The Conference Board of Canada projects “moderate” growth in Northern Ontario's two largest cities for 2011.
The Ottawa-based research and public policy forum released Metropolitan Outlook on Feb. 22, profiling 27 Canadian cities .
Thunder Bay was singled out as having a “decent” outlook based on its robust construction activity and work in the primary and utilities sectors. It should boost real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 1.4 per cent this year. It's the city's strongest growth the Conference Board's annual report since 2000.
The board said last year's settlement of Sudbury's Vale strike helped that city's GDP expand by an estimated 2.7 per cent. They forecast that this year, real GDP is expected to increase by two per cent, with further gains expected in the primary and utilities sector.
Overall, the Conference Board is projecting economic growth to slow in 2011.
“Most Canadian cities rebounded well from the recession,” said Mario Lefebvre, director of the Centre for Municipal Studies. “This year, however, a weaker domestic economy, winding down of federal and provincial government stimulus measures, and uncertain economic conditions in the United States wil result in stable or lower growth in a majority of cities.”
The cities forecasted for the best growth in 2011 were Windsor and Calgary.
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