Thompson: Canada’s 337th Best Place to Live, MoneySense finds

Writing for the last nine years about MoneySense magazine’s closely watched annual survey, which ranks cities across the country from best to worst places to live in Canada – both overall and in specific categories –  used to be something of a rite of spring for me. How seriously it is taken, or should be taken, has always been a matter of some debate locally. Suffice to say though that in those early days before the survey went online, former mayor Tim Johnston and myself one year spent part of a day racing around town to Safeway and Shoppers Drug Mart to try and get our hands on newly-arrived hard copies in Thompson before going back to our respective offices to study the data for a few hours. That was followed by a late afternoon meeting and interview between us in the mayor’s office at City Hall, including a briefing, presumably mainly for my benefit, by Randy Patrick, then the city administrator. So it was taken seriously enough, so it seems.

Much has changed since 2008. MoneySense itself for instance. This year’s 14th annual survey is the first not to appear in a print edition of the magazine. That’s because there is no longer a print edition. MoneySense was previously published seven times a year by Rogers Publishing Limited, a division of Rogers Communications in Toronto. But Rogers decided last September to axe the print edition at the end of 2016 and continue publication with an online-only platform. No more needing to race around to Safeway or Shoppers Drug Mart to find a hard copy, although, truth be told, I’m not so sure I ever did once the survey went online. Multiply my choice by thousands of other readers and you get the idea what happened to the print edition.

The “Canada’s Best Places to Live” survey continues to grow in terms of the number of municipalities compared. And I mean grow. It has almost doubled in number this year from last year. There were 123 cities compared in 2007; jumping to 154 in 2008 and 2009; increasing again to 179 in 2010 and up to 180 in 2011, and then in increments of 10 to 190 in 2012, 200 in 2013, and then 201 in 2014, 209 in 2015, 219 in 2016, and now a whopping 417 in July 2017. It’s also no longer a rite of spring to write about. The release date for the survey has gradually been pushed back over the years until this year’s July 4 release places it well into early summer.

Thompson placed 132 out of 219 municipalities ranked in 2016 and 177th in 2015. In 2014, we finished in 121st place out of 209 cities ranked, while in 2013 we finished 164th out of 200 cities ranked. Thompson finished 103rd in 2012. We were 43rd in 2011, finished 58th in 2010, in 88th place overall in 2009, a year after the city’s highest ranking of 19th place overall a year earlier in 2008. Thompson ended up in 25th place in 2007.

This year we ranked 337th out of 417.

MoneySense estimated Thompson’s unemployment rate has increased significantly over the last year from 5.1 per cent to 9.98 per cent. And that’s before the closure of Birchtree Mine by Vale this coming October, to be followed by the smelter and refinery in 13 months from now, along with looming provincial public sector job cuts.

Thompson real estate, however, is another story. It continues, as it has historically, to follow its own made-in-Thompson laws of supply and demand, driven by market forces seemingly all its own. So while there may seem to be “For Sale” signs on about every fifth house on your street, and far fewer “Sold” signs, don’t let that fool you. The “average value of primary real estate” was pegged at $221,749 this year compared to $197,812 last year. Median household income was also up from $90,738 last year to $93,045 this year. To get around town, 0.3 per cent of us bike to work, the same percentage that takes public transit, MoneySense says.

While MoneySense says its survey is the most comprehensive data-driven snapshot of Canadian cities you’ll find anywhere, there is no apples-to-apples comparison possible between some of MoneySense’s rankings and say Statistics Canada data, although it is used in the survey. As MoneySense says, “We rank based on our own methodology.” If you want more details about that methodology, check out the link: http://www.moneysense.ca/save/canadas-best-places-to-live-2017-methodology/

You can also follow me on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/jwbarker22

Thompson gets a nice bounce up to 132nd spot in annual MoneySense survey released June 8 after its worst worst-ever finish in 177th place last year

Every spring for the last 11 years, Toronto-based MoneySense magazine has published a closely watched annual survey, which ranks cities across the country from best to worst places to live in Canada – both overall and in specific categories.

In this year’s survey published nationally June 8 in the summer issue of the magazine, Thompson got a nice bounce back up to 132nd spot in 2016 after its worst worst-ever finish in 177th place last year. MoneySense also ranked eight more cities and towns this year, meaning the list has grown to 219 communities in its annual snapshot of Canada.

Thompson has a history of bouncing around, both up and down from year to year, in the numbers. In 2014, we finished in 121st place out of 209 cities ranked, while in 2013 finished 164th out of 200 cities ranked, it’s second-lowest ever ranking.

