Ottawa Named Best Place to Live

[Roger]

John keeps us up to date with happenings and accomplishments of Finland and his town of Vaasa. I thought I would put in a good word for my town: Ottawa

I have always thought that Ottawa has the best of both worlds. We are big enough to have all the amenities of a a big city but small enough not to have the disadvantages - high cost of housing, traffic jams, high crime rate, etc. We have big name concerts, art galleries, good theatre, the National Arts Centre, easy access to the countryside, good shopping, safe neighbourhoods in which to raise a family.

Our main drawback is our winter - very long and cold.


Ottawa named best place to live: MoneySense
Updated Thu. May. 3 2007 8:26 AM ET

Canadian Press

TORONTO -- Go west isn't good advice if what you want to do is wind up in most of Canada's top 10 places to live.


MoneySense magazine has come out with its second annual list of Canada's Best Places to Live. It ranked 123 Canadian communities with a population greater than 10,000, crunching the numbers on everything from the weather, real estate values, income levels and unemployment rates to discretionary income, crime rates and signs of prosperity.


The country's capital came out on top, with mid-sized and smaller cities filling out the top 10.


Ottawa was rated as Canada's best overall place to live, said MoneySense features editor Duncan Hood, because it didn't do poorly in any category, had high household incomes but the housing is still relatively affordable - leaving people with more discretionary income. He said MoneySense thinks that means a higher quality of life.


Rounding out the top 10 were Halifax, Quebec City, Guelph, Ont., Fredericton, N.B., Kingston, Ont., Moncton, N.B., London, Ont., Victoria and Gander, NL.


"The cities that seem to offer the best quality of life are the cities that allow you to have all the great things about living in a small town . . . that offer up workplaces that you can walk to or get to easily without sitting for hours on the highway. Places that offer you the opportunity to own your own home and have a decent-sized lawn. All those great things about smaller communities but they also offer you some of the great things about big cities like higher incomes and more amenities."


Hood said Ottawa would seem to be just sort of the perfect balance of the two things.


MoneySense also found east beats west - except for Victoria, no cities west of Ontario made the top 10.


"Where east really beat west was because our houses are cheaper. The housing is just so expensive in the west in general that that is consuming more and more people's incomes and it generally leaves them poorer. It leaves them with less discretionary income and we think that's the main reason that places out west didn't fare as well as the places out east."


Amazingly, a boomtown like Fort McMurray, Alta., was actually penalized. It has Canada's highest average household income at $135,000 a year.


"When you looked at the city more carefully, we found actually the growth rates are too high there. The infrastructure is not keeping up and the housing prices are just unbelievable there."


Canada's biggest cities finished out of the top 10.


Among them, Toronto fared the best but came in at No, 12. Hood said Toronto rated well because it had high household incomes - the fifth highest in the country. Hood said the average household in Toronto makes $91,000 a year. But the big city was near the basement in the cost of housing, ranking 103 out of 123.


Among other big cities, Winnipeg came in at 13, Montreal finished at 23, Calgary was 28 and Edmonton was 31.


Finishing at the bottom of the barrel at 123 was Port Alberni, B.C., and Hood said it fared poorly because it had a high unemployment rate and fairly low household incomes.


http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070503/moneysense_ottawa_070503/20070503?hub=Canada

[Troll]

Thanks for the article.

[ELEANOR MAW]

I wish the UK could be like that, maybe when Blair is gone we may get improvements, it can be done, only time will tell, maybe I will immigrate to Ottawa. ps Watch out Rodger I my end up next door. Mind you we are both Shania fans.

[nds76]

Let's all move to Ottawa! :D

[ShaniaKoukla]

I demand a re-count!!! Lol jk. I have been to Ottawa and it is a stunning city and the nation's capital :D

[StarryShania]

Great article. Didn't know that.

