Vancouver’s economy to lead Canada in 2010

Different cities of Canada will see a significant growth in the current year after recovering from the global downturn experienced in the last year. And Vancouver is going to lead the cities across Canada.

The report issued yesterday says that the GDP (gross domestic product) of Vancouver will rise 4.5 percent in the year 2010 after going down to 1.8 percent in the year 2009.

The city is all set for a significant rebound, stated the director of the Centre for Municipal Studies, Mario Lefebvre. Lefebvre gave the credit for this rebound in Vancouver’s economy to several factors including the Olympic Winter Games, consumer spending and housing construction.

However, it’s yet not known how much the Olympic Games will contribute towards Vancouver’s economy. Vancouver is the Olympic Winter Games host beginning next month this year.

Not just Vancouver, the Olympic Games are expected to help the economy of B.C. which will grow by 3.8 percent this year, forecasts Marie-Christine Bernard of the Conference Board of Canada. The rate of economic growth of B.C., without the Olympics, would have been around 3.2 percent, Bernard estimates.

Mr. Lefebvre stated that some of the major infrastructure projects will be getting under way in the later half of this year. Among such projects will be the Evergreen Line for the SkyTrain. Moreover, factory output will also rise substantially due to global recovery in 2010.

And following the footsteps of Vancouver will be the cities of Toronto and Kitchener, Ontario, which will also see a significant economic growth at 3.5 percent and 3.3 percent respectively in the year 2010.

Toronto’s manufacturing sector will show signs of big recovery in the current year after remaining stagnant since 2005. The Conference Board has also forecast the important role of the manufacturing sector in giving a big boost to the economic growth in several cities in Ontario in the year 2010.