The Canadian Dream is increasingly being realized in smaller areas For decades, Canadians moved to the larger cities (census metropolitan areas, or CMAs) with their economic opportunities. The latest estimates indicate that CMAs have 72 per cent of the nation’s...
Wendell Cox
The Rural Character of Canada’s Metropolitan Areas (CMAS)
There is considerable confusion with respect to the terms of urban geography, not only among the population in general, but also among the media, and sadly, among academics. Perhaps the greatest confusion is between the terms “metropolitan area” and “urban area.”...
Cities Have to Expand for House Prices to Fall
The cost of actually building a house does not vary that much across Canada The Ford government’s plan to expand the land supply available for housing has evoked the usual dog whistles about “urban sprawl” by interests apparently unaware of the strong...
Return to Reason Podcast – Wendell Cox – How to Solve Canada’s Housing Crisis
The housing market crisis in Canada has hit an all time high. Expert in demography, Wendell Cox has an eye-opening discussion with guest host David Craig about the public policies surrounding this issue, and how to solve the problems with supply, demand and...
Featured News
Traditional Teaching is not Obsolete
Artificial intelligence has come a long way. Unlike the rudimentary software of the past, modern-day programs such as ChatGPT are truly impressive. Whether you need a 1,000-word essay summarizing the history of Manitoba, a 500-word article extolling the virtues of...
Ottawa’s Policies Defeat Its Critical Minerals Push
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made a recent rush visit to the Saskatchewan Research Council’s experimental rare earth refining facility in Saskatoon. He touted his government’s efforts to promote rare earth discovery, development, and extraction, along with the...
Early Observations on the Pandemic and Population Density
It is still too early to draw precise conclusions on the extent to which the spread of the COVID-19 is related to urban population density. But there are important recurring themes. The following observations are made with the caveats that we are largely dealing with...
Bertaud Book Suggested For Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s Reading List
Australia’s Grattan Institute has included former World Bank principal planner’s Order Without Design: How Markets Shape Cities on its annual “Prime Minister’s Summer Reading List” (Summer starts in just a couple of weeks there). It is a good recommendation. We...
Canada’s Resurgent Population Growth and Exodus from Unaffordability
Canada is experiencing resurgent growth, according to the latest population estimates from Statistics Canada. Between 2015 and 2019, the nation added 1.30 percent to its population annually. This is up about one-third from the annual rate between 2010 and 2015. The...
Standard of Living Crisis Evident in New Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey
One of the principal advances of the past two centuries has been the drastic reduction in poverty and the rise of a large middle-class, a process expertly detailed by economists Diedre McClosky and Robert Gordon. At the heart of this trend was the increase in the home...
16th Annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey
How affordable is housing in your City? There has long been concern about deteriorating housing affordability in Canada. The OECD has expressed concerns about the decline of the middle-class in Canada and the substantial role of house price increases. Two of the 10...
High-Speed Rail: Stop, Look, and Listen
To listen to the promoters, the Vancouver to Seattle and Portland high-speed rail proposal may look like a great idea. For many, high-speed rail is a panacea that promises to solve all of our transportation and environmental problems. It behooves governments and...
Why Ottawa’s Attempts to Help Young Canadians Afford Housing Simply Won’t Work
The federal Liberal government’s proposed budget includes an innovative plan to improve housing affordability through “shared equity” mortgages. First-time homebuyers could qualify for a 10-per-cent “shared equity” mortgage on Canadian Mortgage and Housing...
Airbus A380: Death of the “Plane Born to Die”
Airbus’ cancellation (February 14) of the four engine, wide-body A380 jumbo jet ends the troubled life of a plane that always was too big and out of sync with changing market realities. Little more than 11 years after its October 2007 maiden commercial flight by...
Frontier Senior Fellow Wendell Cox discusses the 15th Demographia International Housing Affordability Index with Geoff Currier on CJOB Winnipeg. Exploring why houses are more or less expensive in different Canadian markets. (14 minutes)