[Steve F]

Been there several times, it is a very nice city what I've seen.:)

Steve

[FinnFreak]

John keeps us up to date with happenings and accomplishments of Finland and his town of Vaasa. I thought I would put in a good word for my town: Ottawa

:huh: - ...now, how did I miss *this* thread..? - Must be all them articles of Finland stealing my attention... heh... NOT on Vaasa, though... the constant bilingual debate issues don't really produce much positive press... :funny:


;):up: - Way to go Ottawa..! - Gotta see that town at some point, the pictures I've seen look absolutely beautiful.


John - :)

[Roger]

I was going to post some photos of Ottawa but ironically I don't have many good ones. I have photos of other cities around the world but very few of our own town.

Note to self: next summer make a point of taking photos of Ottawa.

[ELEANOR MAW]

Here is a site with some Ottawa photo's. Enjoy (http://ottawa.ca/visitors/gallery/index_en.html)

[Roger]

Here is a site with some Ottawa photo's. Enjoy (http://ottawa.ca/visitors/gallery/index_en.html)

Thanx Eleanor! Now, why didn't I think of that?!

[Troll]

Thanks for the link Eleanor

[canoilers]

I can see why Edmonton wasn't number one on the list and it all has to do with the boom. The rent is so high here it almost impossible to find a place to live. People working at Macdonalds are making 13 bucks an hour atleast and they still can't afford a place. There is a huge homless problem here and there are more and more working poor on the streets because the rents are so high.

The boom has also made Edmonton Canada's murder capital once again, just as it was back in the 80's in that boom. There are so many people here that have no connection to the city, I don't think that helps any.

I think those factors might have knocked it out of the number one spot, but murder kinda wrecks the whole niceness of it all. :p

[Troll]

Iceland best place to live; U.S. slips in rankings
U.N. report says 22 nations at bottom of index are in sub-Saharan Africa
BRASILIA, Brazil - Iceland has overtaken Norway as the world's most desirable country to live in, according to an annual U.N. table published on Tuesday that again puts AIDS-afflicted sub-Saharan African states at the bottom.

Rich free-market countries dominate the top places, with Iceland, Norway, Australia, Canada and Ireland the first five but the United States slipping to 12th place from eighth last year in the U.N. Human Development Index.

But the index, blending 2005 figures for life expectancy, educational levels and real per capita income, finds that all 22 countries falling into its "low human development" category are in sub-Saharan Africa, with Sierra Leone last.

In 10 of these countries, two children in five will not reach the age of 40, said the compilers at the U.N. Development Program. Last year's report said HIV/AIDS had had a "catastrophic effect" on life expectancy in the region.

The index ranks 175 U.N. member countries plus Hong Kong and the Palestinian territories. It does not include 17 countries, including Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia, because of inadequate data.

Norway held top spot for 6 years
Norway had held top spot for six years but was edged into second place by Iceland this year because of new life expectancy estimates and updated figures for gross domestic product, or GDP, the report said.

U.N. officials played down the significance of minor short-term shifts in the rankings including the slide in the U.S. position. They said if subsequent data for the year in question been available for last year's report, the United States would have been in 10th, not eighth place.

The United States scores high on real per capita GDP, which at $41,890 is second only to that of Luxembourg ($60,228), but less well on life expectancy — joint last in the top 26 countries, along with Denmark and South Korea, at 77.9 years.

Japanese have the longest life expectancy — 82.3 years — and Zambians the lowest, at 40.5.

The report said most countries had seen their human development index rise over the last 30 years, but in 16 it was lower than in 1990, and in three — the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia and Zimbabwe — lower than in 1975.

Per capita GDP is 45 times higher in Iceland than in Sierra Leone.

The United Nations has published its human development index every year since 1990.

