Population growth of 5.21 per cent? Seriously?...

If anyone is looking for reasons to question the latest MoneySense ranking of "Canada's Best Places to Live," and Brockville's place in it (we're 111th), the best one may come from one of the good-news numbers.

MoneySense senior editor David Hodges said the most significant number driving the Brockville area's increase is an improvement in population growth, where the area has jumped from minus-1.6 per cent to plus-5.21.

This sounds like good news of the too-good-to-be-true variety.

Population growth of 5.21 per cent? Seriously? Considering Mayor David Henderson and others regularly bemoan the fact our population growth barely makes a blip in the economic EKG? Someone must have got out the demographic defibrillator.

Dave Paul is right to raise his eyebrows at that growth figure, although he, like other city officials, will take the good news when it comes.

One possibility is the 2011 census, which may have skewed the figures by moving from projections to actuals. But it's doubtful it would have made that kind of difference. The jump from estimate to actual doesn't usually hit that hard unless it's on your Hydro bill.

And it's doubtful the areas surrounding Brockville, which are included in the MoneySense survey, would have registered enough growth to make that kind of blip.

So, does this mean Brockville really isn't 111th? Maybe. But how many other communities have these kinds of apparent anomalies in their mixes?

The sad part is that none of this really matters. The story has hit, and in the minds of everyone, we're number 111, regardless of what we nerds think of the numbers.

The entire MoneySense ranking can be found here.