Ottawa, as well as Burlington and Oakville, also in Ontario, followed by St. Albert, Alberta, and Boucherville, Québec, finished one to five in that order in this year’s 2016 rankings for “Canada’s Best Places to Live.” Winnipeg slipped to 29th spot from 24th last year, while Brandon took a big dive down 82nd spot from 26th last year.  Brandon had finished 42nd in 2014 and 91st in 2013. Steinbach continued to tumble this year, ranked at 170 compared to 149 last year, after finishing in 85th spot in 2014 and 61st place in 2013. Portage la Prairie improved marginally to 168th place after finishing in 170th spot last year, compared to 144th in 2014, while Selkirk was in 169th place, down from 155th place last year.

Staying on top is a tough gig with the ever-fickle MoneySense. Last year, the magazine ranked Boucherville, Que., a suburb of Montreal, just across the St. Lawrence River with a population of 43,000, as the best place to live in Canada, after Boucherville had finished sixth overall in 2014.

“We’re seeing low unemployment, high incomes, affordable housing, [and] solid population growth, which are some of the key areas we look at, along with good access to transit and a vibrant arts community,” said Mark Brown, MoneySense reports and rankings editor in June 2015, explaining Boucherville’s topping the survey.

This year, Boucherville slipped back down to fifth place.

MoneySense is published seven times a year by Rogers Publishing Limited, a division of Rogers Communications in Toronto. The “Best Places to Live” survey continues to grow in terms of number of cities compared. There were 123 cities compared in 2007; jumping to 154 in 2008 and 2009; increasing again to 179 in 2010 and up to 180 in 2011, and then in increments of 10 to 190 in 2012, 200 in 2013, 201 in 2014 and 209 in 2015. Thompson finished 103rd in 2012. We were 43rd in 2011, finished 58th in 2010, in 88th place overall in 2009, a year after the city’s highest ranking of 19th place overall a year earlier in 2008. Thompson ended up in 25th place in 2007.

MoneySense estimated Thompson’s unemployment rate has decreased over the last year from 6.56 per cent to 5.1 per cent. “Average value of primary real estate” was pegged at $197,812 here this year. Median household income came in at $90,738, while average household discretionary income was calculated at $50,202.

MoneySense says its survey “is the most comprehensive data-driven snapshot of Canadian cities you’ll find anywhere.”  There are 35 separate categories being measured. They include factors such as household income, population growth, unemployment rate, cost of housing, crime rates, number of rainy days, number of doctors per 1,000 residents and the percentage of the population that walks, bikes or takes public transit to get to work.

Brown says, “While we can’t gauge many of the elements that people enjoy in their cities, the nearness of family, the friendliness of neighbours or even great sunsets, we have measured what can be measured and compared what can be compared from towns and cities across our provinces and territories.”

In 2014, Brown noted, “Critics of our best places ranking routinely point out that we don’t incorporate intangible considerations – like the best scenery or hottest attractions – into our methodology. It’s true, we don’t take any of these things into account. Out east, for example, the Nova Scotia community of New Glasgow doesn’t place highly on our ranking, despite being home to some of the finest river and deep-water fishing spots in the country.

“But such characteristics – no matter how appealing – aren’t the point of this exercise,” said Brown at the time. “This isn’t the best places to visit, it’s the best places to live. If you’re going to plant roots somewhere we think there should be good access to medical care, low crime, good public transportation and, yes, nice weather. Above all, the best places in Canada have to be affordable. That’s why measures like housing prices, employment and wealth are particularly important, and are given the greatest weighting in our methodology.”

In fact, New Glasgow was dead last in 219^th place again this year in the MoneySense survey. That’s after being dead last year, finishing 209 out of 209. New Glasgow finished in 198th spot out of 201 places in 2014, after finishing 196th in 2013 out of 200 spots. It also finished last at 190 of 190 in 2012 and 180 out of 180 in 2011. In 2010, it managed to creep out of the cellar to rank 177th out of 179 after finishing dead last also in 2009 at 154th out of 154 places. In 2008, New Glasgow was 151 out of 154. The Census Agglomerate for New Glasgow includes New Glasgow, Stellarton, Trenton, Westville, Merigomish Harbour, Fisher’s Grant, Pictou Sub Division C and Pictou Subdivision. B.

You can check out the full 219 rankings in detail at: http://www.moneysense.ca/canadas-best-places-to-live-2016-full-ranking/

You can also follow me on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/jwbarker22

 

 

Thompson tumbles in worst-ever finish: Drops from 121st to 177th place out of 209 cities ranked in annual MoneySense survey released June 1

Every spring for the last 10 years, Toronto-based MoneySense magazine has published a closely watched annual survey, which ranks cities across the country from best to worst places to live in Canada – both overall and in specific categories.

