Canada’s national statistics agency released its population estimates in its annual September release on Wednesday. The revised numbers show a massive discrepancy between what Statistics Canada originally reported about several past fiscal quarters and what it now reports.
For the second quarter of 2026, Statistics Canada is now reporting that Canada’s population grew to an estimated 41,798,407, up by about 80,000 since the end of March.
In Quarter three of 2025, StatCan originally said Canada’s population dropped by around 76,000, but Wednesday’s announcement proved that the revised total showed the population to have instead grown by 115,000.
The original data shared by Statistics Canada also claimed that Canada’s population shrank by 234,597 from July 2025 to April 2026; instead, the revised numbers now show that it in fact grew by 109,082.
One X user, “Smirkley,” arranged the differences in the data into graphs showing just how far off StatCan was from its original reports.
In June, Statistics Canada estimated that Canada’s population was 41,417,056 on April 1, 2026; it now revised that number to be 41,718,064, meaning the statistical aggregator miscounted an additional 301,008 people in the first quarter of the year.
When asked about the discrepancy, Statistics Canada said it updates its demographic estimates every year through its usual estimation process during the annual September release for the second quarter.
“Preliminary estimates are produced using the best information available at the time they are produced, while updated estimates benefit from more complete administrative data and additional time for information to become available,” Angie-Sally Abou-Farhat, spokesperson for Statistics Canada, said in an email.
She said the “larger-than-usual” update in 2026 was “mainly related” to miscounted estimates of “non-permanent residents.”
“More recent versions of IRCC administrative data contained substantially more records reflecting permit extensions that were not yet present in the data used to produce the preliminary estimates,” Abou-Farhat said.
“Statistics Canada also introduced methodological adjustments to better account for permit extensions not yet reflected in the available data and for permit holders who leave Canada before their permits expire.”
Of course they undercounted it, there were byelections to be had.... Have to have obedient & leftie civil service members support their comrades cause to change Kanada from being a haven for those evil privileged folks of european ancestry....
You'd think that an entire government department dedicated to statistical analysis and costing taxpayers $M/year would know at least a little bit about, oh, I don't know, NUMBERS!