Still can't believe that Victoria is a worse place to live than Regina, Rimouski, or Red Deer.
Can't believe the B.C. capital (our motto: "just looked in the mirror, fell in love all over again") even sits one spot behind Yorkton, Sask. (motto: "come for the frostbite, stay for the swarming insects") in the annual MoneySense magazine
rankings of Canada's Best Places To Live.
Yet there we were, No. 35 out of 190, when the list was released last week.
That might be OK if you're Sodom, Surrey or Gomorrah, but is reason for grief counselling in a city that habitually flirts with the top of any Best Of list.
Imagine Paul McCartney reading of the Beatles being sandwiched between Def Leppard and the Bee Gees.
Note that in 2011, Amazon.ca declared Victoria the most romantic city in Canada, based on the per capita purchase of romance novels, Michael Bubl recordings, rom-com DVDs and the like.
In 2010, the Canadian Council on Learning named us the Smartest City In Canada, based on such factors as education levels, exposure to culture, and proximity to libraries and museums, meaning we're not just pretty, but
sexy-librarian smart.
In 2009, Next Generation Consulting of Wisconsin ranked Victoria as the best city in Canada for young professionals, based on earning potential, lifestyle cost and the social scene.
(This came as a pleasant surprise, seeing as we weren't aware that Victoria had A) any young professionals or B) a social scene, unless you count Tim Hortons or the guys who jig for herring off the bridge.)
However, a 2007 happiness survey placed Victorians dead last among 18 cities rated according to how satisfied their residents say they are. This isn't necessarily a surprise. People who have everything usually want more. Were it not for a sense of entitlement, they would have no sense at all.
Now, some observers might argue that the science on all these surveys isn't as airtight as, say, the Chernobyl nuclear reactor. (Note that when the Economist Intelligence Unit dropped Vancouver from first place to third in its global livability index last year, it cited Malahat traffic tie-ups as a reason for the decline. Jeez, when did Sarah Palin become
editor of The Economist?)
The MoneySense rankings seem particularly sketchy, the bastard love child of a calculator and an Ouija board. Truth is, all rankings are subjective, coloured by personal values and experience.
For example, MoneySense might have Prince George wallowing at 156, but I will always remember it as the place where we finished a camping trip straight out of Deliverance by stumbling into 99-cent margarita night at Earl's.
Similarly, Kamloops ranks 44th. My mother lives in Kamloops. Any town that boasts a woman who takes out her teeth to recite "she sells seashells by the seashore" to her grandchildren automatically
deserves to be in the top 10.
If MoneySense wants to step outside to discuss this, I will gladly oblige.
The best community in Canada is Quebec City, based on a teenaged incident in which a friend who is now an Anglican minister and I taught a packed last-bus-on-Saturday-night to sing Goodnight Irene (bilingual version, with three-part harmony) until the bus driver slammed on his brakes. Then he pulled out a harmonica and played along. I'm not making this up. It was in that same era that a Winnipeg bus driver drove me waaaaay past the end of his route (so far out into the W.O. Mitchell prairie that I thought he might sell me to a farmer) to what he said would be a good hitchhiking spot.
The absence of a Bus Driver Friendliness index is a glaring flaw in the
MoneySense system.
Conversely, I was once barred entry to a cafe in Watson Lake for no better reason than general youthful homeliness, and have spent the subsequent years eagerly scouring the newspaper for a headline that screams "Yukon town flattened by freak meteor strike."
When it comes to community evaluation, I hold onto a grudge like it's the last chopper out of 'Nam. Incorporate that, number crunchers.
Of course, sometimes they get it right.
In 2009, MoneySense ranked Victoria the best city in Canada. That the calculations were bang-on that year is
self-evident.
