Or maybe that’s good news.
On the Moneysense “Best Place to Live” in Canada list:
Vancouver’s ranking was 56th, down from 29th last year, as MoneySense noted the high cost of housing in the city. Toronto was 47th, while Montreal was 149th. (More here. The list here.)
According to their methodology, they lower the ranking for growth over or under 7.9 percent/year. Huh?
Anyway, the City of Vancouver is first in culture, last in housing affordability, beat by Prince Rupert in walk/bike to work, 106th in weather (just below North Battleford, Sask) and a better place to live than anywhere else in Metro but not No. 1 out 0f 190 Canadian cities. That’s Ottawa.
The fact that the number of “new cars” is considered criteria for the “best place to live” makes this list a joke, at best. If I need to new car just to get around a city, I don’t want to live there. Also, I also don’t know many artists/creative types that live in Ottawa, just public servants – is diversity a factor in these things? I guess not. Pretty much everyone I know who lives in Ottawa would move to Vancouver in a heartbeat, so maybe a survey of responses from actual residents would be better than this ridiculous ranking sheet.
Walk scores would be another good measure of “best place to live”
…and Yellowknife ranks 2nd for Biking to Work??
According to Stats Canada, in 2006:
Yellowknife’s walk/bike mode share was 2685/11040 = 24%
Vancouver’s walk/bike mode share was 44665/280545 = 16%
Victoria’s walk/bike mode share was 12885/39150 = 33%
Interestingly, in Vancouver, only 42% of transit riders were male.
(All these statistics are for commuting to work only.)
Source: http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2006/dp-pd/prof/92-591/index.cfm?Lang=E
I think the housing affordability bit is big though. I used to live in the West End. Now I live in a very walkable/bikeable part of central Ottawa in a small row house that I can afford that would be well over $1M in Vancouver.
First in culture? While I’m pleased about the progress that Vancouver has made culturally, a study that puts it ahead of Montreal and Toronto should automatically be of suspect quality.
Equally interesting are the ‘worst’ cities. Some I could see but on average I think this ‘ranking’ isn’t worth much…of course neither were those lists that put Vancouver as the best place on earth….