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Looking past mixup, Lethbridge still ranks high

Jul 4, 2017 | 2:02 PM

LETHBRIDGE – When it comes to quality of life, it appears Lethbridge has maintained its rank. But the results are not without some confusion.

The city came in 89th, same as in 2016, in MoneySense magazine’s Best Places to Live in Canada, between Clarington, Ont. and Comox, B.C. The publication used a number of criteria to give rankings to more than 400 communities of at least 9,000 people — under criteria that was expanded for 2017 to include more locations.

The city of Lethbridge finished in the top 25 percentile for the categories of population growth, low taxes, and the arts and sporting community.

New to the list this year is Lethbridge County, which includes hamlets like Monarch, Shaughnessy, and Diamond City, totalling nearly 9,700. The county is ranked 318th overall.

It appears, however, that numbers were transposed for the two locations when the rankings were published, giving Lethbridge County the higher ranking (and a much higher population.) By Tuesday afternoon, the figures had been sorted out and Lethbridge was placed at 89.

The highest-ranked community is Ottawa, followed by Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures, Que., Oak Bay, B.C., North Saanich, B.C., and Weyburn, Sask. Five Nova Scotia communities are at the bottom of the list.

St. Albert is the highest-ranked Alberta community, at #7. Looking just at Alberta cities on the list, Lethbridge comes in sixth while Lethbridge County is 36th.

In addition to the criteria mentioned above, cities are also ranked based on categories like crime, access to health care and transit, and climate.