Canada's Housing Bubble

Apr 1, 2011 Tristan Worden Ottawa Citizen

What are the top 25 best places to live in Canada? Take a look here.

Ottawa is the best place to live in Canada, or so says MoneySense magazine in its annual ranking of Canadian cities.

Vancouver, meanwhile, did not finish in the top 25, ranking 29th due to finishing dead last among 180 cities for affordable housing.

Ottawa-Gatineau placed first for the second year in a row, on the strength of consistent scoring across the more than 20 categories the magazine used to measure livability.

The poll measured everything from weather to crime rates to job prospects. Ottawa’s lowest score was on housing affordability, coming in at 117 of 180, its highest rank was in the “new cars on the road” category where Ottawa placed 16th. The city averaged around the 60th place in most of the rankings, and had far fewer peaks and valleys compared to other cities in Canada.

Ottawa mayor Jim Watson says the survey isn’t empty praise.

“I am very proud that they have once again chosen Ottawa as the best place to live, now our challenge is to remain at the top of the list,” he said.

Watson said much of the criteria used to compile the rankings can be controlled by government initiatives. As such he views the top ranking as a success for City Hall.

“It bodes well that some of the factors they’ve looked at we have tackled head on as a council,” he said, citing investments in the police department and new funds for cycling and pedestrian programs as examples.

Watson said council could use the results as a part of their economic development marketing plan to promote investment in Ottawa.

This is the sixth year the economic magazine has put out the list and the fourth time Ottawa-Gatineau has finished first.

This year’s ranking saw Victoria come in second, up from its eighth-place finish last year. Kingston and Burlington in Ontario and St. Albert, Alberta, north of Edmonton, round out the top five. Toronto placed 88th, and Montreal came in at 123rd.

Only communities with a population of more than 10,000 are evaluated, resulting in a list of 180 cities and towns across Canada. In the survey, cities are assigned points based on their ranking in each particular category. Cities finishing near the top are awarded full points, while those settling near the bottom only receive a portion of the available points. The scores are then tallied and used to make up the overall rankings. Ottawa finished with 71.77 points of a possible 105.