Lethbridge ranked top 10 in the country
By Al Beeber - Lethbridge Herald on July 8, 2022.
Herald photo by Al Beeber
A City staffer works on the Welcome to Lethbridge sign at the brewery garden. Lethbridge has been named one of the Top 10 best cities with a population under 200,000 in Canada.LETHBRIDGE HERALDabeeber@lethbridgeherald.com
Take a bow, Lethbridge. The city has just been named No. 10 among the top-performing cities in Canada with populations under 200,000.
The list was compiled by Vancouver’s Resonance Consultancy, a company that is an advisor in real estate, tourism and economic development.
It’s rankings quantify and benchmark “the relative quality of place, reputation and competitive identity for cities all over the world,” says Resonance.
Results are based on a unique methodology analyzing key statistics, user-generated reviews and online activity on social media platforms and Google.
The rankings take a holistic approach using a number of factors “that show positive correlations with attracting employment, investment and/or visitors. These ranges from the number of quality culinary experiences and museums, to employment, direct flight connections and mentions each city has on Instagram,” says the company.
Lethbridge finished 10th in the country and No. 1 in Alberta in the rankings. Two B.C. cities, Victoria and Kelowna, topped the list, while the Ontario communities of Kingston, Niagara Falls and Waterloo rounded out the top five.
Lethbridge gets a strong review at the site bestcities.org which lists the entire Top 25.
“Of all Alberta’s second cities – the oil and gas engines of industry like Red Deer or Fort Mac, or the pockets of urbanity among natural wonders like Banff, Canmore or Drumheller – none are Wild Rose Country distilled as much as Lethbridge,” says the report.
” Century-old buildings are everywhere downtown, preserving – and in many ways confronting – little-known Canadian and Albertan history. The town’s first public library today houses the Southern Alberta Art Gallery (SAAG), and two prominent buildings (the Oliver Block and the old Catholic Charities building) have either been renoed or are in the process of being so.
“The Nikka Yuko Garden is a beautiful example of a traditional Japanese green space nestled beside the equally beautiful Henderson Lake,” the company says.
“The fact that the city is located on Treaty 7 territory and the traditional lands of the Niitsitapi (Blackfoot), Nakoda (Stoney) and Tsuut’ina First Nations is also more evident here than elsewhere in Alberta. Year-round Indigenous festivals educate and celebrate this millennia-long legacy. The SAAG also goes by its Blackfoot name, Maansiksikaitsitapiitsinikssin, meaning “the new making of images, related to the telling of our Blackfoot peoples’ stories.””
Lethbridge also ranked No. 3 among small cities in the deep Place category including a second place position for the number of sunny days here.
Lethbridge is ranked No. 6 in the Health-Care Practictioners subcategory “with two hospitals within a 30-minute drive. In a province with chronic medical services problem,” this matters,” says the report.
The city is also ranked No. 12 for short commute times.
The report also cites Lethbridge’s proximity to tourism destinations including Castle Mountain Resort, Waterton, Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump and Writing-on-Stone provincial park which the report calls global tourism destinations.
“No wonder the Lethbridge Airport was just renovated in anticipation of a post-pandemic tourism boom. And with house prices averaging $370,000, likely a new resident boom, too,” says the report.
St. Albert was the next Alberta city on the list at 14th while Airdrie was 22nd.
Follow @albeebHerald on Twitter
4-3
apart from the relative affordability of owning a house here – but, still rather outrageous – it is difficult to see this result as lethbridge being so good as opposed to wondering just how bad has the nation become. the number of homeless, the number of addicted and the consequent crime and impact on quality of life here, relative to our population, well, the “finding” does not reflect well the reality here nor bode well for the country at large if we are top 10.