General

Canada’s biggest suburb

A new report says Toronto is stagnating economically and could be overtaken by its outlying areas

In a report issued Tuesday, the Toronto Board of Trade warned that Canada’s biggest city is fast becoming a suburb of its own suburbs. As businesses have increasingly moved to the outer suburbs of Toronto, prosperity and economic growth have tended to follow them out the door. Among the major reasons is the outlying areas’ better record when it comes to job creation. Between 2002 and 2007, employment in the ‘burbs grew by an average 2.8 per cent a year; in Toronto, it grew by a relatively paltry 1.1 per cent. GDP growth tells a similar tale. Outside the city proper, it averaged 4.2 per cent a year, whereas in Toronto it averaged 1.1 per cent over the same period. The report found that Toronto has become a “magnet for living, while the surrounding municipalities form the more powerful economic engine.”

Toronto Star

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