Port Alberni has been named Canada’s worst city to live in, a finding Mayor John Douglas calls “way off the mark.”
The Vancouver Island mill town came in last in a survey of 201 Canadian cities by MoneySense magazine. The highest-ranked B.C. city was Saanich, at No. 14.
“There’s some great things going on in Port Alberni, but when you look at the numbers, it doesn’t look too good,” MoneySense deputy editor Sarah Efron said.
She said the community was dragged to the bottom by its high unemployment rate, low household income and high crime rate.
The finance-focused rankings measure cities on 34 factors that gauge livability and quality of life, including public transportation, access to medical care, housing prices, employment and weather. They don’t take into account such intangibles as natural scenery and community spirit.
Douglas disagreed with the results, describing the waterfront community as “one of the best places to live in Canada.”
He said Port Alberni, long known for its paper mill, is no longer a one-industry town.
Small businesses are booming, housing affordability is good and there is great infrastructure in place.
“There’s good quality of life here,” he said. “We have an incredible community and assets.”
Almost half of the top 20 cities on the list are in Western Canada, with St. Albert, Alta., topping the list followed by Calgary.
