While real estate, groceries and the price of gas are on the up, Canada’s population isn’t, and when it comes to British Columbia- we’re on the decline.
Statistics Canada has revealed the country’s population growth stalled in the first quarter of 2025, at 0.0 per cent.
B.C. Conservatives Leader John Rustad said with close to half of the province’s youth thinking about leaving B.C., this is an issue that can’t be ignored.
“That’s tomorrow’s workforce, if not today’s workforce.” said Rustad.
“These issues need to be solved if we want to be able to see our communities continue to thrive and have an opportunity for people to be able to build a future and see themselves retiring here.”
“We need to be able to be, as a province, open up for business, and most importantly, so that we can see high paying jobs,”
“We need to see things moderate in British Columbia in terms of our cost structure, but we need to see wages go up, and we need to be able to create an environment where people can build a future here in British Columbia.”
Canada now has a population of 41,548,787
“This was the second-slowest quarterly growth rate in Canada since comparable records began (first quarter of 1946), behind only the third quarter of 2020 and tied with the fourth quarter of 2014,” the agency said.
Canada’s Q1, 2025, population growth by province
Alberta: 20,562
Manitoba: 3,307
Saskatchewan: 2,660
New Brunswick: 876
Nova Scotia: 791
PEI: 749
Newfoundland and Labrador: -115
Quebec: -1,013
British Columbia: -2,357
Ontario: -5,664
– story done by Kate Brown, My Kootenay Now staff
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