Canada's Growth Trending Toward the Suburban

"The transformation of once-decrepit downtown neighbourhoods such as Vancouver’s Yaletown, Toronto’s Liberty Village and Montreal’s Griffintown into bustling modern burgs of condo-dwelling millennials only looks like the defining urbanization trend of the past decade," writes Konrad Yakabuski for the opinion section of The Globe and Mail.

Yakabuski continues: "While condo cranes dotting city skylines get all the attention, the real story in most Canadian cities remains the unabated growth of the suburbs. The ’burbs continue to draw tens of thousands of new residents every year compared to the few thousand or so who move downtown."

Here's the data Yakabuski uses to back his claim.

Between 2011 and 2016, according to an Environics Analytics analysis of census data, the population of Toronto’s suburbs grew by 7.7 per cent while the city proper grew by 4.5 per cent. In Vancouver, suburban growth outpaced the increase in the city 7.1 per cent to 4.6 per cent. In Montreal, the suburbs grew 5.3 per cent; the city, 2.9 per cent.

There's also no shortage of more less data-driven descriptions of the appeal of suburbs—relying on the traditional taking points about the appeal of large yards and good schools.