In this year’s survey published nationally today, Thompson tumbled in its worst-ever finish to 177th place from 121st place last year out of 209 cities ranked in 2015 in the annual MoneySense snapshot of Canada. Thompson’s previous lowest placing in the survey was in 2013 when it finished 164th out of 200 cities ranked.

Last year, Thompson moved up from 164th to 121st place. In this year’s MoneySense “Canada’s Best Places to Live’ ranking, Thompson was one of six Manitoba cities included in the survey. Winnipeg was 24th on this year’s list of 209 Canadian cities, down from its 19th place ranking last year, 16th spot in 2013 and 10th place finish in 2012. Brandon continued to gain ground in this year’s MoneySense rankings, moving up to 26th place from 42nd last year and 91st in 2013. Steinbach also took a big tumble this year, ranked at 149, compared 85th spot last year and 61st place in 2013. Portage la Prairie dropped to  170th spot from 144th place last year; it finished in 160th place in 2013. Selkirk was 155th.

The magazine ranked Boucherville, Que., a suburb of Montreal,  just across the St. Lawrence River with a population of 43,000, as the best place to live in Canada. Boucherville had finished sixth overall last year. “We’re seeing low unemployment, high incomes, affordable housing, [and] solid population growth, which are some of the key areas we look at, along with good access to transit and a vibrant arts community,” said Mark Brown, MoneySense reports and rankings editor, in explaining Boucherville’s topping the survey

MoneySense is published seven times a year by Rogers Publishing Limited, a division of Rogers Communications in Toronto. The “Best Places to Live” survey continues to grow in terms of number of cities compared. There were 123 cities compared in 2007; jumping to 154 in 2008 and 2009; increasing again to 179 in 2010 and up to 180 in 2011, and then in increments of 10 to 190 in 2012, 200 in 2013, 201 in 2014 and 209 in 2015. Thompson finished 103rd in 2012. We were 43rd in 2011, finished 58th in 2010, in 88th place overall in 2009, a year after the city’s highest ranking of 19th place overall a year earlier in 2008. Thompson ended up in 25th place in 2007.

MoneySense estimated Thompson’s unemployment rate has increased over the last year from 5.5 per cent to 6.56 per cent.

While 10.9 per cent of Thompson residents travel to work by walking only the most miniscule numbers commute to work by bicycling or using public transit, MoneySense found. In the case of bicycling, only 0.7 per cent of Thompson residents bicycle to work, while even fewer – 0.3 per cent – use public transit to travel to work.

MoneySense says its survey “is the most comprehensive data-driven snapshot of Canadian cities you’ll find anywhere.”  There are 34 separate categories being measured. They include factors such as household income, population growth, unemployment rate, cost of housing, crime rates, number of rainy days, number of doctors per 1,000 residents and the percentage of the population that walks, bikes or takes public transit to get to work.

Brown says, “To identify the Best Places to Live in Canada we rank each community across 34 separate categories to get a detailed picture of what life is like in each community.”

Last year, Brown noted, “Critics of our best places ranking routinely point out that we don’t incorporate intangible considerations – like the best scenery or hottest attractions – into our methodology. It’s true, we don’t take any of these things into account. Out east, for example, the Nova Scotia community of New Glasgow doesn’t place highly on our ranking, despite being home to some of the finest river and deep-water fishing spots in the country.

“But such characteristics –  no matter how appealing – aren’t the point of this exercise,” says Brown. “This isn’t the best places to visit, it’s the best places to live. If you’re going to plant roots somewhere we think there should be good access to medical care, low crime, good public transportation and, yes, nice weather. Above all, the best places in Canada have to be affordable. That’s why measures like housing prices, employment and wealth are particularly important, and are given the greatest weighting in our methodology.”

In fact, New Glasgow was dead last in 209th place this year. New Glasgow finished in 198th spot out of 201 places last year, after finishing 196th in 2013 out of 200 spots. It also finished last at 190 of 190 in 2012 and 180 out of 180 in 2011. In 2010, it managed to creep out of the cellar to rank 177th out of 179 after finishing dead last also in 2009 at 154th out of 154 places. In 2008, New Glasgow was 151 out of 154. The Census Agglomerate for New Glasgow includes New Glasgow, Stellarton, Trenton, Westville, Merigomish Harbour, Fisher’s Grant, Pictou Sub Division C and Pictou Subdivision. B.

You can also follow me on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/jwbarker22