Want to know what makes a great place to live?
We believe this year's version of Canada's Best Places to Live is our most comprehensive research project yet. While we've kept all the indicators of community quality used in previous editions, we've added more data on crime rates and medical services. We've also turned our attention to measuring the impact of culture and recreation. Finally we've compared how much more in sales and income tax you'll pay from one province to the next. (Hint: the further west you go, the more you save.)
Our approach to ranking communities is unique in two ways. First, we don't rely on subjective judgments. Most rankings of best places rely upon touristy impressions of historic downtowns and spectacular beaches. We think that approach is flawed because a visitor's impressions can be skewed by personal preference or by a single experience, good or bad. In contrast, our grading system looks only at features that have broad appeal and that can be reliably measured with hard numbers.
Second, we focus on the factors most likely to affect your long-term happiness. While we've got nothing against charming downtowns and nice beaches, we prefer to concentrate on more practical matters: your chances of landing a good job, affording a nice home, and getting high-quality medical care. Much of what we measure is invisible to the tourist's eye — which is why some of our top communities might come as a surprise to you.
http://list.canadianbusiness.com/rankings/bestplacestolive/2009/article.asp
Winnipeg ranked 8th. Brandon 10th. Equally surprising: those cities that did not make the top ten list.
