Get ready to gloat Canada, Ontario for so long the dominant province is confronting cold calculations this morning that confirm its industrial, economic and demographic power is on the wane. The Consensus out of the latest Census is that the very things that made Ontario surge now make it sluggish and the center of the universe is tilting West.

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Part One of The Current

Satire

It's Thursday, February 9th.

According to new Census numbers, Ontario is steadily losing clout.

Currently, it looks like the centre of the universe is drifting West.

This is The Current.

Latest Census confirms Ontario's decline - Demographics

For anyone who lived in Ontario in 1967, the song A Place to Stand didn't sound as preposterously effusive as it does now. It was part of the soundtrack to an Academy Award winning film that showed an Ontario unfamiliar to many of today's residents. There were pictures of people making things, of steel being smelted and industry transforming young lives.

Forty years later, Ontario is still a place to stand, but perhaps not such a great place to grow. Manufacturing has withered, immigration has slowed and job seekers are seeking jobs elsewhere. The latest census confirms Ontario is not the economic magnet it once was and many Canadians see their energetic futures -- somewhere west of Kenora.

Susan McDaniel is the Director of The Prentice Institute and Canada Research Chair in Global Population & Life Course at the University of Lethbridge, but this morning she was in Toronto.

Latest Census confirms Ontario's decline - Manufacturing

Windsor and Thunder Bay are the only two metropolitan areas where the population actually dropped between 2006 and 2011, according to the latest census numbers. The Windsor area's population fell 1.3 per cent, after growing by five per cent in the previous five year period.

The automotive sector took a beating in the recession, bruising a manufacturing sector already weakened by the outsourcing of jobs. Gerry Farnham is the president of Canadian Auto Workers Union Local 195 in Windsor. He was in our Windsor studio this morning.

Latest Census confirms Ontario's decline - Youth Employment

The changing job market in Ontario is particularly tough on young people, and many are leaving for better opportunities.

Randy Heasman is the Director of Employment Programs at St. Stephen's House in Toronto where he has worked for twenty five years helping youth find work.

Latest Census confirms Ontario's decline - Immigration

The census figures show that in the past 5 years, 95,000 fewer immigrants settled in Ontario than in the 5-year period before that. Elizabeth McIsaac is the Executive Director of the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council. Her organization helps immigrants integrate into the labour market. She joined us in Toronto.

This half-hour was produced by The Current's Pacinthe Mattar, Josh Block and Montreal Network Producer, Susan McKenzie.

Related Links:

• Census shows Ontario no longer a place to grow - By: Michael Den Tandt - Postmedia News
• With Ontario lagging, will the West be prepared to sacrifice? By:
  John Ibbitson - Globe and Mail
• Census 2011 makes history: population in the West surpasses that in the East By: Heather Scoffield - The Canadian Press
• Census: Windsor, Thunder Bay, Ont., only major areas where population dropped By: Derek Abma - Postmedia News
• It's the economy, stupid: census numbers crystallize Ontario's exodus By: Maria Babbage - The Canadian Press

Other segments from today's show:

• Thursday's Checking-In
• The Boy with the Past (Documentary)