St. Albert is ranked the fourth best place to live in Canada by MoneySense magazine for the second year in a row, and that makes Mayor Nolan Crouse proud.
St. Albert is ranked the fourth best place to live in Canada by MoneySense magazine for the second year in a row, and that makes Mayor Nolan Crouse proud.
“Regardless of whether people agree or like the criteria, somebody has chosen to put a lot of effort towards this and so I'm looking at it and saying, ‘good for us, we're in the top four,'” he said.
This year eight communities were added to make a list of 219 towns and cities. St. Albert has remained the top small city in the country. It has dropped from first to fourth best place to raise kids according to the magazine.
“It's a great place for kids and I think the biggest reminder was the children's festival that just ended. It's so focused on kids and it's so amazing to see all of the children there having fun,” said St. Albert MLA Marie Renaud.
Her colleague shares her enthusiasm.
“It doesn't come as too much of a surprise but it's always nice to reaffirm something we already knew,” Spruce Grove-St. Albert MLA Trevor Horne said about the ranking.
The magazine compares everything from unemployment rates to the number of new luxury cars in each community in order to formulate the rankings. St. Albert has one of the top 10 high-income scores. It also placed in the top 25 percentiles for strong arts, sports and community, low crime rates, access to health care, affordable housing, and low unemployment.
Chamber of commerce president Lynda Moffat considers the high rankings to be reflections of the efforts that St. Albert residents and officials put towards maintaining high standards of living in the city.
“We do have an outstanding community here and the fact that we are in the top five or in the top four is certainly testament to that, testament to what we all – the ones that live here – already know and believe to be true," said Moffat.
St. Albert MP Michael Cooper also recognizes the work that goes into making the city one of the best places to live in Canada.
“I think the strength of a community comes from the people who live in it and St. Albert is unique because of the high level of engagement of so many people throughout our community. There is a strong spirit of volunteerism and community engagement and that's reflected in St. Albert having a vibrant arts and heritage. We have a very strong engagement in terms of civic organizations and very strong and active recreational organizations.”
In 2014, St. Albert ranked first overall, but the local leaders are not overly concerned about the drop to fourth.
“We like to be No. 1. That would be a preference to be No. 1 on a consistent basis, but that being said, I think you're just flirting with very subtle changes with numbers,” said Mayor Crouse.
Moffat believes the competition is healthy for the city.
“It just means we have to work harder,” she said. “It's good for any community to have somebody nipping at your heels because it makes you do your work better. I think that we can all be really, really proud of St. Albert and all the leadership in St. Albert because it doesn't happen by accident.”
Ottawa was ranked first on the list, Burlington, Ont. second, and Oakville, Ont. third. All three are larger cities than St. Albert.
This year, St. Albert also captured one other top-ten ranking as the ninth best place for new Canadians. Moffat attributed the high ranking to the fact that St. Albert is a caring and welcoming community with many organizations in place to support new residents.
Cooper also said St. Albert is very welcoming to newcomers. He mentioned that over the past few years, he's noticed an increasing amount of diversity in the city.
“That (diversity) has strengthened the St. Albert community overall,” he said.
St. Albert residents surveyed on Thursday afternoon were not surprised by the city's high rankings.
“That's why I live here. It kind of has a small town feel still even though it's a city. I raised my kids here,” said Jayne Tarry, who has lived in St. Albert for 22 years.
“It's a great place to be,” said Donna Kawahara. “When I decided to move here Edmonton wasn't even on my radar, it was always St. Albert.”
Fourth place ranking aside, Cooper said the city is completely deserving of a top spot.
“St. Albert really is one of the best places in Canada to live. I would say it's actually the best place in Canada to live.”
