Burlington takes a major hit in the rankings: Money Sense magazine places us 31st - behind Oakville and Halton Hills.

News 100 blackBy Staff

July 31st, 2018

BURLINGTON, ON

 

Oh dear.

The numbers are in for 2018

And Money Sense has done us a dirty.

2018 banner

 

The ranked Burlington rather poorly.

2018 listing

Where is Burlington?

rank city

Burlington 2018

The city has been hyping the high rankings they got previously. It became a mantra the politicians couldn’t  stop sharing.

Oakville and Halton Hills ranked better than we did.

The results of the 2018 Canada’s Best Places to Live rank Oakville as not only the best place to live overall, but the best place for New Canadians, the third best place to retire and the fifth best place to raise a family. It’s certainly not the cheapest city in the country, but it has attracted a growing and increasingly diverse population because of its many strong points.

Senior staff in the communications department might choose to wear black arm bands to signify that they are in mourning.

The city has stupidly made great fan fare about a magazine listing.

There really are more important things for the city to focus on

Money Sense magazine has a circulation of 110,000 +

Now everyone knows our sad story.

The Gazette has asked Kwab Ako-Adjei, Senior Manager of Government Relations and Strategic Communications for a comment. We will share that should something come in.

Will the staff bonuses be any less this year? Does anyone at 426 Brant actually get a bonus?

 

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9 comments to Burlington takes a major hit in the rankings: Money Sense magazine places us 31st – behind Oakville and Halton Hills.

  • George

    I wonder if the closing of two Burlington high schools through a flawed process resulting in a flawed decision along with elected officials HDSB Trustees and Burlington Councillors plus Mayor’s decision to support developers against the wishes of the citizens also helped to drop our rating. Do not forget who voted to close Burlington high schools namely Trustees: Andrea Grebenc, Leah Reynolds and Richelle Papin and who should be voted out of office on Oct. 22nd, 2018.

  • Penny

    I never could understand how Burlington was considered to be the best mid-size City. We lack a viable public transit system. The downtown core is so congested and parking such an issue that many residents opt not to come downtown. Citizen engagement is non-existent, and intensification happening city wide with no real vision.

    There is a saying ” don’t believe your own press”.

  • Collin

    The rankings were always skewed by things that didn’t really make a city a good place to live. For example, MoneySense awarded points based on how many cars a family had (the more the better), how old they were (under three years = good) and average incomes (higher=better). None of these have much to do with the overall quality of life in a city for the average working stiff. Maybe this year they’ve changed their scoring system to put more emphasis on things like walkability (very poor outside of downtown), the availability of transit and City spending on things that actually help people, as opposed to pouring millions into a marina that will serve only 100 or so boaters. Perhaps they even took into account the way Council completely ignored anyone who opposed the way developers are taking over city planning. I look forward to the hemming and hawing as most of the current members of Council try to explain this one away.

  • Lucy

    Comparing the Full Ranking which includes all sizes of towns and cities, this year’s ranking places Burlington at #31 from #9 last year. Since new measurement parameters have been put into place, it appears Burlington hasn’t done as well as in the past. Also good to note Money Sense has always given a different weight to the numerous factors in each category in their methodology. However, read this year’s methodology section where it states:
    “We made a number of tweaks and adjustments to this year’s ranking. That means this year’s results are not directly comparable to previous years.” So far I have not been able to find a link to the list for ranking best midsize city in 2018. In the past that is the list for which Burlington has ranked #1 five years in a row. Perhaps, the midsize city ranking list will appear later this week. With the new methodology, Burlington does not do as great as it did in the past in many areas because of the additional factors measured in 2018. There has been some confusion about these recently in the comment section of several Gazette articles. Yes, city hall will boast about the rankings when Burlington is on top, but I think the new rankings leaves little room for boasting this year.

    Methodology 2018 link:
    https://www.moneysense.ca/save/canadas-best-places-to-live-2018-methodology/

    Canada’s Best Places to Live 2018 Full Ranking link:
    https://www.moneysense.ca/canadas-best-places-to-live-2018-full-ranking/

    Canada’s Best Places to Live 2017 Full Ranking link:
    https://www.moneysense.ca/canadas-best-places-to-live-create-your-own-ranking/

  • Marie

    “And Money Sense has done us a dirty.” Not really. Burlington did it to itself. The city needs to wake up, address the traffic congestion, transit issues and lakeshore high rise development to become a desirable place where people want to live.

    As to whether or not it’s “stupid” to pay attention to such rankings, well, MoneySense is simply a branch of media. If it wasn’t considered “stupid” when the city was ranked at the top, it’s rather childish to call it “stupid” now that it’s rank has fallen.

  • “Burlington has been named the best mid-sized city in the country, but there’s always room for improvement according to Rick Goldring.” (Inside Halton Oct. 14, 2014).
    Could not agree more, especially now that we are a less desirable place to live than Oakville, Milton, Halton Hills et all. I did not need Money Sense to tell me things were going downhill. The improvement most needed is a new mayor and council.

  • Karen Durrant

    wow is this accurate?

  • Philip Waggett

    If a sports team fell as precipitously in the standings, the coaching staff and management would be fired. Say goodnite to Coach Goldring and his assistants.