More people leaving Toronto, Montreal for smaller pastures as pandemic hastens urban exodus

Canada’s urban exodus picked up steam into the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic, with tens of thousands of people leaving Toronto and Montreal for smaller cities or rural areas, official data showed on Thursday.

More than 64,000 people left Toronto for other parts of Ontario from mid-2020 to mid-2021, up 14 per cent from the previous 12-month period, according to Statistics Canada population estimates, with another 6,600 moving out of province.

Montreal, Canada’s second-largest city, lost nearly 40,000 residents to other areas of Quebec, up 60 per cent on the year, with another 3,600 moving out of province.

The COVID-19 pandemic