It's heartening to hear that the Conference Board of Canada forecasts economic growth this year for Quebec City, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, and Regina. That's the good news. The bad news is that of the 13 metropolitan areas the Conference Board surveys, more than half — eight — will shrink and canada's biggest metropolitan area — Ontario's Golden Horseshoe incorporating Toronto and Hamilton — is going to trail all metropolitan areas when it comes to economic growth.
Here's the Conference Board's predictions for economic growth for 2009 (in percentage terms compared to 2008)
- Saskatoon: +1.7%
- Regina: +1.6%
- Winnipeg: +1.1%
- Quebec City: +0.6%
- Ottawa: +0.2% (Weakest since 1996)
- Halifax: 0.0
- Calgary: -0.1% (First decline in 20 years)
- Edmonton: -0.2%
- Victoria: -0.3%
- Montreal: -0.5% (Worst since 1991)
- Vancouver: -0.9%
- Toronto: -1.6%
- Hamilton: -1.9%