St. Albert is rated as the 19th best place to live in Canada, according to MoneySense magazine’s recently released annual rankings.
That sounds pretty good when you consider 415 Canadian cities were ranked by this online finance magazine. But four other Alberta cities – Red Deer (12th), Camrose (11th), Canmore (seventh) and Lacombe (fifth) – are rated higher than St. Albert.
Furthermore, in 2017 our city was rated No. 7. That’s a precipitous plunge. So what gives?
This year a new category was introduced to the ranking system: wait times for various medical procedures.
That changes things somewhat, especially since wait times are a legitimate struggle for this community.
Mayor Cathy Heron said as much when she talked to the Gazette’s Dayla Lahring last week.
“The city has no control over health care,” Heron said. That’s a revealing statement.
On Monday, the city released the first results of its 2018 Municipal Census, which reveal that St. Albert’s population has climbed to 66,082. In 2011, that number was 61,466.
If that trend continues – more and more people moving into St. Albert and environs – the pressure will mount even more on Sturgeon Hospital and health-care centres, a problem, by the way, that is province-wide.
St. Albert faces other challenges: The possibility of raising taxes always leaves the citizenry twitchy.
As well, during a recent spate of phone calls to the Gazette’s editor, readers complained vociferously about the quality of the city’s transit system. There’s too much traffic, wait times at lights are too long, the system’s a mess, they said. The city, we are told, is working on it. We'll see.
Another point of irritation with residents is the fact that some residents aren't picking up after their dogs. Signs on trails that essentially say, "They poop, you scoop," are being ignored. Please let’s address that one right away.
Meanwhile, on the green front, the city’s Environmental Master Plan, which was written up in 2009, is trying to reach numerous green targets by its imposed deadline of 2020. The city’s state of the environment reports since 2003 reveal it is on track to hit 13 of 21 targets. Good news but not great, and time is running out.
Still, you don’t have to look very far for good news. We have an amazing, thriving arts community; our streets are clean and well-kept.
Both school systems are constantly winning awards – the most recent being when Greater St. Albert Catholic Schools superintendent David Keohane was named Canada’s top superintendent for 2018.
The RCMP is working with communities to reduce crime, which is a much-needed initiative.
Just for starters we have our green spaces all connected by the trails of Red Willow Park, including Lois Hole Provincial Park, the Sturgeon River, the John E. Poole Wetland and Riverlot 56, where everyone can enjoy the great outdoors.
Lest we forget our recent rodeo, and the enduring, immensely popular farmers’ market that generates millions in local economic activity every summer. And just this past week, the annual car lovers’ festival, Rock’n August, wrapped up, putting a wonderful shine on our community. It also raised a ton of money for diabetes research.
The list goes on.
Rest assured St. Albert is a great place to live. Perhaps the rankings missed a thing or two.
