Winnipeg, Brandon in top 10 cities

April 28, 2009
Winnipeg Free Press
Written by: Geoff Kirbyson

Magazine lists Canada's best places to live

The chants of "We're No. 8" and "We're No. 10" echoed Monday throughout the halls of power in Winnipeg and Brandon.

Riding affordable housing, good job prospects and ready access to healthcare, Manitoba's two biggest cities cracked the Top 10 of MoneySense magazine's annual compilation of Canada's Best Places to Live.

Winnipeg scored 65.46 out of a possible 105 points on 24 different criteria -- such as weather, crime levels, home prices, employment prospects and tax rates -- a mere .11 away from tying Vancouver for fifth spot, while Brandon rang in at 63.98. Victoria (72.76 points) came in first while Ottawa (72.49) and Kingston (70.77) also made the podium. New Glasgow, a Nova Scotia city with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants, came in last, or 154th, with 34.24 points.

The Top 10 ranking was music to the ears of Stu Duncan, president of Destination Winnipeg, and Dave Burgess, mayor of Brandon, but the positive attributes extolled by MoneySense about the two cities were hardly a revelation.

"It's not a surprise to those of us who live here. We know we've got it really good," Burgess said.

Duncan echoed those sentiments, saying most Winnipeggers know the city is a good place to live, work and play.

"It's good to see Winnipeg recognized more nationally. There's been more buzz (about the city)," he said.

Rob Gerlsbeck, features editor at MoneySense, a national personal finance and lifestyle magazine, said both Winnipeg and Brandon placed well because they are the epicentres of their respective regions and home to post-secondary institutions.

"Those factors tend to have a calming effect. There are a lot of students spending money in the community. You're not a boom-bust city. You're not like Fort McMurray that can be hot one day and not the next, or Toronto, where there are massive spikes in real estate values," he said.

Gerlsbeck said the cost of housing is one of the differentiating factors for both Manitoba cities.

"You have a certain level of disposable income, not all your money is going into your mortgage," he said. "If I was young and coming out of teachers' college and I had a job offer in Winnipeg and another one in Vancouver. I'd look at Winnipeg because I'd probably have a better quality of life and I wouldn't be as house-poor."

Gerlsbeck noted that weather has the biggest weighting in the study, including annual precipitation, the number of wet days, the number of days where it drops below freezing and air quality. Both Winnipeg and Brandon performed well on three of the criteria.

"Ideally, people would like to live in a Mediterranean or Californian climate where it's warm and doesn't rain too much. The trouble is, that doesn't really exist in Canada," he said.

Burgess said if MoneySense liked what it has seen of Brandon so far, just wait until the middle of next year. He said its population of 44,000 will jump seven per cent over the next 18 months as 2,500 family members of recently-hired Maple Leaf Foods employees move to Brandon.

"There's a tremendous amount of growth that's guaranteed. We're very busy trying to keep up with housing and rental demand," he said.

Other Manitoba communities on the MoneySense list include Portage la Prairie (51st) and Thompson (88th).

geoff.kirbyson@freepress.mb.ca

How we measure up

Winnipeg ranked in the top half of virtually every category of MoneySense magazine's study on Canada's best cities in which to live, while Brandon was the No. 9 city for job prospects.

Here's how Manitoba's two biggest cities performed in some key areas
(the numbers are ranked out of 154):

The full list:

1. Victoria, B.C.
2. Ottawa, Ont.
3. Kingston, Ont.
4. Burlington, Ont.
5. Vancouver, B.C.
6. Moncton, N.B.
7. Fredericton, N.B.
8. Winnipeg, Man.
9. Peterborough, Ont.
10. Brandon, Man.

For more on the MoneySense list, see the magazine's website.