B.C. tenants evicted for landlord's use after refusing large rent increase to take over neighbouring suite
Ashley Dickey and her mother rented part of the same Coquitlam duplex in three different decades under three different landlords.
New census data shows commuting levels dropped significantly in 2021 compared to 2016, and while some of that decline has rebounded, transit ridership hasn't fully recovered.
According to Statistics Canada, there were 2.8 million fewer commuters in 2021 than in 2016 as the pandemic drove a shift toward remote work.
The federal agency published a series of reports Wednesday based on the 2021 census, with two of them focused on commuting to work and the evolution of the labour force.
The data shows how COVID-19 altered commuting patterns and commute times, which fell with fewer cars on the road. StatCan notes that while those times are now rising again, commutes are still faster than they were in 2016.
Tricia Williams, director of research evaluation and knowledge mobilization at the Future Skills Centre, said the pandemic is a "tale of multiple stories."
"When you look at a lot of working-class people, their lives maybe haven't changed so much." Williams said. "But there's a vast swath of the population that has been able to have more flexible, remote workplaces."
The new census report illustrates that dichotomy. The drop in car commuting in May 2021 was mostly among workers in professional service industries. Among other workers, the number of car commuters actually increased.
By May 2021, most transit routes were operating normally with public health measures in effect, including mask mandates on trains and buses. A million Canadians took a bus or train to work in 2021, less than the 1.2 million who took transit when the data was first collected in 1996 and almost 50 per cent lower than it was in 2016.
Given the impact of the pandemic on remote work and commuting, StatCan also compared the 2021 data with updated numbers from this spring.
That showed that by May 2022, the number of people driving to work was back to 2016 levels. However, the number of people taking public transit was still lower than it was six years ago, making up just 7.7 per cent of all commuters.
Fewer people walked or biked to work in 2021 even though the federal government has spent millions on active transportation in recent years, including more than $400 million in 2021 alone.
Between 2016 and 2021 the number of people walking or cycling dropped by 26 per cent to 811,000. StatCan says that is due in part to the fact that there were fewer jobs in accommodations, food services and retail in 2021 -- nearly a third of the people who walked or biked to work in 2016 were in those sectors.
Williams said coming out of the pandemic, workers are hesitant to give up remote working.
"I think we'll continue to see flexibility as the new normal in workplaces," she said.
Statistics Canada has also published data on how the labour force is evolving as the Canadian population ages.
The labour force participation rate has fallen each census year since 2006 because of the aging of the baby boomer generation. As their growing health needs combined with the COVID-19 pandemic, pressures on the health-care system have increased.
The number of health-care workers increased by nearly 17 per cent between 2016 and 2021, but the rising demand for health-care workers during the pandemic has also brought into focus the challenges of ongoing labour shortages.
"Given the importance of demographic changes to economic growth, there will be continued focus on the extent to which immigration can mitigate the effects of population aging," the report said.
Between 2016 and 2021, 1.3 million immigrants were admitted to Canada, more than during any previous five-year period.
Experts have long raised concerns that immigrants are sometimes underutilized in the labour market. However, the report found that the unemployment gap is narrowing for recent immigrants in the working age group between 25 and 64.
In 2021, there was a 3.2 percentage-point gap in the unemployment rates of recent immigrants compared to other workers in the same age range. That's down from five percentage points in 2016.
During a news conference Wednesday, Statistics Canada's director general for labour and social well-being, Josee Begin, highlighted factors that may have contributed to the narrowing of the gap, including previous work or education experience in Canada.
"We know that recent immigrants are more educated than any previous cohort of immigrants," Begin said. "The fact that they are more educated has an impact in terms of the labour market outcomes."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Nov. 30, 2022.
Ashley Dickey and her mother rented part of the same Coquitlam duplex in three different decades under three different landlords.
A man who fell into a crevasse while leading a backcountry ski group deep in the Canadian Rockies has died.
A new survey by Dalhousie University's Agri-Food Analytics Lab asked Canadians about their food consumption habits amid rising prices.
MPP Sarah Jama was asked to leave the Legislative Assembly of Ontario by House Speaker Ted Arnott on Thursday for wearing a keffiyeh, a garment which has been banned at Queen’s Park.
Charlie Woods failed to advance in a U.S. Open local qualifying event Thursday, shooting a 9-over 81 at Legacy Golf & Tennis Club.
As Donald Trump was running for president in 2016, his old friend at the National Enquirer was scooping up potentially damaging stories about the candidate and paying out tens of thousands of dollars to keep them from the public eye.
After Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the federal government would still send Canada Carbon Rebate cheques to Saskatchewan residents, despite Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe's decision to stop collecting the carbon tax on natural gas or home heating, questions were raised about whether other provinces would follow suit. CTV News reached out across the country and here's what we found out.
A Montreal actress, who has previously detailed incidents she had with disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, says a New York Court of Appeals decision overturning his 2020 rape conviction is 'discouraging' but not surprising.
Caleb Williams is heading to the Windy City, aiming to become the franchise quarterback Chicago has sought for decades.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.