North Battleford has once again been trampled by Maclean’s Magazine.
This time, the city was on the receiving end of low grades from the magazine’s Best Places to Live feature, released on Aug. 8.
Out of 415 communities in Canada, North Battleford ranked 373rd in Maclean’s ranking. Among Saskatchewan communities they ranked second from the bottom, ahead only of Lloydminster.
According to the Maclean’s survey, North Battleford’s top three features were amenities, affordability and the commute, in that order.
The ranking methodology considers categories including wealth and economy, affordability, demographics, taxes, the commute, crime, health, amenities, culture and community.
As for who finished on top, Burlington, Ont., finished first on the list, followed by Grimsby and Ottawa. In fact, Ontario cities dominated nine of the top 10 spots and the vast majority of the top 25.
Maclean’s explained Ontario benefitted from a strong economy, good weather, low crime and low health care wait times.
Weyburn was ranked the top Saskatchewan place to live in 45th spot.
This is not the first time North Battleford has been dissed by Maclean’s. The magazine had infamously declared North Battleford to be “Canada’s Most Dangerous Place” in 2017.
This is the first year that Maclean’s has issued a Best Places to Live survey. The survey had previously been an annual feature of MoneySense magazine, which was owned by the same company as Maclean’s until MoneySense was sold off last year.
North Battleford finished 333rd overall in the MoneySense survey the previous two years.
