Housing Stock Per Capita Rising as Immigrations Slows

The unprecedented surge in population growth following the pandemic exacerbated Canada’s housing shortage. However, recent changes to the federal government’s immigration policy are beginning to reverse this trend. In the past two quarters, the housing stock per 1,000 persons has risen as a result of slower population growth. To continue closing the housing gap, more supply-side […]

Fast vs. Slow: How Different Immigration Rates Can Impact Canada’s Economic Challenges and Regional Disparities

Fast vs. Slow: How Different Immigration Rates Can Impact Canada’s Economic Challenges and Regional Disparities This report examines how different permanent immigration rates – and policies aimed at influencing where newcomers settle – affect Canada’s population growth, regional balance, and long-term economic challenges. It models six scenarios from 2021 to 2046 to project the impacts […]

Canada’s Future Depends on Where Immigrants Settle, Not Just How Many Are Welcomed

June 3, 2024 – Immigration alone cannot solve Canada’s regional and demographic challenges, according to a new report from the C.D. Howe Institute. Immigration must be paired with regional development; otherwise, Canada risks exacerbating the divide between fast- and slow-growth regions while placing even greater strain on already pressured large urban centres. In “Fast vs. […]

More Flexibility, Please, for Seniors’ LTD Coverage

To: Canadian insurance watchersFrom: Joe NunesDate: May 23, 2025Re: More Flexibility, Please, for Seniors’ LTD Coverage As more Canadians work past age 65 – due to longer life expectancy, the end of mandatory retirement, and the need or desire to keep working – rigid age cutoffs for long-term disability (LTD) insurance, typically set at 65, may […]

Trump has Given Us a Generational Talent Opportunity. Let’s Seize It.

To: Canadians concerned about prosperityFrom: Martin EichenbaumDate: May 5, 2025Re: Trump has Given Us a Generational Talent Opportunity. Let’s Seize It. Canadians often complain that many of our brightest stars move south. The list of distinguished expats is long and impressive: Artists, academics, entrepreneurs, managers, athletes and more. The phrase “brain drain” is familiar to all of […]

Balancing Canada’s Population Growth and Ageing Through Immigration Policy

Balancing Canada’s Population Growth and Ageing Through Immigration Policy Canada faces twin demographic pressures: an ageing population and rapid population growth driven by immigration. The report argues that immigration levels must strike a careful balance – sufficient to offset some effects of low fertility and an ageing workforce, but not so high as to outpace […]

Immigration Is Not a Demographic Cure-All: Towards a Sustainable Population Strategy

May 1, 2025 – Canada cannot rely on immigration alone to address the challenges posed by its ageing population and relentless decline in fertility rates, according to a new report from the C.D. Howe Institute. Without a broader population strategy, rising immigration could fuel rapid growth while straining housing, healthcare, and infrastructure — without fully […]

Let’s Get Flexible: Improving Long-Term Disability Insurance for Older Workers

April 22, 2025 – With a wave of Canadians staying in the workforce past age 65, employers need to improve long-term disability insurance (LTD insurance) to better reflect the needs of today’s workforce, according to a new C.D. Howe Institute report. In “Rethinking Age-Cutoffs for Long-term Disability Insurance,” author Joe Nunes examines LTD insurance, which […]

Rethinking Age-Cutoffs for Long-Term Disability Insurance

The Study in Brief As more Canadians work past age 65 – due to longer life expectancy, the end of mandatory retirement, and the need or desire to keep working – rigid age cutoffs for long-term disability (LTD) insurance, typically set at 65, may be legally vulnerable. Although courts have upheld some age-based terminations of […]

We Have More Workers. Now We Have to Invest in Them

From: Parisa Mahboubi and Tingting ZhangTo: Canadian economic observersDate: March 26, 2025Re: We Have More Workers. Now We Have to Invest in Them As trade tensions with the United States escalate, putting tens of thousands of Canadian jobs at risk, our home-grown productivity problem continues to erode the country’s economic strength. Without a change of strategy, Canada faces […]

Slowing Population Growth May Already Be Slowing Increases in Rents

From: Tasnim FarihaTo: Housing watchersDate: March 25, 2025Re: Slowing Population Growth May Already Be Slowing Increases in Rents Canada’s housing sector is grappling with a multifaceted crisis characterized by soaring prices, declining affordability, and an increasing disparity between housing supply and population growth. Since 2016, home prices have surged by nearly 40 percent, contributing to […]

Rising Immigration Actually Increased Labour Shortages

Published in the Financial Post From 2015 to 2023, the federal government allowed immigration levels to increase fivefold, mostly through a significant rise in temporary immigration. By mid-2024, Canada had three million non-permanent residents, representing 7.3 per cent of the country’s population — up from just 1.4 per cent in 2015. A key objective of […]

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