Where Do You See Your City?

[1overcosc]

What exactly is so bad about France these days? I read an article a few days ago that discussed all the major migration patterns in the world today, and mentioned the "ongoing and accelerating emigration from France to Canada and Israel" without going into any detail.

[GreaterMontréal]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

As will Pierre Bruneau ( ), who will break Lloyd Robertson's decades old record as Canada's oldest news anchor.

Bruneau like pruneau, lol

What exactly is so bad about France these days? I read an article a few days ago that discussed all the major migration patterns in the world today, and mentioned the "ongoing and accelerating emigration from France to Canada and Israel" without going into any detail.

it's called the Montréal's French invasion. The Plateau is now called, Nouvelle France. More than 110,000 Frenchman are living in Montréal, and the number goes up each year.

[ue]

Edmonton in 2040...

The metro area would be between 2 and 2-and-a-half million people, with well over 1 million in the city proper. Demographically, Edmonton will probably still be majority white, but significantly more diverse than it is today with an influx of Aboriginals and immigrants from Asia, Eastern Europe, the Caribbean, and Middle East.

The Anthony Henday Ring Road would be well past completion and work may be beginning on the second ring road past Devon and Leduc. LRT to Mill Woods, the West End, and St. Albert is in service, as is extensions of the existing Capital Line beyond Gorman (potentially to Fort Saskatchewan) and beyond Heritage Valley (potentially to the International). HSR between Edmonton and Calgary is already built or in the works. Edmonton's roads, especially the freeways such as Whitemud and Yellowhead, could get increasingly congested and are not maintained and upgraded to keep pace with Edmonton's growth.

While some annexations may occur, I don't foresee Edmonton swallowing up many of its bedroom communities. By 2040, Edmonton likely won't be responsible for most greenfield development in the metro area as Leduc, Spruce Grove, Beaumont, and Fort Saskatchewan play an increasing and more integrated role in the Capital Region. The larger existing communities of Sherwood Park and St. Albert I can see being overtook in rank by Leduc and Spruce Grove eventually. Sherwood Park and St. Albert will mature and become more integrated with Edmonton proper, perhaps with a unified transit system even!

Edmonton will probably continue to be an arts and cultural hub for the province, but with increased competition from Calgary for big draws. The AGA will likely be expanded upon or a new art museum may spring up to add or compete with the AGA. Same with the RAM. Our performing arts centres will continue to be top notch, though by then the Jube will be 85 years old (eek!) and may be showing signs of aging and will have to either be upgraded or replaced. The city could see 1-2 new large performing arts venues to quell the demand.

The city will remain a "festival city", but probably no longer with an emphasis on the summer months. Edmonton by 2040 should be embracing winter far better than it has been in recent decades, with more winter festivals and ways to get people out and enjoying our longest season.

Edmonton's major post-secondary institutions will have benefited greatly from having large swaths of central and accessible land to expand upon over the decades, allowing them to lead in various educational fields. MacEwan may be more of a peer to the UofA by 2040 as well.

The oil industry will continue to play a major role in Edmonton's growth, but not to the same degree as it does in 2015. Knowledge economy fields such as education and research will be ever more prominent pieces of Edmonton's economic pie.

Overall, Edmonton should enjoy increased prominence on the national stage. We will still likely be lacking in the boisterous ways of Calgary, but we will also no longer be mistaken for being a larger Winnipeg.

Originally Posted by GreaterMontréal

Bruneau like pruneau, lol



it's called the Montréal's French invasion. The Plateau is now called, Nouvelle France. More than 110,000 Frenchman are living in Montréal, and the number goes up each year.

That doesn't exactly answer his question, though.

(I'm curious too)

[GreaterMontréal]

That doesn't exactly answer his question, though.

slumping economy and high unemployment rate in France. And the fact that Quebec gives priority to Francophone immigrants.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by 1overcosc

What exactly is so bad about France these days? I read an article a few days ago that discussed all the major migration patterns in the world today, and mentioned the "ongoing and accelerating emigration from France to Canada and Israel" without going into any detail.

France is a very beautiful train wreck.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by GreaterMontréal

slumping economy and high unemployment rate in France. And the fact that Quebec gives priority to Francophone immigrants.

There is also the inability of the French system to reinvent itself. Gold-plated, grandfathered job security, nepotism and favouritism can make it incredibly difficult for young people to enter the workforce in most of the more desirable fields.

I believe the unemployment rate for young people in their 20s in France is around double that of Quebec.

[hipster duck]

Originally Posted by Acajack

There is also the inability of the French system to reinvent itself. Gold-plated, grandfathered job security, nepotism and favouritism can make it incredibly difficult for young people to enter the workforce in most of the more desirable fields.

I believe the unemployment rate for young people in their 20s in France is around double that of Quebec.

This could change quite drastically in the next 20 years.

Demographically, France is an oddball. It currently has one of the highest fertility rates in the developed world; higher than Canada and on par with the US and Ireland. It also had an even larger baby boom cohort - as a percent of total population - than almost any other European country.

France is not alone among developed world countries in that there will be a large, retired baby boom population that people will have to support, but France will also be one of the few developed countries where there will be a mini baby boom of young people (not yet at working age in 10-15 years) that need to be raised as well. While baby boomers will draw down on their savings account and stimulate the economy very little (apart from health care services), raising families of children will compel a lot of people to spend. I think there will be a big labour shortage, particularly in skilled areas, that needs to be filled and before they let local Algerians and Senegalese fill these positions and move up the economic ladder, I'm sure they will give incentives for their overseas French diaspora to come home.

