The Centre for Productivity and Prosperity releases its 2nd edition of Quebec Municipalities Rankings

October 21, 2014

The HEC Montréal Centre for Productivity and Prosperity (CPP) has just released its annual Quebec Municipalities Rankings 2014.

This second edition of the rankings offers all Quebeckers a tool that tells them how much the services provided by their municipality cost, with a series of indicators looking at the wages and pension plans of municipal employees.

A total of 1,110 municipalities were examined, 34 indicators were studied and over 750,000 pieces of data were compiled. This year’s edition not only has twice as many indicators as last year’s, but also makes it possible to analyze how costs have evolved over time.

Among the main findings, the rankings show that the best cities in which to live have between 50,000 and 100,000 residents. Because of their size, such municipalities not only achieve better economies of scale but are also able to offer a broad range of services while at the same time better controlling their costs. Drummondville, Saint-Hyacinthe and Granby are excellent examples in this regard.

The information presented in the rankings comes from the management indicators and financial reports that municipalities are required to submit to the Ministère des Affaires municipales

et de l'Occupation du territoire (MAMOT) every year.

The HEC Montréal Centre for Productivity and Prosperity, created in 2009 and managed by Robert Gagné, has a twofold mission. First of all, it is devoted to research on productivity and prosperity, mainly in Quebec and in Canada as a whole. The Centre then shares its research findings, making them widely accessible and, in the end, educating people about productivity and prosperity.

Check out the interactive map