Cities (urban areas or settlements) have been around for millennia. Over that time, cities have changed in form and function. But the way that people move around the city has materially changed only twice. Walking was predominant until less than 200 years ago, then...
Canada is a nation of wide open spaces, yet it has high urban area densities recently driven higher by a redefinition of urban area criteria (Note 1). Canada’s largest urban area (population centre) is Toronto, with a population of 5.4 million continues to be the...
Jointly Published with the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies The 13th Annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey: 2017 is published in collaboration with the Demographia group in Illinois, USA and the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies in...
Wendell Cox, December 23, 2016 In drafting a National Housing Strategy, the federal government, in cooperation with the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) and the Conference Board of Canada have produced a report on findings from public consultation. The...
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Frontier Centre for Public Policy!
The war against the invisible enemy of COVID-19 has unfortunately made normal rights and freedoms invisible as well. Another example manifested on September 13 when Saskatchewan’s premier renewed emergency orders for his province. The list of powers he claimed were so...
Putting Canada at the bottom of the list for housing poor children is absurd. As with all statistical arguments, understanding the UNICEF report requires a careful eye and a healthy dose of skepticism. The study focuses on relative differences; that is, the gap between children in the middle of the income distribution and the average below that line. Exclusively relying on relative indicators is a highly contentious, and generally misleading, way to examine poverty. The UNICEF report is no exception.
“It is truly astonishing to watch how determined the economics orthodoxy is to defend its inexcusable, economy-wrecking performance in the run up to the financial crisis. Most people who preside over disasters, say from a boating accident or the failure of a venture, spend considerable amounts of time in review of what happened and self-recrimination. Yet policy-making economists have not only seemed constitutionally unable to recognize that their programs resulted in widespread damage, but to add insult to injury, they insist that they really didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Canadians are not listening to “their betters” any more than Americans. US Census data indicates a continuing strong migration of people from the central cities and strong migration to the suburbs, despite heroic efforts on the part of the media and others to mask the reality.”
Canadian cities need to allow more supply on the private rental market.
“The political execution of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd by his own Australian Labor Party colleagues was extraordinary, the first time a prime minister has been denied a second chance to face the voters.”
Watch Wendell Cox discuss housing affordability in Vancouver here. (3 minutes)
“Our 6th Annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey found Atlanta to be the second most affordable metropolitan area with more than 1,000,000 residents and the 17th most affordable metropolitan area out of 272 markets in six nations. Portland ranked 180th.”
“The provincial government bills British Columbia as the “Best Place on Earth” but rarely mentions that Vancouver is also among the least affordable places in the world to find a home.”
Canadians are in debt up to their fiscal eyeballs and that doesn’t bode well for Canada’s housing market.