A new report from Quebec’s statistics institute says many of the province’s regions grew at a record or near-record pace between 2023 and 2024, due in large part to immigration, while deaths outnumbered births for the first time.
Montreal led the way, adding more than 91,000 people between July 2023 and July 2024 for a 4.2-per-cent growth rate—one of the highest ever recorded in any region.
“Montreal’s growth alone accounts for 44 percent of the total growth recorded in Quebec,” the Institut de la statistique du Québec said Thursday in a news release. Quebec City set a new record at 2.4 percent growth, while the city of Laval and the Outaouais and Mauricie regions followed closely behind.
As Canadians grapple with astronomical grocery prices, troublingly high numbers of people are flocking to food banks to feed their families. Last March alone, two million Canadians visited food banks—a staggering 90 per cent increase from 2019—and the most recent figures estimate that 12,000 new users access them every month. Food banks aren’t just frequented by unhoused and precariously employed folks anymore, either: now, one in five users has 
The number of immigrants who choose to stay in Toronto five years after getting here is declining, Statistics Canada says, and one of the possible reasons why will likely not come as a surprise to most.
