Toronto: 16th most livable city in the world

From the Toronto Star:

Toronto is among four Canadian cities that made the top 25 in the world for quality of living.

Vancouver shared the fourth spot with Auckland, New Zealand. Ottawa ranked 14th, Toronto placed 16th while Montreal came in at number 21.

The Mercer Quality of Living survey looked at 221 cities and compared how they ranked on factors such as crime, health, education, transportation, recreation, housing and environment. The list is often used by multinational companies to determine appropriate compensation and incentives for executives asked to relocate.

Councillor Kyle Rae was dumbfounded that Ottawa beat out Toronto.

“Is it a bureaucrat that’s writing this thing?” said Rae, chair of council’s economic development committee. “Everyone knows Ottawa is a small town that has unparalleled sameness.”

Last month, Mayor David Miller took a shot at Ottawa, where he attended high school, after the capital was ranked the most liveable city in Canada by a national business magazine.

Told about the magazine survey, which ranked cities on factors such as house prices and unemployment, Miller asked a reporter: “Do you want to live in Ottawa?”

Rae picked up the cudgel in response to the latest ranking, saying he knows people who’ve been transferred to Ottawa and want to return to Toronto.

“I was born in Ottawa,” Rae said. “This is the place to be.”

While Toronto is a good place to live, its future prosperity is in danger because of lagging public transit, said Deputy Mayor Joe Pantalone, who is running for mayor on a platform that calls for full funding of the as-yet-unbuilt Transit City light rail network.

“Cities can grow and prosper or they can wither and die,” he warned. “They don’t stand still.”

In a blow to Toronto’s aspirations of being an environmental leader, the city ranked only 39th on Mercer’s new list of “eco-cities” worldwide, while Calgary — capital of the Oil Patch — ranked No. 1 and Ottawa No. 3. The eco-ranking is based on factors such as water availability and drinkability, waste removal, quality of sewage systems, air pollution and traffic congestion, as well as a city’s commitment to using renewable energy and minimizing pollution

Not so surprisingly, Baghdad remains at the bottom of the quality of life list, at No. 221.

Click here for more details.