(c) Reuters 2007. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21989185/

[Roger]

These surveys of best places to live, best countries to live in, are based on a basketful of different elements. If certain elements are not important to you or to most people, the relevance of the overall ranking is in question. Both Canada and Australia are dragged down by living conditions endured by their aboriginal peoples. Yet in Canada most people living in large urban areas (Winnipeg excepted) rarely see aboriginal people so for us our overall living standards are actually higher than these surveys indicate.

[nds76]

Couldn't agree with you more.

These surveys of best places to live, best countries to live in, are based on a basketful of different elements. If certain elements are not important to you or to most people, the relevance of the overall ranking is in question. Both Canada and Australia are dragged down by living conditions endured by their aboriginal peoples. Yet in Canada most people living in large urban areas (Winnipeg excepted) rarely see aboriginal people so for us our overall living standards are actually higher than these surveys indicate.

[faithfully]

Maybe I need to pay a visit;) looks awesome:]might catch a game of hockey if I'm there:bounce:
http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb286/tanktopshania/canada%20pics/ottawa.jpg

[faithfully]

On leaving Toronto Pearson Airport after 6.35pm(was dark then) the plane must have flew over Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec on its return to Scotland:hmmm:I did look out of the window and I saw a big patch of light a couple of times and also some smaller ones, I just don't know what they were so I checked online for the flight direction when I got home and it turned out it must have been Ottawa etc.;) There was one massive patch that was lighten up and that must have been Montreal, It was huge:bounce:

[faithfully]

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb286/tanktopshania/canada%20pics/145_Spider_sculpture_outside_Nation.jpg

[Roger]

I realize I'm biased but I think Ottawa is a very pretty town (depending on the month - don't come in March or November). Toronto is, well, just another big city. I don't have a lot of photos of my own town. You know how it is: when you know you can take photos any time, you just don't get around to it. I do have some though that give a better idea of what the place looks like. I will post some at some point but it can't be today.

Yeah, Montreal is huge like Toronto.

[faithfully]

That would be great:] :hmmm:Ottawa's buildings look so European like Austrian ones.

[faithfully]

Heres the big spider again:D
http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb286/tanktopshania/canada%20pics/ofsaa012.jpg

[Troll]

Cool pics

[faithfully]

I'm fascinated about this city now;)maybe not as much as Toronto but I am very fascinated. I just need to go there and find out all about it:D

[Roger]

Okay we have electicians working on our house today and I keep losing power. But I have it now so here are some Ottawa pix. Unfortunately, I have never taken photos of Ottawa systematically and I don't have photos of most of our attractions. But I will post some of what I have.

Here is the Centre Block of our Parliament Buildings taken from the front. This is where the House of Commons, the Senate and the Library of Parliament is located. I worked for 27 years for the Library.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v112/Ardern/Ottawa/ParlBldgC800.jpg


Here are two pix of the Centre Block taken from the side. The round building at the back is the Library. It is a half size replica of the British Museum Library.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v112/Ardern/Ottawa/ParlBldgE800.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v112/Ardern/Ottawa/CanadaDayBE700.jpg


Here is a photo of the Centre Block taken from the back across the Ottawa River from the Museum of Civilization.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v112/Ardern/Ottawa/SteveTerryvisitAA800.jpg

[Roger]

This is part of our War Memorial. Also seen in the background is part of the East Block of the Parliament Buildings and the Peace Tower which forms part of the Centre Block.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v112/Ardern/Ottawa/KathDavidABOttawa800.jpg

[Roger]

This beautiful building is the Chateau Laurier which is a hotel in the Fairmont chain. It is a fine example of the old fashioned ornate kind of hotels that they just don't build any more.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v112/Ardern/Ottawa/KathDavidACOttawa800.jpg

[Roger]

Here is a shot taken in summer of the canal with the National Arts Centre to the left and the Parliament Buildings in the background. As you can see, the canal is a playground for the well off with their boats. There are also tourist boats.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v112/Ardern/Ottawa/CanadaDayJ800.jpg

[Roger]

