Vancouver seems to be growing at a rapid pace. Cranes are always busy hauling up beams for the nonstop construction of new towers. Victoria is growing at a slower pace but it's expected to hit 500 000 in pop over the next 20 years. BTW, I heard on the news that Vancouver is rated 3rd as the best world city. Awesome city, no doubt about that...

http://vicpic.cybersites.ca/Apr05/VancouverSpring2004.jpg

Victoria is growing at a slower pace but it's expected to hit 500 000 in pop over the next 20 years.
You seem to contradict yourself.

Victoria seems to grow at a slower pace but the forecast is for a fair bit more pop growth. The forecast is not mine, it's from people who study pop growth and trends. I'm just saying how things seem right now compared to Vancouver. I'm sure that Victoria will speed up in growth in the near future. People out east are learning about Victoria and decide to leave the snow that falls in April over in Ontario and even May in Quebec for a very nice area.

Frankly, Victoria will NEVER hit 500,000. I don't think it will hit 400,000. Greater Victoria has 320,000 and is growing by only 2,000 a year even in these "boom years".
A lot of construction and outrageous house prices mean nothing. Its the demographics that matter. Most of the people moving to Vic are retirees, they want to l;ive somewhere but they are also probably going to be dead in 20 years. The sq area is growing but not the population. It took Vic to go from 320 to 330 4 years.

^ I wouldn't say never, since Victoria has the best weather in the country, people will continually be moving here to retire. It will more than likley hit 400,000, in about 50 years, and contrary to your opinion Victoria is growing in population, even if it's not as fast as the bigger cities, it's still moving forward.

I don't think it's outside the realm of possibility that Victoria could reach half a million long before 2050. As it stands, about the only reason Victoria isn't growing in leaps and bounds has more to do with politics than peoples' desire to move there. There is always that feeling of a city of NIMBY's running the place....I know TONS of people who want to live there and would go back in a heartbeat if it weren't for the cost of living. Hell, I'D move there if I thought I could afford to.

But the thing is about people who retire... they die and they dont reproduce. So retirees arent going to make Victoria's population grow. They just replace each other.

^Of course you're right there. I just mean that if things were to change in some respects concerning the business climate in Vic. the place could boom. Exactly what needs to change I don't know but it's undeniable that there are a great many people who would like to live there....it's just that right now there is no incentive for that to happen.

BTW...how did this become a thread about Victoria anyway? lol

^^^^^^^^^true Peg
Vancouver has construction all overr the place but Vancouver is also in a precarious position. If interest rates take a huge jump then the building boom will stop {atleast residential} and that is what is causing much of the growth in BC. Also if interest rates double or ebven go to 8% all these people with 3&4,000,000 mortagage for their 1500sq foot dumps are going to have to renegotiate and their payments will go up by 5or6 hundred a month.

BC in general is about the only place in Canada that I would expect to see growing no matter what happened outside of it. The climate and scenery are just such great draws for people that if given the choice I'll bet half the country would relocate there.

(it only became a victoria thread because 3 victoria forumers and one from Saltspring island posted in it).

But on with the vancouver talk!