Maclean's Best Community 2021: Congratulations Halifax!
After taking a hiatus in 2020, Maclean's is back with their rankings for the best communities in which to live in the country - with revised metrics and weightings based on living through a pandemic.Burlington is the highest ranked municipality in Halton, is in the top five in the GTA and among the top 15 in Ontario.Due to changes in what is measured and the weight given to each criteria, Canada-wide we are now ranked at 35. The top five ranked cities in the GTA, are Toronto, Brampton, Oshawa, Burlington and Ajax. Toronto is the top ranked community in Ontario at 11 this year.Halifax is now No. 1 -- we salute you! Having visited during the Federal of Canadian Municipalities conference several years ago, I can attest to what a great ocean-front community this is - welcoming, vibrant and diverse, with great seafood!The new data eliminates measures for wealth and economy, as well as commute times (assuming a higher percentage of people across the country working from home); and there’s a new category that places high emphasis on internet quality and accessibility. Burlington is half rural and we have been fighting (with some success) for additional rural broadband access for our residents here and across Halton region.We were honoured to enjoy our time in the sun when when we were ranked the top community in the country in 2019.Burlington will always be No. 1 in our hearts. Those of us who live, work and visit here know what a special place we have here, made that much more awesome because of all of you. We’ve seen just how giving, compassionate and resilient our community is throughout this pandemic - qualities have always been there and will remain well beyond this current situation as we look ahead to a time post-Covid.To read more analysis and background of the 2021 rankings and comparison to 2019, continue reading...In the summer of 2019, Maclean's Magazine ranked Burlington the Best Community In Canada to live in for their inaugural edition of this award. It was also ranked the Best Community to raise a family. The full rankings and criteria can be found here.
A lot has certainly changed since 2019 with a global pandemic affecting many of our lifestyles, priorities and how we work and socialize. You can see the full rankings for 2021 here.Maclean's varied their methodology for 2021 as they noted that their first ranking in 2019 compared communities based “on categories we thought would be most important to the average person. Then the pandemic hit, and people’s priorities changed.” (LINK to full methodology). They note that their revamped ranking assumes remote work is here to stay, and where people should move if they’re not tied to an office and a commute. They also removed categories assessing local economy since remote workers don’t need to look for local employment, and added a category assessing internet quality. Rent data was eliminated in the affordability category and they assigned different weightings to the categories based on what they thought was most important in our current state of being.The 2021 Criteria and Weightings vs 2019 are: 
Wealth & Economy - no longer applicable (worth 20 points in 2019)Commute – no longer applicable (worth 10 points in 2019)Housing Affordability – 19 points (worth 20 points in 2019)Taxes - 9 points (was worth 7 points in 2019)Crime - 7 points (same value in 2019)Weather - 17 points (worth 10 points in 2019)Health - 11 points (same value in 2019)Amenities - 6 points (worth 2.5 points in 2019)Demographics/Population Growth – 6 points (worth 6 points in 2019)Community Involvement - 7 points (worth 5 points in 2019)*(NEW) Internet Quality - 14 points (new category for 2021)Halifax ranked number 1 this year, followed by a top 10 of Fredericton, NB (2), St. Thomas, ON (3), Belleville, ON (4), Edmonton, AB (5), Winnipeg, MB (6) Moncton, NB (7), Cornwall, ON (8), Brooks, AB (9), and Charlottetown, PEI (10). A very distinct change overall from 2019, with a lot more representation from eastern and western Canada, and smaller communities further outside the GTA.As Maclean’s commented, “Halifax took the No. 1 spot, thanks to its affordable housing prices that come with all the benefits of city living: excellent health care, top-notch internet access and a wide variety of bars and restaurants. Three other major urban centres in the region made the top 10, with Fredericton taking second place, fellow New Brunswick city Moncton coming in seventh and Charlottetown clocking in at No. 10. Atlantic Canada’s famous friendliness and community spirit helped these cities score well in the community engagement category, with Charlottetown doing particularly well.”All of these are wonderful communities and it is easy to see why they are being honoured in this year’s ranking. I send them my sincere congratulations. This is a great honour and one to be celebrated with genuine pride.You can create your own ranking by modifying the weightings assigned to each category based on what is most important to you and your family here.In 2019, Burlington ranked number 1, followed by a top 10 of Grimsby (2), Ottawa (3), Oakville (4), New Tecumseth, ON (5), Salmon Arm, BC (6), Brant, ON (7), Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON (8), Russell, ON (9) and Tecumseh, ON (10). Truly a huge representation of small/mid-sized Ontario communities in or near the GTA at that time.For ranking the best community to raise a family, additional data was included such as the percentage of families with children (the more the better), cost and availability of childcare, and adding more weight to affordability and crime.Other categories in 2019 included best community to retire (Halifax), and best community for new Canadians (also Halifax).RELATED LINK: