[newflyer]

Originally Posted by DowntownWpg

Newflyer,

Thank-you very much for the info you had put up back on the first page of this thread. I was always wondering about maps and the capital region.

So, the CMA is really a StatsCan thing for population analysis, I knew that but hadn't really seen a map of it. The capital seems to be for the purposes of economic analysis. Obviously, "Wpg Proper" is the defined city of Winnipeg.

Guess where I get confused, or perturbed, is when people boast about the population of the Capital Region, as though it is the population of Winnipeg and the area directly surrounding it. Specifically, people seem to love to point to the Capital Region and say "wow, is Winnipeg ever growing."

I don't really like the definition of "50% of the workforce working in the core city." I prefer to think of the Winnipeg population area in terms of proximity of built-up townships (in short, if you're on a highway leaving Winnipeg, as soon you're clearly in a farming area, you're no longer in what I consider the Winnipeg region).

In actuality, however, the Capital Region is for economic analysis. There are significant amount of people living in the Capital Region who are so far from Winnipeg, that it seems drastically inappropriate for Winnipeggers to boast about the population of "Winnipeg's Capital Region."

This is became quite clear to me when I considered, upon looking at the map you put up, that those with year-round properties in the beaches area of the southern bay of Lake Winnipeg are certainly too far away to be counted as a person who can be attributed somehow to Winnipeg. Is it fair for a Winnipeger to boast that the Capital Region population is X, when in fact, it's including people that far away (who need not rely on Winnipeg for basic services). Same goes with Saint Francois Xavier, which is illustrated on the map.

Anyway, I guess it's totally clear to me now that while the population of the capital region is X, that stat is completely deceptive as it leads one to believe that it's the population of the COW and neighbouring townships that are bordering the COW. There is no way that people from St. Francois Xavier would consider them to be in any "Winnipeg Region."

I have put together my own version of what I consider to be reasonable when we think about COW and the neighbouring townships:



Any people living beyond the red line, IMO, it's unreasonable to attribute them as being in any Winnipeg population area. It's also unacceptable for Winnipeggerss to boast that people beyond that red line are part of some population of near-by Winnipeg area... when this happens, it's just Winnipeggers unreasonably stretching as best they can to get the population numbers as high as possible in an attempt to impress those who do not live here.

The capital region, I'm sure, has a purpose for economic analysis. It is just deceptive to attribute people beyond my red line as being some sort of a Winnipegger, or to make it seem as though Winnipeg has that population bordering it. From now on, I have no use for statements like "we're sure on our way to being a big city, look at the capital region's population" etc.

Yup, I sure like my map, which I'm thinking of calling "The Realistic Winnipeg Population Region," or something along those lines with a condescending undertone.

Anyway thanks again, Newflyer, for taking the time to provide the info based on an earlier question of mine. Have a good weekend.

You are very welcome .. I wanted to clear up any possible misunderstanding as to what was the Capital Region is, compared to the CMA. The fact is they would be the same number if Selkirk didn't have its own employment base... with the steel industry and retail and regional services.

I can understand your point of view, but honestly if you carried the same logic over to other cities, than Vancouver would be only 600,000 people. The fact is the region is developing because of the economic stimulus of the primary city.. and this develops economic growth in the surrounding areas. This is the reason why they need to develop plans for the capital region as each municipality becomes more intigrated with its neighbour.

Another example would be LA .. which is a much lesser city if you don't consider the growth and development of the surrounding cities (suburbs) over the decades. In agregate of the LA region is a massive economic base. Of course Winnipeg is a much smaller scale than LA .. but when considering the economy of the city, it would not be accurate to just include the city proper plus a couple KMs beyond the perimeter. Winnipeg is greatly supported by the surrounding population and in many ways the region becomes more of the base measure of what the city can support than the city proper. This is what investors consider when looking at what Winnipeg can support.

One last example would be ... a number of years ago I used to work at a rapidly growing company 30 minutes outside of the city. Each morning I used to drive from my apartment downtown to the office of the company. While I realized how lucky I was to be driving against the flow .. I also was very aware of the thousands of people who commute to the city to support Winnipeg's economy everyday. Winnipeg would be a much developed city, if it wasn't for the economic addition of its nieghbours.

It is no different than any other large city ... Toronto, Montreal, Chicago, Denver .. you name it. As time goes on Niverville, Stonewall, Selkirk.. ect will see further invetsment , both residential and business .. as the economy of the region grows... BUT Winnipeg being the big dog will see the overwelming majority of the investment, unless it's economy isn't supported by strong economic policy.