Carrot River’s mayor was surprised the latest census numbers show a decline in his town’s population from 1,000 to 973.
Bob Gagné said that with the mill going again, the peat moss facility producing well, the number of housing starts and the influx on young people with families moving in, he thought there would be an increase.
“For sure, I was looking at 1,100 people and to find out [otherwise], I was really disappointed in that.”
According to the census, there were 467 private dwellings in 2016, an increase of five from 2011. Of those dwellings, 430 were occupied by usual residents, a decrease of 12.
Kevin Trew, the town’s administrator, said at this point, the town was not going to go to Statistics Canada and try to appeal those numbers.
“I’m not sure what we would gain out of that. There is definitely one revenue source that does depend on your population, but there are several expenditures that depend on our population.”