Here is the same shot taken in winter. The canal is 7 or 8 km long and is kept free of snow for skating. There are also change huts and concessions that sell various foods. If here, you just gotta try the beaver tails.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v112/Ardern/Ottawa/Winterlude05a800.jpg

[Roger]

Here are the locks that take boats down from the canal to the level of the Ottawa River:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v112/Ardern/Ottawa/KathDavidAHOttawaa800.jpg

[Roger]

Here is part of the canal. The building you can see is one of our favourite restaurants - the Canal Ritz:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v112/Ardern/Ottawa/canalritztulipfestival800.jpg

[Roger]

Let's do some winter pix since this is our dominant season. These are some of the Christmas lights (not my photo). When Disney was setting up lights for its Disneyworld in Paris, they came to Ottawa for expertise in outdoor lighting. All the downtown trees are covered in coloured lights.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v112/Ardern/Ottawa/OttawaChristmaslights800.jpg

[Roger]

Every February we have Winterlude, our celebration of winter. Here is one of the ice sculptures:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v112/Ardern/Ottawa/winterlude1997icesculpturecrop600.jpg

We also have snow sculptures:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v112/Ardern/Ottawa/winterludesculptureD800.jpg

[Roger]

Skating on the canal, the first is not my pic:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v112/Ardern/Ottawa/Winterlude14.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v112/Ardern/Ottawa/AlansvisitJa600.jpg

[Roger]

The Chateau in winter:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v112/Ardern/Ottawa/ChateauLaurier040228a800.jpg

[Roger]

In spring we have our Tulip Festival, another big tourist attraction. Thousands of tulips line the canal and Dow's Lake and other areas of the city:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v112/Ardern/Ottawa/tulipfestivalBK800.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v112/Ardern/Ottawa/tulipfestivalAQ800.jpg

[Roger]

But we have daffodils too (note the tourist boat):

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v112/Ardern/Ottawa/tulipfestivalANcrop800.jpg

[Roger]

Every summer morning at 10 A.M. we have the changing of the guard on Parliament Hill. This is quite phony as far as I am concerned - obviously copied from the English - but it is a big tourist draw, especially for the Americans.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v112/Ardern/Ottawa/GuardchangingD800.jpg

[faithfully]

Wow beautiful photos:]:bounce::bounce:thanks very much;)

[Troll]

Cool pics Roger. Where do the boats in the canal go during the winter?

[Roger]

Cool pics Roger. Where do the boats in the canal go during the winter?

Don't know for sure. They probably store them somewhere.

[faithfully]

The city looks as though it has a great history to it:)

[Troll]

Don't know for sure. They probably store them somewhere.

Thanks.

[faithfully]

I'll have to go and learn French if I intend to visit Ottawa:uhh: I hated French class:p

[Roger]

I'll have to go and learn French if I intend to visit Ottawa:uhh: I hated French class:p

Nah! Three quarters of the population speak English at home. Almost all of the rest can speak English even if they don't at home.

[Troll]

I'll have to go and learn French if I intend to visit Ottawa:uhh: I hated French class:p

You are thinking about Montreal.

[Roger]

You are thinking about Montreal.

Even there if you are a visitor, all people serving you will speak English in touristy places. Most people will try to speak to you English elsewhere if they can. Very occasionally people will refuse to speak English if they think you are Canadian but they don't expect foreigners to speak French.

[Roger]

Once again this year, MoneySense magazine named Ottawa the best city in Canada in which to live. Mind you, they did also say we are "a triumph of mediocrity" but, hey, we will take that grumpiness to claim our prize! ;)

I know every city listed in the top ten, except for Winnipeg which I know only by reputation. Poor old Toronto is now down to 51st position. I would say my favourite cities with the exception of course of Ottawa, would be Victoria and Vancouver. But we would need more money than we possess to live in those cities comfortably.

