XPost: can.politics, van.general, mtl.general   
      
   Vancouver Sun - April 22, 2015   
      
      
   Daphne Bramham: Vancouver is Canada's unhappiest city, says StatsCan   
      
   And if you don't like it? Move to Quebec   
      
      
   It is counterintuitive, and also not surprising, that Vancouver is Canada's   
   unhappiest city when it comes to its residents' evaluation of life   
   satisfaction.   
      
   It is last among 33 cities in Statistics Canada's inaugural report on happiness   
   released Monday.   
      
   Vancouver is consistently rated as one of the world's most livable cities. It's   
   been praised for its urban design, natural beauty and the year-round outdoor   
   lifestyle.   
      
   But when it comes to happiness, that beauty stuff doesn't make much difference.   
     Even affordability and wealth aren't the best determinants of happiness.   
      
   What matters more, researchers say, are social connectedness and things like   
   collaboration, generosity and having a sense of purpose.   
      
   Those are easier to achieve in smaller communities, which explains why   
   top-ranked Saguenay, Trois- Rivieres, St. John's and Sudbury do much better   
   than Canada's biggest cities.   
      
   "Whenever we become more satisfied with our social relationships, our happiness   
   increases," says Meik Wiking, CEO of The Happiness Research Institute in   
   Denmark.   
      
   "We often choose to invest our time in achieving a higher income because we   
   expect it will bring greater happiness, but sometimes that time might be better   
   invested in our social relationships."   Denmark has twice topped the United   
   Nations' World Happiness Report.   
   Wiking said Monday that is because of strong social networks but also because   
   the Danish welfare system is "really good at reducing extreme unhappiness."   
      
   At least once a week, 78 per cent of Danes socialize with friends and family;   
   the average in the rest of Europe is 60 per cent.   
      
   In Vancouver, it's only 41 per cent, according to a 2011 survey done by the   
   Vancouver Foundation. In that survey, one in four residents in Metro Vancouver   
   said they are alone more often than they would like. Many respondents talked   
   about how hard it is to find friends here.   
      
   Nearly half said they felt no connection to their neighbourhoods, while most   
   had not participated in any community events in the past year.   
      
   UBC economist John Helliwell is co-author of the StatsCan and the World   
   Happiness reports. In a paper he co-wrote last year, the happiness of British   
   Columbians was compared with greater levels of life satisfaction of Atlantic   
   Canadians. The conclusion was the biggest difference was "the extent to which   
   people feel they belong to their communities."   
      
   The study went on to say that there are also "very large effects from the size   
   and the intensities of the individual's networks of both family and friends ...   
   in the frequency of seeing friends and the extent to which neighbours are   
   trusted."   
      
   But Quebec now surpasses the Atlantic Provinces in terms of people's life   
   satisfaction.   
      
   In fact, the underlying theme of the How's Life in the City? Report is that if   
   you want to be happy, move to Quebec.   
      
   "(The high levels of life satisfaction) is not explained by income alone,"   
   Helliwell said in an interview Monday. "It's because they feel at home - both   
   Anglophones and francophones." And that warm glow of belonging, he said, is the   
   equivalent to a doubling or tripling of the average income.   
      
   Back in beautiful B.C., it seems there's not a lot of happiness.   
      
   Not a single city in the province cracked the top 10. Kelowna rates the   
   highest, but it is in the middle of the pack - No. 12 of 33. Abbotsford comes   
   in at No. 24 after Winnipeg - yes, Winterpeg! - but ahead of Kitchener. As for   
   Victoria, the capital and perennial tourist attraction, it's at 27 sandwiched   
   between Peterborough and Barrie.   
      
   Of course, in Canada's unhappiest city, the average ranking of life   
   satisfaction of 7.8 out of 10 isn't that much worse than the folks in Saguenay,   
   Trois-Rivieres and St. John's who put themselves at 8.2.   
      
   But StatsCan researchers found significant variations when they looked at the   
   lowest and highest scores from individuals across the country. They differed by   
   as much as 10 to 17 percentage points, which raises questions about what   
   accounts for the spread.   
      
   It's also worth pointing out that even being the unhappiest city in Canada   
   still means that Vancouverites are considerably happier than the vast majority   
   of people in the world since Canada consistently ranks high on the World   
   Happiness Index.   
      
   And it's true, too, that we can change this. But how?   
      
   "People should do what they can to make the world a happier place, not what   
   they can do to make themselves happy," says Helliwell.   
      
   "They will get the warm glow of happiness from helping other people. ...   
   Happiness is not a tool (to make ourselves feel better). It's an outcome."   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)