[hipster duck]

On the subject of "where do I see my city?", I'm not quite as bullish as the rest of you.

For my own city of Vancouver, I think that the 24 year era between the Expo and the Olympics was basically the city's golden age, and it's all going to be diminishing marginal returns from here on out.

I can feel the city stagnating, because I look at the various regional plans covering everything from where transit and infrastructure should go, to where development will be directed and in what form, and I basically see the same old thinking. There's nothing wrong with what we are building, but when a city continues to plod on in the same frame of mind, I can tell that big things aren't in store.

That's not to say that I have better ideas of my own - I don't - but surely the power brokers in Greater Vancouver are smart enough to realize that a city of 4 million doesn't [or shouldn't] think along the same lines or have the same priorities as a city of 1.5 million.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by Acajack

There is also the inability of the French system to reinvent itself. Gold-plated, grandfathered job security, nepotism and favouritism can make it incredibly difficult for young people to enter the workforce in most of the more desirable fields.

Yep. Very uninviting business environment.

I expect the left to be voted out next time, maybe things can change. Those things can change quickly, especially if it gets agreed upon that the problem is unavoidable and urgent.

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

K-W will be one pole of a thriving K-W/Toronto high tech corridor. It will be a prosperous and amazingly diverse region and a key engine of Ontario's economy.

That's my big hope as well. As important as the rise of the West is for Canada, the nation can't fully prosper until southern Ontario restores lustre lost. Southern Ontario's traditional engines of prosperity have been in decline as protectionist policies have been lifted, the Auto Pact came to an end, and new low wage competitors in China, Mexico, even the southern US replaced production previously based here.

Tech is the only industry that has the potential to lift the region back to where it once was. The problem is our previous track record in tech isn't nearly enough if we're to claw our way back. The head of MaRS seems to think our historical success rate is going to cut it. That someone with that mentality is running what's supposed to be our road to bio-science prosperity and leadership is alarming. I guess that's what you get when you put a banker (conservative administrator) in charge instead of an entrepreneur.

Producing a big tech firm every 20 years ain't gonna cut it. We need 6-7 firms like that within the next 20 years. I have high hopes for the tech corridor, but there's too much at stake for us to fail. If it doesn't pan out, we're in a heap of trouble as traditional manufacturing will continue its slow steady decline.

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by 1overcosc

What exactly is so bad about France these days? I read an article a few days ago that discussed all the major migration patterns in the world today, and mentioned the "ongoing and accelerating emigration from France to Canada and Israel" without going into any detail.

Besides what's been mentioned, some Europeans find the rigidity of the culture on that side of the pond suffocating. Canada is very liberating in some ways. Others find the rudderless nature of our culture alarming and head back to Europe in search of the structure and protocols prevalent there.

Canada offers a lifestyle that's difficult to find in Europe with our wide open spaces, culture of convenience, not to mention we have a higher standard of living than most places in Europe. Canada offers a noticeable increase in purchasing power save Switzerland, Norway, and a few other countries like that.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by 1overcosc

What exactly is so bad about France these days? I read an article a few days ago that discussed all the major migration patterns in the world today, and mentioned the "ongoing and accelerating emigration from France to Canada and Israel" without going into any detail.

Another factor in France-Israel especially is anti-Semitic incidents in France. There is a perception in the Jewish community that these are increasing at an alarming rate. Not sure if it is true or not but the perception is there.

Most of these incidents that do happen generally do not involve the older established French (historically) Christian population, but rather young people of a particular religion of fairly recent implantation in France.

But France and the French in general are criticized by the Jewish community for turning a blind eye to the problem.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by isaidso

Besides what's been mentioned, some Europeans find the rigidity of the culture on that side of the pond suffocating. Canada is very liberating in some ways. Others find the rudderless nature of our culture alarming and head back to Europe in search of the structure and protocols prevalent there.

Canada offers a lifestyle that's difficult to find in Europe with our wide open spaces, culture of convenience, not to mention we have a higher standard of living than most places in Europe. Canada offers a noticeable increase in purchasing power save Switzerland, Norway, and a few other countries like that.

I agree with all of this. I would add that people from France though don't really see Quebec as culturally rudderless and nondescript. Even if they often see it as less polished than back home, which for some is actually an endearing trait.

Also not all but a good proportion of people who come to Quebec from France are from visible and religious minorities.

[1overcosc]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Another factor in France-Israel especially is anti-Semitic incidents in France. There is a perception in the Jewish community that these are increasing at an alarming rate. Not sure if it is true or not but the perception is there.

Most of these incidents that do happen generally do not involve the older established French (historically) Christian population, but rather young people of a particular religion of fairly recent implantation in France.

But France and the French in general are criticized by the Jewish community for turning a blind eye to the problem.

Just looked this up, and you're right. Israel received 6,000 French-Jewish immigrants from October 2013 to September 2014, and property values in Israel have been driven up by tens of thousands of French Jews buying property there as an 'insurance'. Though anti-Semitism is probably not the only reason. Israel's immigration policy is very liberal to Jewish people... any person with a single Jewish grandparent who does not actively practice a non-Jewish faith has the right of permanent residency in Israel. I imagine there's lots of French Jews, or even non-Jews with some Jewish ancestry, who move to Israel simply for economic reasons, given there's no application approval process to worry about.

Here in Canada there is a spat of anti-Semitism by Muslim immigrants too but it's fairly controlled and isolated. Most Canadian emigration to Israel is cultural/ideological and its a very small demographic trend relative to the size of the Jewish community in Canada.