----------------------------------------

Ottawa the place to live in Canada: study
Helen Morris , Canwest News Service
Published: Monday, April 28, 2008


OTTAWA - It may have freezing long winters and a quiet nightlife but it seems the nation's capital is the place to live in Canada. According to a MoneySense survey out Monday, Ottawa is above average on most things, but excellent in nothing.

"It was to some degree a triumph of mediocrity, but it was consistent mediocrity," said Ian McGugan, editor of MoneySense magazine.

The survey of 154 communities across the country looked at a number of issues including the weather, crime, the number of doctors as well as income levels and whether residents could afford to buy their own home.

Ottawa failed to make it into the top 10 for any of the categories but the city was above average in everything, finishing well ahead of second-place Victoria, and third-place Fredericton.

Victoria scored very high for warm weather and lots of doctors, but very low for affordable housing and discretionary income. Fredericton scored extremely high for affordable housing and discretionary income, but low on doctors and weather.

"It does reflect the fact that Ottawa benefits from a major employer that's never going to go out of business - the federal government," said McGugan. "Household income is quite high, housing is very affordable, crime is low, lots of doctors there compared to the rest of the country, low unemployment rate and so on."

The country's financial capital didn't fair quite so well. Toronto plummeted to 51st place in 2008 having been a respectable 12th in 2007. For the first time Statistics Canada provided MoneySense with separate figures for the City of Toronto, Mississauga, Markham, etc. instead of providing one set up figures for the greater Toronto area.

"When you take away the prosperous suburbs . . . essentially what you have is a city where housing is largely unaffordable," said McGugan. "Where there's a fair amount of violent crime and there are air quality issues."

Ottawa resident Maria-Lucia Castillo has just completed her master's degree and is about to head to Toronto in search of employment - and to be with her husband. Castillo is reluctant to leave the city that has been her home for the past five years.

"I will definitely miss the outdoors here in Ottawa . . . even just the quality of the air," said Castillo. "When I go to Toronto in the summer you can see and feel the smog."

The survey said the average house price in Ottawa was $250,123 and for Toronto $404,070. A person earning the average income for Ottawa would need 2.93 times their annual salary to cover the sticker price of a home in the nation's capital, whereas to purchase the average house in Toronto a buyer would need 4.94 times the average annual income.

"I'm not looking forward to the living expenses in Toronto . . . rent is very expensive," said Castillo. "I know I will never find housing like the one I have here in Ottawa for the same price in Toronto."


Freelance illustrator Mark Julien left his expensive shared accommodation in downtown Toronto to share an apartment with his partner in Kingston, Ont. - the fourth best place to live, according to the study. But while living expenses are cheaper the small-town feel of Kingston took some getting used to.

"We don't have a really big gay scene here in Kingston . . . when I was coming out, Toronto was nice because you had a little anonymity," said Julien. "There was a certain power in being able to walk up and down Church street and hold my partner's hand which I don't necessarily feel that I have here."

Graduate student Andrea Hunter moved from first-placed Ottawa to fourth placed Kingston but she doesn't believe her quality of life has declined.

"If anything, it's gotten better," said Hunter. "I'd say that anything you can get in Ottawa, you can get in Kingston. If you're concerned with shopping, services, medical care, etc . . . Except for Ikea. But since I'm not a fan of Ikea - except for those delicious Swedish meatballs - this doesn't affect my life at all."

TABLE

Rank Community

1. Ottawa-Gatineau

2. Victoria

3. Fredericton, N.B.

4. Kingston, Ont.

5. Levis, Que.

6. Moncton, N.B.

7. Winnipeg

8. Burlington, Ont.

9. Halifax

10. Vancouver

Source: MoneySense.ca



http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=41125e17-3782-4e28-8b35-77fad8761473&k=5386

[faithfully]

:cool:I might fancy a house in Ottawa now as its way cheaper than Toronto, and the houses probably look better;)

[SevenUp!]

Those are some awesome pictures Roger....Ottawa is a beautiful place.