Breaking News: We're better than Calgary!

A strange little "Breaking News" article in the on-line edition of the Freep reports in the headline and opening paragraph that "Building permits in Winnipeg rise 3.5%", which was "far better than in Calgary and Edmonton where building permit values fell 45 per cent and 21 per cent respectively." This is true, but a fairly rosy take on a report that could have also started off a number of other ways:

Breaking News: Growth in Saskatewan surpasses Manitoba

The value of building permits in our neighbouring province grew 30% in March to $145m, leapfrogging Manitoba where building permits dropped 6% to $116m.

Breaking News: Winnipeg lagging behind other major cities

Despite modest 3.5% growth in building permit values in March, reaching $74m, Winnipeg is still lagging far behind other cities of similar size including Quebec City ($157m) and Hamilton ($206m) which has seen 85% growth in building permits year over year.

Breaking News: Bored Free Press reporter stumbles across StatsCan web site

A bored-as-hell Free Press reporter resorted to passing off a routine monthly StatsCan report as "Breaking News" Tuesday, when told by his boss to stop playing Mahjong and dig up a story, Dammit.

While building permits in Calgary and Edmonton did in fact drop quite a bit month over month, both cities still dwarf Winnipeg in that area. All I'm saying is, let's not get all excited because a few more stucco houses are going up this month vs. last month.

StatsCan report link