Once the fastest growing metro area in North America, Canada’s biggest city has sunk to No. 412 in the ranking in just one year.

The Centre for Urban Research and Development at Toronto Metropolitan University has been tracking population growth in Canada and the United States since 2020, and with the exception of the pandemic, Toronto has always come up number one — until 2025.

Last year Ontario’s capital fell near the bottom of the 435 metropolitan areas in the study, leaving Calgary and Edmonton as the only two Canadian cities in the top 10.

Montreal and Vancouver, which were 5th and 6th in 2024, also tumbled in the ranking to 25th and 92nd, respectively.

Houston and Dallas, Texas, took the top two spots.

Canada went through a historic population boom following the pandemic that pushed the country’s growth rate to a record-breaking 3.2 per cent, but then peaked in 2023.

Since then aggressive policy shifts by the federal government have cut the number of non-permanent residents and capped immigration to the extent that Canada’s population has declined over the past three quarters.

Population growth in the Greater Golden Horseshoe of which Toronto is the centre averaged 313,000 a year in the three years leading up to 2025, then slumped to 40,000.

But the federal crackdown is not the city’s only problem.

“At first glance, one might assume Toronto’s sharp drop in the rankings was driven by lower federal immigration targets. Not quite,” said the researchers, economist Diana Petramala and research fellow Frank Clayton.

Canada’s biggest city actually remains the top landing spot for newcomers to enter the country, followed by Montreal.

What is sapping its growth is a huge exodus of residents leaving for other parts of Canada.

In 2025, Toronto gained 53,000 residents from international shores, but lost 77,000 through domestic migration.

“As the region attracted newcomers from around the world at lower rates than in 2024, increasingly unaffordable housing appears to be pushing many residents to other parts of Canada,” said the researchers.

Edmonton and Calgary are destinations of choice, gaining 15,000 and 8,000 new residents respectively last year from within Canada.

No Canadian city made the top 10 for domestic migration in North America, which, perhaps unsurprisingly, was dominated by U.S. sunshine states — Florida, Arizona, Texas and the Carolinas.

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Canadian banks pulled off an almost historic performance in the second quarter, say strategists with National Bank of Canada.

The S&P/TSX gained 6.4 per cent in the quarter with financials taking the lead, surging almost 30 per cent.

The last time banks did this well was a 35.5 per cent rebound in the second quarter of 2009 from losses sustained during the global financial crisis.

The rally pushed the forward P/E ratio for Canadian banks to 16 times earnings, the highest since the late 1980s, said the strategists. The sector now trades at a higher multiple than the overall TSX Index for the first time on record.

  • ARC Resources Ltd. shareholders to vote today on a deal that will see the company acquired by Shell PLC in a stock-and-cash deal valued at $22 billion.
  • Today’s Data: United States inflation for June, NFIB Small Business Optimism
  • Earnings: Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Wells Fargo & Co., Citigroup Inc.

  • Are Ontario’s homebuyer rebates reviving demand? Yes, but not where you’d expect
  • Dubai plans new port to bypass Strait of Hormuz
  • Nearly 80% of Canada’s job gains in the past year were in this province

Not everyone is able to or prioritize giving to charity, but more might be if they saw how much they could easily afford to give, writes financial planner Ted Rechtshaffen. For example, the cost of giving a dollar to charity can range from pennies to about 60 cents since you can lower your tax bill by a minimum of 40 cents to more than 90 cents for every dollar you give. Find out how you can give more effectively.

Interested in energy? The subscriber-only FP West: Energy Insider newsletter brings you exclusive reporting and in-depth analysis on one of the country’s most important sectors. Sign up here.

Are you worried about having enough for retirement? Do you need to adjust your portfolio? Are you starting out or making a change and wondering how to build wealth? Are you trying to make ends meet? Drop us a line at wealth@postmedia.com with your contact info and the gist of your problem and we’ll find some experts to help you out while writing a Family Finance story about it (we’ll keep your name out of it, of course).

McLister on mortgages

Want to learn more about mortgages? Mortgage strategist Robert McLister’s Financial Post column can help navigate the complex sector, from the latest trends to financing opportunities you won’t want to miss. Plus check his mortgage rate page for Canada’s lowest national mortgage rates, updated daily.

Financial Post on YouTube

Visit the Financial Post’s YouTube channel for interviews with Canada’s leading experts in business, economics, housing, the energy sector and more.

Today’s Posthaste was written by Pamela Heaven with additional reporting from Financial Post staff and Bloomberg.

Have a story idea, pitch, embargoed report, or a suggestion for this newsletter? Email us at posthaste@postmedia.com .

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