Note: National Bank of Canada is a commercial bank, not the Bank of Canada which is Canada’s national bank. Um. Which is Canada’s central bank.

The graphs in the presentation are the key takeaway for me. But, some key words:

“Canada is caught in a population trap that has historically been the preserve of emerging economies. We currently lack the infrastructure and capital stock in this country to adequately absorb current population growth and improve our standard of living.”

…

“To put things in perspective, Canada’s population growth in 2023 was 3.2%, five times higher than the OECD average.”

…

“But to meet current demand and reduce shelter cost inflation, Canada would need to double its housing construction capacity to approximately 700,000 starts per year, an unattainable goal.”