A national newsmagazine has ranked the City of Weyburn as the best community on the Prairies, the third year in a row this city in southeast Saskatchewan has achieved this ranking.
The ranking this time was by a different magazine than the first two times Weyburn received this high praise at a national level. Moneysense magazine had carried out a similar ranking of communities before, putting Weyburn as No. 5 in all of Canada a couple of years ago, and then No. 33 the following year, but still No. 1 on the Prairies.
This year, Weyburn was measured as one of 415 communities of all sizes across Canada, including all major urban centres, and the city came up really good, again.
There were a number of measurements in key economic areas, along with factors like the weather, access to health care, affordability, crime levels, child care and demographics that all were figured into the rankings.
The top two categories that kept Weyburn at the top for the Prairie provinces were wealth and economy, and affordability.
These two categories covered everything from the unemployment rate, the median and average household income levels, the value of primary real estate, home affordability and rent affordability.
There are challenges here, of course, as any urban centre has to deal with, but these rankings try to drill down to see how well this community meets those challenges in comparison to other larger and smaller communities.
As Mayor Roy acknowledged, infrastructure is an ongoing concern as it is for most every urban and rural community, but the city is trying to make the most of the funds that they do receive from provincial and federal governments for infrastructure projects.
He and Chamber manager Twila Walkeden also pointed out an important point that helps keep Weyburn at the top for quality communities: it’s the people who live here, along with those who work here and operate businesses here, along with those employed by the City of Weyburn who help provide the level of services and programs for the residents and businesses of this community.
It isn’t an accident or a fluke that this city is categorized year after year as one of the best communities in the country to live and work in and to raise a family in — this is a direct result of a lot of hard work and continuing efforts by everyone who loves this city, and helps to make it a great place to be.
