It would be interesting to have some type of benchmarking tool for smaller cities in Canada like the one they have in the U.S. America’s Top-Rated Smaller Cities provides current, comprehensive data on 110 US cities, all top-ranked by Population Growth, Median Income, Unemployment Rate and Crime Rate. It also looks at finances, population, income, employment, taxes, transportation, cost of living, housing, health care, education, public safety, climate, hotels & convention centers, in-demand occupations and radio & television stations.
It might give municipalities something to aspire to.