The World According to Mitch

Yesterday MacLean’s Magazine posted their index of the most dangerous (crime-related) cities in Canada.  Ottawa, where I currently live, placed a comfortable 145th on the list.  I’m good with that – I do not expect to be jumped by a group of marauding bandits when I walk down the street.

What I found interesting about the list is that no city in the Top 10 is east of Manitoba.  In fact, of the top 20, only three are east of Manitoba – Pembroke, ON (11), Stratford, ON (12), and Cobourg, ON (18).  The highest ranking Maritime city is Amherst, NS (26), and the most dangerous city in Quebec (and the only Quebec city below #99) is Thetford Mines (45).

Of the other Canadian municipalities where I have lived:

• Halton Region (Oakville, Burlington) ranks 96th
• Mississauga (and Brampton) ranks 124th
• Montreal ranks 211th

I don’t walk down the street anywhere in Canada worrying that I am going to get jumped… but I wonder what it is about Western Canada that makes it so much more dangerous than Eastern Canada.

Oh well… maybe it’s the maple syrup that is keeping Quebec calm?