Census numbers show downtown Halifax has grown at record pace

Downtown Halifax sees population surge Downtown Halifax leads the country with a 26 per cent growth in population over the last five years.

Wednesday's census from Statistics Canada revealed a lot of people are choosing to live in the Maritimes’ urban centres and Halifax is leading the way.

That was not the case when Waye Mason was first elected to HRM Council 10 years ago

“All the businesses were moving to Moncton and all the kids were moving to Fort McMurray,” said Mason who also said, at the time, revitalizing Halifax's downtown quickly became a top priority.

"First you have to say, ‘this is what we’re going to do to make downtown more attractive’ and to convince people to want to invest in Halifax and live here.”

Back in 2012, one major obstacle was the lack of urban development – but those days are over.

According to the latest census numbers, Halifax’s downtown has grown more than 26 per cent since 2016, which is the fastest growth rate in Canada. The downtown core grew almost three-times faster than the other areas of the HRM.

Paul MacKinnon, from the Downtown Halifax Business Commission, said buildings are now popping up everywhere.

"There is new commercial development, new residential development, and we started to see public infrastructure,” said MacKinnon.

“Those things are kind of work in tandem to build confidence.”

Martha Casey is the CEO of Volta, a Halifax-based non-profit that supports start-up companies that have global impacts.

"There are companies that started at Volta that now employ hundreds of people in downtown Halifax and they have attracted people from all over the world to work there,” said Casey, who added Halifax has built-in attributes that make the city an attractive destination.

“We’ve got the post-secondary, the universities and the community college, which give a great source of talent. We have the Health Authority that is very focused on innovation. So that is attracting people who have these good ideas to come and either relocate their companies here or start their companies here.”

At this rate, Halifax could reach a million people by 2050, but there's a downside.

"There are not enough houses," said Mason.

"We are actually so successful that we went from a city that was barely growing and were shrinking, to growing by the size of Truro every year.”

Mason said increased development and more housing will be part of the HRM regional plan going forward.