sectors which have benefited from rising commodity prices on the global markets.

In addition to having the best employment growth and the sixth lowest unemployment rate in North America, Alberta’s ranking was helped by low unionization rates, low dependence on the public sector to provide jobs, a low minimum wage relative to average wages, and, among Canadian provinces, the most labour flexibility provided by “worker-choice laws”, which prohibit mandatory payment of union dues as a condition of employment.

Alberta also placed first in Canada, and sixth overall, in labour productivity, with a GDP per worker of $131,040. Newfoundland & Labrador ranked second among the provinces with a per worker GDP of $129,547, and Saskatchewan ranked third with $120,372.

One factor that the study’s authors consider important in labour market performance but did not include in the Index of Labour Market Performance is the number of working days lost to labour disputes.

British Columbia ranked last among all jurisdictions in this metric, with 105.5 working days lost per 1,000 workers, due mostly to strikes by public sector unions.