Politicians and their supporters like to make selective use of statistics in order to support a position or to attack an opponent. Voters need to inform themselves in order to determine the truth. A case in point is the population of Prince George which has been used by all parties to support or defend their policies and records.
Statistics Canada posts the following numbers for the Prince George population: 1991 - 69,653; 1996 - 70,981; 2001 - 72,406; 2006 - 75,150; 2011 - 75,568. The Statistics Canada numbers indicate modest population growth that has not varied a lot between the 1991 and 2011 census reports. If you drill down further into the data you will also see a steady increase in older age groups, especially during the last decade.
The trend is toward an older population, and relatively fewer children and young families. Claims of massive decreases or increases in population lack merit.
Glen Schmidt
Prince George
