The greater Montreal area punches above its weight as a driver of economic development for all of Quebec but it has fallen dramatically behind the other major Canadian cities on several key fronts, according to a new report.
Between 1999 and 2012, Montreal lost 30% of its head offices, compared with only 5% for Toronto during that same period, said the study by the Institut du Québec in partnership with the Conference Board of Canada and HEC Montréal.
Montreal lags behind Ottawa, Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver and Halifax in the number of individuals 25 and over who have at least a bachelor’s degree – 26.5% – the report found.
And over the past decade the greater Montreal region posted the lowest rate of economic growth of the major Canadian cities, just 1.5%, according to the analysis.
The study also concluded that, if Montreal had experienced the average economic growth for Canada over the past 25 years, the Quebec economy would have done far better, up to $2,780 more in per capita GDP, even outside the big urban centres.
The Quebec government has a role to play in helping revive Montreal’s fortunes, beginning with a much-needed recognition of the city’s "unique economic role" and the development of policies in light of that, the study says, published Monday.
Quebec should also regard the Montreal Census Metropolitan Area as a single, integrated economic entity rather than a patchwork of administrative regions, especially when developing policies based on economic data.
The province also needs a strategy that identifies "certain priority sectors" while also avoiding "a wide but superficial distribution of government aid."
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