Summary

• Several recent Fraser Institute studies have documented the weak economic performance in Ontario over the past 20 years outside of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), and to a lesser extent Ottawa.
• This bulletin builds on that analysis by examining economic performance data from the Census Metropolitan Areas (CMAs) of southwestern Ontario including London, Windsor, Brantford, Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge, and Guelph.
• While generally the southwestern region of the province has struggled economically in recent years, there was substantial variation between the CMAs.
• Specifically, job creation and median income growth have been significantly stronger in the CMAs immediately proximate to Toronto than those further away in London and Windsor.
• A national analysis shows that between 2005 and 2015, Windsor fell from having the tenth highest median household income in Canada to having the 25th highest out of Canada’s 36 CMAs. This 15-place decline was the largest fall of any CMA in Canada. London fell from having the 15th highest median household income in Canada to having the 27th highest, the second largest decline in Canada.