[Only The Lonely..]

'Peg gets a meagre 'C'

City ranked No. 19 in quality-of-life study
By TOM BRODBECK




Winnipeg's cheap housing, warm summers and short commuter rides wasn't enough to keep it from scoring poorly on one of the most far-reaching, quality-of-life studies on Canada's largest cities.

The Conference Board of Canada is scheduled to release a 75-page report today comparing the country's 27 largest cities on key indicators like the economy, health care and education.

Overall, Winnipeg got a disappointing grade of C and ranked only 19th out of 27 census metropolitan areas.

Worse, Winnipeg came in dead last among eight western cities, trailing both Saskatoon and Regina.

If this isn't a wake-up call for our elected officials, business leaders and labour gurus -- many of whom continue to ignore some of the serious economic and social woes facing Winnipeg -- I don't know what is.

"Winnipeg is by far the largest CMA receiving a "C" grade, posting strong results in the environment domain, but falling behind in all other categories, including the economy," the report states.

The aim of the study, called City Magnets: Benchmarking the Attractiveness of Canada's CMAs, is to analyze how prepared Canadian cities are to compete in an increasingly global marketplace.

The study measures the quality and attractiveness of a city using seven categories: economy, health, society, housing, environment, innovation and education.

Winnipeg scores poorly on almost every one of them.

"A CMA without the attributes to act as a magnet for new people will struggle to stay prosperous in the coming years," the report says.

In other words, if we don't pull up our socks now, we're going to fall even further behind as high-tech companies, capital and the best and the brightest flock to more attractive centres.

Not surprisingly, Winnipeg didn't fare well in the economic category, which includes economic growth, earnings and employment.

We ranked 19th and got a grade of "C." We fared a little better in health, which measures doctors and specialists per capita, population health and life expectancy, among other things.

But we still only ranked 17th out of 27 in that category.

Winnipeg's best showing was under the environment heading, where we came in sixth.

Environment measurements include air quality, domestic water usage (we ranked third best there) and climate.

Winnipeg is the second coldest city behind Saskatoon.

Surprisingly, Winnipeg did not do well in the housing category.

One of the things you hear consistently about Winnipeg is it has good, affordable housing.

Not so much, according to this report.

Winnipeg ranked 23rd in this category, which measures affordability, housing quality and the growth of residential building permits.

Ouch.

The report also compared Canadian cities with their U.S. counterparts. Winnipeg ranked 44th out of 54 North American cities.

The study is not a be-all-end-all report, though.

It has some weaknesses, including the fact some of the statistics are dated. Some health care data, for example, date back to 2001 and 2004.

Most of the statistics in the report, though, are as recent as 2006.

The study also didn't cover amenities such as the availability of cottage country and beaches, something Winnipeg shines at.

Nor did it cover per capita charitable donations, a category that would have highlighted Winnipeg's philanthropic virtues.

But it did include our short commuting time -- something I like to brag about.

All told, we should be doing much better.

And we can do much better.