Burnaby Best-Run City in Canada, Charlottetown Worst: Maclean's

by cyn.khoo | July 22, 2009 at 03:19 pm

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Maclean's magazine has released a list ranking the 31 capital and largest cities in Canada in terms of how well the cities are run. Burnaby, Saskatoon, Surrey, and Vancouver top the list, while Charlottetown, Kingston, and Fredericton bring up the rear.

The survey was commissioned from the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies, based in Halifax. Significant is the fact that the study aims to decide not quality of life or which city is the "best place to live", but to examine how well each municipality is run by or contributed to by its local government.

We aim not merely to start some good barroom arguments, but to help voters to hold their representatives to better account, and indeed to help city governments themselves. For without some sort of yardstick to measure their performance, either against other cities or against their own past record, how can they hope to know whether they are succeeding?

Survey categories include city efficiency, effectiveness of services, and municipal management (such as roads, parks, garbage, and fire-fighting).

Best-Run Cities by Overall Category:

Governance & Finance: Charlottetown
Taxation: Richmond
Safety & Protection: Quebec City
Transportation: Longueuil
Environmental Health: Sherbrooke
Economic Development: Surrey
Recreation & Culture: Burnaby
Total Efficiency & Effectiveness: Burnaby

Worst-Run Cities by Overall Category:

Governance & Finance: Fredericton
Taxation: Regina
Safety & Protection: Barrie
Transportation: Barrie
Environmental Health: Hamilton
Economic Development: Charlottetown
Recreation & Culture: Kingston
Total Efficiency & Effectiveness: Charlottetown

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