New scorecard measuring if Waterloo Region is ready to hold 1M residents

With Waterloo Region growing faster than ever, a new scorecard is looking to measure just how ready it is to hold an estimated population of 1 million residents by the year 2050.

It comes as numbers show the municipality is expected to grow by 300,000 people over the next 25 years.

It’s called the Vision 1 Million Scorecard, and it comes from The Business and Economic Support Team of Waterloo Region (BestWR), focusing on what is needed to accommodate the increasing population.

“It focuses on four or five key areas,” said Ian McLean, President and CEO with the Greater KW Chamber of Commerce. “Will we have the housing? Will we have the transportation infrastructure? Will we have the healthcare we need and the employment and jobs?”

The scorecard works to measure how well the region is currently doing in regard to those areas, while also measuring its progress and projections ahead of 2050. It shows both the good and bad when it comes to how the region is faring so far.

“Currently, our housing supply, transportation infrastructure, healthcare services, employment opportunities, and social infrastructure is not advancing at the pace needed overall to support this expansion,” said BestWR in its scorecard. “This living document will be updated regularly to help prioritize our community’s agenda, focusing resources where they’re most needed.”

A few of the positives include the municipality’s ongoing push for affordable housing, along with stronger regional employment levels, both of which are currently on track to meet the needs of the region.

However, there are a number of areas listed as needing attention, including supports for those experiencing homelessness, post-secondary investments, and ongoing tourism and recreational facilities.

The largest area that is listed as falling behind, though, is healthcare, as the scorecard is currently listing access to long-term care, acute care, and struggles connecting with a family doctor, all as “needs attention” in its grading.

While the scorecard lists the ongoing work being done in the region and the areas still in need of improvement, the basis of the scorecard has been on the minds of many for decades.

“The vision of us being a place to grow started 20-odd years ago, dating back to the McGinty days in the province,” stated McLean. “We’ve established we were a place to grow, so the vision of 1 million has been set. The real question that we’re asking today is, are we ready?”

McLean mentioned that it’s all about having a shared perspective across Waterloo Region, with each municipality needing to work hand-in-hand to make sure it can collectively accommodate the growing demands of the region.

“This is really to make sure that we have one plan, one agenda, that everyone’s on the same page from the business community, the broader community, the federal government, the provincial government, the region, and the local governments, because we all need to be on the same page.”

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