MoneySense ranking of his city dismissed as "nonsense" by Port Alberni mayor

While many cities (like Victoria) bask in the glory of being near the top of the list in the annual rankings of Canadian cities by MoneySense magazine, one small city mayor on Vancouver Island is steamed. Port Alberni ranks 172 out of 180 cities, slightly better than its 175 last year, according to a report in bclocalnews.com

The Best Places to Live rankings are done based on 24 criteria, including housing, income, new cars, access to health care and weather.

Port Alberni ranks low because of the rain and low on household income, number of new cars and severity of crime. Mayor Ken McRae says the ranking is nonsense.

“I've invited them here before to experience what our town is about and they never came,” he said.“They don’t know what they’re talking about so I don’t bother with them now.”

He says the criteria fails to note an ongoing building boom.

“We've got Pacific Coast University going up, the new B.C. Hydro building, the new high school and the Athletic Hall. They don’t see these things because they weren't here.”

And the rain?

“So we live in a rain forest — some people would love our clean water and hydro electricity,” McRae said.