Photo by Jonathan Lines
Toronto ranked eighth in the international business report card, part of an annual study conducted by the Toronto Board of Trade that measures the economic performance and desirability as a place to live and work of 24 leading cities around the world. The report put Paris in first place, followed by San Francisco and Calgary. The other Canadian cities featured in the study, Montreal and Vancouver, came in 20th and 14th places, respectively.
Getting over the hurdle
Carol Wilding, president and CEO of the Toronto Board of Trade, commented on the report: “To be eighth out of 24 is a good solid showing for Toronto and it confirms that Toronto is a great place to live. People love coming here, but the economy is stalling.”
Toronto slipped four spots to eighth since last year’s report. Analyses show the fall is largely the result of low productivity and a lack of adequate infrastructure, resulting in long commute times compared to similar cities. Toronto also lags behind in amount of innovation markers like patents, value of IPOs, and venture capital investment.
Gridlock could be described as one of Toronto’s most pressing concerns, as it ranked 19th in the transportation category and came last in average round-trip commute time with an 80 minute average. The Board of Trade calls for investments in commuter rail to alleviate “the crippling congestion," but acknowledges that the available public budget is very low due to the effects of the recession.
On the other hand, Toronto did fairly well in terms of labour attractiveness – measures indicating factors like air quality, education, and homicide rate.
