City Ranks Third in Economy Category, but 42nd on 'society' scale

[Qafir Arnaut]

Edmonton Journal
Thu Jan 14 2010

Edmonton ranked seventh in a new rating of how attractive 50 Canadian cities are as a destination for prospective new residents released Wednesday by the Conference Board of Canada. But that was only good enough for a grade of B in a comparison of 41 indicators in the seven categories assessed by the Conference Board -- society, health, economy, environment,
education, innovation, and housing.

Calgary received top marks in the City Magnets study, earning an A along with Waterloo, Ottawa, Vancouver, St. John's and Richmond Hill, Ont.
"Cities that fail to attract new people will struggle to stay prosperous and vibrant," said Mario Lefebvre, director of the board's Centre for Municipal Studies. "These six cities come out on top across all rankings, so they appear to have an overall winning combination that is attractive to migrants."

Fourteen cities received a B in the study, with Edmonton, Victoria, Markham, Vaughan, Kingston, Oakville and Guelph all in the top half of the group.
While Edmonton was in seventh place overall, it dropped to number 12 when it came to factors attractive to university-educated migrants. "In deciding where to live, university-educated migrants prefer cities with higher education and society outcomes," Lefebvre said. "Migrants without a university education place more value on a city's economic strength."

Edmonton scored third in the economy category, its highest ranking in the study. But it placed 42nd in the society category, which the board said is based on 14 indicators that "capture diverse aspects of urban living that make a city a great place to live, work, and play." Indicators include
population density, access to culture, diversity, immigrant success, gender equality, poverty, incidence of crime and cultural employment.

Of the cities awarded an A grade, Vancouver was lauded for its warm climate and "young, diverse and multicultural population." Calgary was ranked at the top of the list in terms of its economy and innovation, and also showed
strength in the housing category. Ottawa got high rankings for education and innovation, and scored well in all other categories except health.
Waterloo, home of BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd., was the top-ranked city for education, and also scored high for innovation, economy and housing. Oshawa, Ont., was rated the least attractive city for newcomers.

SCORECARD
Where Edmonton ranked on the seven categories used by the Conference Board of Canada:
- - Society -42
- - Health -14
- - Economy -3
- - Environment -23
- - Education -30
- - Innovation -7
- - Housing -9

[Coldrsx]

old news... but still something we obviously need to be reminded of.

[Qafir Arnaut]

Originally Posted by Coldrsx

old news... but still something we obviously need to be reminded of.

Hopefully its not a repost. In any case, Katz is mentioning this statistic in support of his arena district.

As for me, I see no reason why the abysmal social ranking should be 42nd much longer. Yes your geography is a limitation (Edmonton is literally 4 hrs away from anywhere), however the city has a good university, and a government bureaucracy to boot. The province just needs to adjust the weight of vote away from rural areas, and ridings the size of France, and voila...you'll have your 'creative class' in no time.

I had heard there was a 'real Canada' somewhere in this half continent, but am not at all pleased to meet it. Was walking on Jasper last night. Could not believe my eyes: mullets had parked their ass and their souped up cars in camping chairs and parking lots RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF DOWNTOWN (next to that Oil City abomination) and were hissing at my countenance. Tony Montana's 'little friend' would have been handy at that moment

On the brighter side: the Italians might come in. "Lit" wine bar on 104th and Jasper is opening officially on May 20th.

[CMD UW]

Originally Posted by Qafir Arnaut

Hopefully its not a repost. In any case, Katz is mentioning this statistic in support of his arena district.

As for me, I see no reason why the abysmal social ranking should be 42nd much longer. Yes your geography is a limitation (Edmonton is literally 4 hrs away from anywhere), however the city has a good university, and a government bureaucracy to boot. The province just needs to adjust the weight of vote away from rural areas, and ridings the size of France, and voila...you'll have your 'creative class' in no time.

I had heard there was a 'real Canada' somewhere in this half continent, but am not at all pleased to meet it. Was walking on Jasper last night. Could not believe my eyes: mullets had parked their ass and their souped up cars in camping chairs and parking lots RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF DOWNTOWN (next to that Oil City abomination) and were hissing at my countenance. Tony Montana's 'little friend' would have been handy at that moment

On the brighter side: the Italians might come in. "Lit" wine bar on 104th and Jasper is opening officially on May 20th.

The 'souped up cars' have been part of Jasper Avenue, more specifically the parking lot west of BP's, for many many years. I think you're also 'hyperboling' the mullets part of it.

[Coldrsx]

correct... i even used to partake in them back in the day when you would often see 50-150 cars there of all shapes and hick levels.