Month: December 2010

In municipal politics: The left looks to Calgary; the right looks to Toronto

It was the first day on the job for Rob Ford, the new Toronto mayor who is the darling of the conservative right but who has Toronto's left feeling embarrassed about their city. On Ford's first day, he declared “Transit City is over“, in keeping with his commitment to kill Toronto's streetcars and outgoing Mayor David Miller's plan to build 120 km of light-rail transit (LRT) lines and go with subways.

Meanwhile in Calgary, the Calgary Sun reports that new Mayor Naheed Nenshi and his council cut parking fees at the city's LRT in a bid to boost use of that public transit service. As the Calgary Herald reports in its A1 lead this morning [print version impossible to find online], “The move comes during a week of budget deliberations where Calgary Transit looks increasingly to be a winner.”

 

Canada's happiest places: PEI and Sherbrooke, Que.

The 15-minute period for daily Question Period in the House of Commons is reserved for “Members Statements”, also know on the Hill as “S.O. 31s” (for House Standing Order 31). MPs can say just about anything they want and have one minute to do it. Today's Members Statement session was led off by Peterborough MP Dean Del Mastro (CPC) with this:

Mr. Speaker I’m proud to rise today in recognition of Peterborough being recognized in recent survey as the second happiest city in Ontario and seventh happiest overall in Canada.

Home to the world’s tallest hydraulic liftlock and the Trent Severn Waterway, Peterborough was nicknamed “the electric city” when it became the first city in North America to light up electric street lights.  That vibrance still drives our beautiful and industrious region to this day whether in our factories, hockey rinks, performance venues or our outstanding post secondary institutions.

What has always made me most proud of my hometown is its heart and generosity.  Nowhere in Canada is the expression that the greatest joy is the one that comes from giving on better display than in Peterborough.

Now Mr. Speaker, the Electric City Region and Peterborough are happy to share our collective joy with all Canadians.  In fact, once we re-establish passenger rail service between Peterborough and Toronto’s Union Station we will have connected one of Canada’s happiest cities to Canada’s least happy according to the same survey.  Not to worry Toronto, Peterborough will be only too happy the share the joy along the Shining Waters Railway just as soon as the trains start running!

Del Mastro was prompted to bring this up in the House of Commons after reading about it in his hometown paper The Peterborough Examiner.

The survey Del Mastro references was done by the Ottawa-based Centre for the Study of Living Standards. It makes for an interesting read. [PDF] Here's some highlights:

The happiest provinces in Canada are, in order, PEI, Quebec, and Alberta. The least happiest province is Ontario. B.C. is the second least happiest.

The happiest cities in Canada. Here's your top ten:

  1. Sherbrooke, Que.
  2. Brantford, Ont.
  3. Trois-Rivieres, Que.
  4. Quebec City
  5. St. John's
  6. Calgary
  7. Peterborough, Ont.
  8. Saguenay, Que.
  9. Sudbury, Ont.
  10. Halifax.

And the bottom of the list:

29. Abbotsford, B.C.
30. Windsor, Ont
31. St. Catharines, Ont.
32. Vancouver
33. Toronto