Edmonton needs to start eating its vegetables.
Alberta’s capital city sits in eighth place out of 10 Canadian cities for its socio-economic and physical health, according to a report released Tuesday morning.
The Conference Board of Canada’s first-ever City Health Monitor report measures each city’s performance based on 24 indicators, grouped into four categories:
- Life satisfaction
- Population health
- Healthy lifestyle
- Access to health-care services
The new ranking compares Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City and Halifax.
Letter grades were assigned to assess each city’s performance.
Saskatoon, Calgary and Winnipeg each earn an “A” grade. Montreal finished in 10th place and is the only city to receive an overall grade of “D.” The remaining cities, including Edmonton, earned a “B” grade.
Although the standard of living within Canada’s largest cities is similar, slight variations can have a major impact on the population, said Louis Theriault, vice president of Public Policy at the Conference Board of Canada.
“Overall Edmonton received a B ranking,” Theriault said.
“It’s not as low as the ranking seems to suggest. That said, there are definitely some areas that deserve specific attention.”
Edmonton given ‘B’ grade
Although Edmonton’s economy remains healthy, the city faltered in other categories, Theriault said.
The overall physical health of the population put Edmonton near the bottom of the list of Canadian cities. Edmonton was the only city to earn a ‘D’ ranking in this category.
“What stands out is when you look at population health, stroke and cancer, for whatever reason, is quite high in Edmonton compared to other cities,” Theriault said in an interview with CBC Radio’s Edmonton AM.
“When you look at more details around lifestyle, it’s probably not the whole story, but there are some issues around smoking, for example, that could be improved.”
“Stroke and cancer, for whatever reason, is quite high in Edmonton compared to other cities.” – Louis Theriault, vice president of Public Policy, Conference Board of Canada
Edmonton also finished near the bottom of the rankings for “healthy lifestyle” with elevated rates of smoking, obesity, a general lack of physical exercise and a failure to regularly eat fruit and vegetables.
“It’s good in terms of healthcare access and how people feel about life but there is definitely room for improvement in terms of health outcomes and prevention strategies,” Theriault said.
“It’s hard to draw causalities, but it’s really a full picture on where Edmonton can improve.”
In looking at economies and how they influence a city’s overall health, the report shows Edmonton remains among Canada’s wealthiest metro areas, despite the price of oil and the economy.
With a GDP per capita of $63,780 and strong labour force participation, Edmonton came in second place for economic performance, behind first-place Calgary.
The Conference Board of Canada cautioned that benchmarking is not an end onto itself, but is intended to highlight each city’s strengths and weaknesses.
“That’s the objective of this kind of report, is to point to specific areas for improvement,” Theriault said. “When you can act and do something preemptively, then you should.”