Mountain View County’s ranking in a national publication’s best communities in Canada comparison highlights what most of us county residents already know.
I do not ride a bicycle the 14 miles into town to get to work in the morning and then bike the 14 miles to get home at night.
And neither does anyone anyone else in the county who works in Olds, Sundre, Carstairs or Cremona but doesn’t live on the doorstep of those communities. I imagine there’s a lot of us.
Practicality -- some people might be informed -- is a trait rural municipality residents rely on because of the distance that separates us.
Biking to work is included in one of Maclean’s magazine’s 10 criteria for its annual Best Communities in Canada rankings.
The publication’s staff ranked 415 Statistic Canada census subdivisions across the country in the following categories: wealth and economy, affordability, population growth, taxes, commute, crime, weather, access to health care, amenities, and culture.
While the Ontario city of Burlington took the magzine’s top placing, Mountain View County was last, in 415th spot.
Like me biking to town for work, comparing Mountan View County to Burlington or any of the other cities on the list is not practical.
Ironically, Mountain View County attracts local cycling enthusiasts and was chosen by the Tour of Alberta in 2016 to showcase elite cyclists from around the world.
The difference between living in a truely rural municipality and an urban one is night and day. Not everyone is suited to both.
While being close enough to ride a bike to amenities may be an urbanite’s dream, rural residents are typically living where they are because they appreciate the quality of life that distance from development gives them.
Ask any of the county’s Alberta Century Farm and Ranch Award recipients and they’ll tell you it’s hard work, but making a living off the land ensures a particularly enjoyable rural lifestyle.
Comparing the county’s economy and even tax rates to Toronto’s, Calgary’s or even St. Albert’s is akin to comparing apples to organges.
The differences in economies of scale alone makes that quite evident.
Services like doctors' offices locate in higher-popuation centres because that’s where the people are.
Just because there are no doctors' offices in Mountain View County doesn’t mean access is limited as the county’s downgraded ranking in the magzine’s category of access to health care suggests.
There’s plenty of doctors around. And my 20 minute drive to town pales in comparison to the long commutes some city dwellers make to see their doctors.
A more useful comparison would have been between Mountain View County and other rural municipalities in Canada that aren’t heavily urbanized.
Then we may have learned something useful.
Lea Smaldon is Mountain View Publishing's managing editor.
