Interesting...considering they threatened me that they would do nasty things to me unless I filled the census out for the second time!
Even after telling them that I had I was accuse of all kinds of things.... including eing a liar....
I am a lot of things but that I am not!

So, the theory that we are moving out of extended family situations, and out of illegal suites, and away from home as young people, and into new housing appears to hold water ..... as opposed to the theory that we are getting a net increase of people into this community .....

It will be interesting to see the reaction of City Hall and IPG to this.

In the meantime, Kelowna is the fastest growing municipality in BC now. The greater Kelowna area is now twice the size of PG, when 3 decades ago it was about the same as PG.

So, the new economy is what? .... fewer involved with extractrion, more into lifestyle and knowledge workers ....

Time for many in this community to realize that and become part of it rather than playing Ludite ...

NOT TO WORRY, GOOD TIMES ARE COMMING. POPULATION WILL (AND IS) INCREASING. WE ARE RIGHT IN THE CENTER OF THE GREATEST PROVINCE IN CANADA AND WE WILL BE THE SERVICE CENTER FOR ALL OF NORTHERN B.C.

I think the bubble is starting to burst..........the economy is on a cycle. get ready.

Tie up the mayor and take him up to the sign at 97 and 16 and watch him squirm in discomfort as you change the population number on that sign to adjust to reality. Should be an interesting alternativefor rather than him getting on a jet to go somewhere else. Jest a thought.

I think Colin is suffering from an over indulgence in "booster juice"

I'm with "Imorg" on this.The bubble WILL burst and probably sooner than later.Beware of political spin designed to wow you with facts and figures.Don't believe everything you are told,especially if a politician is doing the telling.Our economy goes in cycles.Always has.For B.C., this particular up-tick was created mostly by a lot of Olympic hype.So what happens when they are over and all the bills come due?Then what? The truth can be a bitter pill to swallow!

The sky is falling...the sky is falling...

Thought all that extra tax money they need for all of these projects was coming from all the new people in town....*LOL*...wait and see what you pay next year...If real estate is slowing down in Lower Mainland it will fall on it's nose here...
Hey the sun was out today...have a nice day

Wow. Let's all pack up and leave now. Agreed, a drop in the population is not good news. And the demise of the forest industry within the next 10 years is near certain.

The only way to change this course is obtain as much federal, provincial and private sector investment immediately. Hopefully it is not too late for Prince George to 're-tool', to find new economies.

The powers that be - and that includes elected officials from municipal to provincial to federal - have failed miserably.

So does anyone know why housing costs are going up if there is less people filling them?

But I thought Prince George's problems were all a result of the NDP? Isn't that what we've been hearing from our independent-minded, fair media? I guess it just takes a few years for the effects of the meanoldNDP to wear off?

Based on 2001 census information, there were 2.47 people per housing unit at that time. That compared to 2.38 for the BC average in 2001. In Kelowna that was 2.31; in Kamloops 2.41; in Nanaimo 2.25 and in Victoria 1.75.

In the 2006 census, PG had 2.36 average per housing unit. Kamloops 2.35; BC 2.30; Kelowna 2.24; Nanaimo 2.25 andVictoria 1.74.

Toronto, with the highest immigration had 2.70 in 2006.

So, PG is getting older more quickly than the other communities in BC. People are moving into new houses as they get more money in their best earning years. Of the cities which are the same size, PG is moving faster to get similar density of people per housing units. Thus, even with a dropping population, there is an increased demand for housing.

In addition, as everywhere else, there is a lot of hype. Thus there are true pressures, as well as speculative pressures. It will be interesting to see what will happen in the next year or so. With census figures like that, I would think that it would be difficult to get new retail and commercial development into the city. The hype that got into the national business magazine about a year ago was obviously not reflected in population increase. It may very well have been reflected in people who own businesses that hung on through some lean times doing better. If that is the case, and business keeps improving, then we should see that reflected in the next census.

You know, the province showed the projections for PG to be 77,343 in 2006. The actual in the 2001 census was 72,406. Now it is 70,981. So, the drop between stats bc projection and census Canada 2006 count was about 6,400. That is considerable for those who have been going with the inflated provincial figures. That is the untold story that few will likely wish to address.

That’s the story in population numbers. However, this can still be a very livable city. It is just that one has to realize how the economy has to be shifted in order to do that. So far I see no shining light in the community who has the ability to do that. Many of those that I consider to have been visionaries have left ….. for some reason or another.

In 2001 there were 6030 people between the age of 15-19. These people would now be between the age of 20-25. There were 5205 people between the age of 20-24 who would now be 25-31. What this means is that a good portion of 11,235 males and females are now in the market for Apartments, Rental Homes, or New Homes unless they all stayed at home with their parents which is highly unlikely. This has been going on for a number of years, and therefore you get this decrease in rental spaces, and shortage of houses, and therefore the price goes up.

This anomaly will change very shortly and with no actual increase in the population from outside the City we are looking at a decline in the housing market. At our present population we can expect not more than 5000 people to reach the age of 21-25 in the next 5 years, and naturally a percentage of these people will rent and buy houses, its any ones guess how many.

Take in the number of people born (no house, apartment rentals, nor home purchases for 20 years) approx 1000 per year, and deaths at approx 400 per year, and you can see why there will be little or no actual growth, nor need for more housing. (Maybe Senior Housing). In addition we will have a number of people leaving Prince George for greener pastures. This has been happening for sometime.

Grande Prairie Alta Population increased by 10,093 people from 2001 to 2006. Ft McMurray Alta Population increased by 10,000 between 2001 and 2006.

Prince George has a solid industrial base at this time, along with a solid tax base and can function quite well with a population of 70-75000 people, so if it doesnt grow it will not be a disaster, however if we dont get control of the excessive spending by the City we will be taxed to the hilt to support all kinds of facilities that in reality we cannot afford. Therein lies the problem.

Less people, more spending. Guess what? Guess who? More tax burden on less taxpayers.

When times are good, we should be setting money aside and reducing debt. Apparently, these are the good times. So, the time is now to reduce debt and set money aside for leaner times.

And what is the wisdom of our city leaders? Borrow, spend, tax and borrow some more. You figure out where we are headed? I already know. Chester