Canada’s Huge Population Revisions Reveal A Much Worse Economy

And just like that, Canada’s shrinking population went the way of its technical recession—revised away. Statistics Canada (StatCan) data shows that the country’s population grew in Q3 2026. More importantly, the data includes the upward revisions we’ve been discussing for months. It turns out that the much-discussed population contraction plaguing the country didn’t exist. The revisions reveal a bigger population, but more importantly, a much worse economy. Canada’s “Shrinking” Population Has Been Growing This Whole Time Canadian quarterly population estimates: Reported vs latest revisions. Source: StatCan; Better Dwelling. Canada’s population climbed 0.2% (+80.3k people) to 41.8 million in Q3 2026, rising 0.5% (+189.4k) since last year. Annual growth is the weakest since Q2 2021, roughly the end of the pandemic’s lockdowns. The strength is likely to surprise most people, as the country was supposed to be shrinking. Our first hint that this wasn’t true should have been policymakers promising to do just that. Canada’s Temporary Resident Estimates: Under On Decline, Inflated At Peak StatCan made sharp revisions to its population estimates, as we previously warned. They originally rep...