Vancouver and Montreal are the only Canadian entries in a new list of the world's 25 most livable cities.
London-based Monocle magazine, a project of Canadian-born style columnist and jet-setter Tyler Brûlé, published the list this month.
Vancouver placed eighth - higher than any other North American city - while Montreal finished 16th on the list. Toronto didn't make the cut; nor did Winnipeg, where Mr. Brûlé was born.
Monocle lauded Vancouver for its role in fighting climate change, increasing building density and cracking down on drug use in preparation for the 2010 Olympics. Vancouver lost marks for its high crime rate, but jumped seven spots after placing 15th in 2007.
The magazine called Montreal "Canada's cultural capital." The city was credited for its strong arts community, booming gaming and aerospace industries and extensive network of free wireless Internet. It lost marks for its strained health-care system, poor recycling facilities and growing income disparity.
Mr. Brûlé, who once described the only mention of Canada in Monocle's first issue as "a dig about Calgary," wrote neither synopsis.
Monocle named Copenhagen the most livable city, on the strength of its green space and "sense of humour" - Mr. Brûlé wrote that synopsis. Munich, Tokyo, Zurich and Helsinki rounded out the top five.
Only three U.S. cities (Honolulu, Minneapolis and Portland) made the list, which also included 14 from Europe, three from Japan, two from Australia, and one, Singapore, from Southeast Asia. High-profile cities such as London, Rome and New York were not mentioned by the magazine, which looked at smaller, user-friendly cities with vibrant arts scenes, plenty of parks and a friendly face.
A similar livability study published by The Economist last summer awarded Vancouver first place, while Toronto - snubbed by Monocle - placed fifth out of 123 cities worldwide.