Tausi Insider

Over the past year, Canada has added 700,000 people, roughly the same as the population of Mississauga. This population boom has its share of growing pains. Tausi Insider/iStockPhoto / Getty Images Every year, Canada adds a big city – in a sense. The mass of individuals are spread around, mostly to urban centres, but increasingly to suburbs and far-flung communities. They are here to work, to study, to build a better life. The expansion is historic. From July to September, Canada’s population grew by around 285,000, a 0.7-per-cent gain that was the largest since Newfoundland joined Confederation in 1949. More than 700,000 people have been added over the past year, roughly the same as the population of Mississauga, the seventh-largest municipality in the country. The trend picked up when the federal Liberal Party came to power. Since 2016, the country has grown at nearly double the rate of its Group of Seven peers. For the most part, that growth is driven by immigration. The push is d...

An oilsands mine facility seen from the air near Fort McMurray, on Sept. 19, 2011. Many communities across Canada, including Fort McMurray, are dealing with labour shortages that experts say are likely to get worse in the next few years due to this country's aging population. Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press When Dan Gallagher looks around his company, he sees a lot of retirement parties in his future. While it’s not something he formally tracks, the CEO of Mikisew Group – a Fort McMurray, Alta.-based company that specializes in oilsands site services, maintenance, logistics and construction – knows he’s got more employees approaching the end of their careers than just starting out. “I take a walk around our shop, and around our field services workforce, and I can clearly see that demographic. It’s aging,” Gallagher said. The implications of that make him nervous. Mikisew Group is already struggling with a shortage of labour, even recruiting as far away as Australia just to keep ...

The bad news for investors is that Canada will probably slip into a recession in the months ahead. The good news is that the recession may not feel like a recession at all. One reason to think the downturn will be mild is Canada’s rapidly greying work force. An aging population is often seen as source of economic vulnerability, but at a time like now, when rising interest rates are chilling the economy, the country’s swelling number of seniors can actually provide some much appreciated flexibility. Think of it this way: An aging population means an enormous number of Canadians are on the brink of retirement. About 2.6 million Canadians are now between ages 60 and 64. Even if economic growth grinds to a temporary halt, the impending exodus of many of these people from the labour force should continue to open up opportunities for younger workers. “In 1981, there were 14 Canadians between the ages of 60 and 64 in full-time work for every 100 Canadians aged 20 to 24,” Stephen Gordon, an ...