Premier Dalton McGuinty: Cataclysmic Decline

Decline Dept: It's been a slow dissolution, rather than a precipitous or cataclysmic decline. It has taken years to set in and will continue to unfold for decades to come. But the pattern in the 2011 census data is clear and, barring the discovery of major new resource deposits in Northern Ontario, perhaps irreversible, according to Montreal Gazette. But the draws to newcomers are now westward and eastward, rather than central. This builds on the results of the last census, in 2006, and marks a fundamental, cross-Canada shift and you wouldn't have guessed, as Premier Dalton McGuinty basked in the adulation of fellow Liberals at the party's biennial convention here last month, that he has presided over what may be a permanent decline of Ontario's place within Confederation. Canada's population is healthy, with steady, roughly six-per-cent growth driven by immigration. People from around the world still flock here, chasing opportunity, prosperity and security for their children. National population growth outstrips that of any other G8 country. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.