MUNICIPAL ADMINISTRATIONS

In Canada, municipal affairs are the exclusive jurisdiction of provincial governments (section 92(8), Constitution Act, 1867). As a result, municipal organization and the powers delegated to municipalities reflect the specific characteristics of each province. In all provinces, however, local administrations have, in addition to filling their primary role of “providing public services in the fields explicitly delegated to them by the provincial government” (Collin and Léveillée, our translation) been increasingly assuming a secondary role of representation of their local communities and of architects of services funded through local taxes. Depending on the province, the de facto status of these communities varies between that of a genuine local government, as officially recognized in Ontario, for example, and that of merely being a decentralized level of administration. The responsibilities discharged by all such bodies on which political decentralization in Canada is based include : public protection (police, fire and civil security); transport (roads and public transportation); community health (water and sewage, waste management); land use planning, urban planning and housing; economic development; recreation and sports; and culture (libraries, museums, amphitheatres). The question of status to one side, the following tables offer a comparison of Canadian provinces in terms of changes in the number of their respective municipalities since 1965 and of their the size.

Number of municipalities, Provinces, 1965-2006

Sources: For data from 1965 to 1988, Canada Year Books and Statistics Canada. For years 1996 to 2003, data from the System of National Accounts, Public Institutions Division of Statistics Canada. For data from 2006, the ministry responsible for municipal affairs in each province (data established on the basis of Statistics Canada's 2006 Census of Population). These data do not cover Indian reserves.
Editor's note: These data may include inframunicipal bodies (e.g., boroughs) as well as supralocal bodies.
(1) There were also 116 quasi-municipalities.
(2) This figure includes 238 lower-tier municipalities, 30 upper-tier municipalities (that are supralocal bodies) and 177 single-tier municipalities.

Between 1965 and 2006, changes in the number of municipalities varied considerably from one province to another. Some provinces were witness to a strong decrease in the number of their municipalities (i.e., Quebec and Ontario), the result of municipal reorganization (i.e., mergers or annexations), although this trend is far from being the rule for the entire country. On the contrary, most provinces experienced a certain stability in terms of the number of their municipalities (particularly in the Prairies) or indeed saw an increase (particularly in Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island).

Size of municipalities and breakdown according to share of population, Provinces, 2006

Source: The Ministry responsible for municipal affairs in each province, as for the number of municipalities (Indian reserves excluded).
Editor's note: This table excludes data for Ontario. In this province, the existence of lower-tier and upper-tier municipalities would result in double-counting the population of these municipalities.
*Statistics for 2007

With the exception of Ontario, whose data have been excluded from this table in order to avoid double-counting the populations of “lower-tier” and “upper-tier” municipalities, the great majority of Canada’s municipalities (93%) number fewer than 10,000 inhabitants. That being said, close to 80% of Canada’s population is concentrated in municipalities of 10,000 or more inhabitants. Aside from the strongly urbanized population characterizing Canada, it is important to mention that the proportion of the population living on a territory that has not yet been elevated to the status of municipality (i.e., “unorganized territory”) varies considerably from one province to another. For example, this proportion is residual in Quebec but rises to 40% in New Brunswick. In addition, the sizeable share of surface area accounted for by territories without the status of municipality is a characteristic common to the territorial organization of all Canadian provinces.
 
To find out more

COLLIN, J.-P. and J. LÉVEILLÉE (eds.) (2003). Municipal Organization in Canada: Tradition and Transformation, Varying From Province to Province (English translation of: L’organisation municipale au Canada: un régime à géométrie variable, entre tradition et transformation). (Document available for viewing online at http://www.vrm.ca/documents/ICPS_EN.pdf; last retrieved on Sep. 19, 2009.)

L'OBSERVATOIRE DE L’ADMINISTRATION PUBLIQUE. Les provinces canadiennes: des État unitaires centralisés? http://www.observatoire.enap.ca/observatoire/docs/Presse/Soleil03-04/Soleil-02-02-04.pdf (in French only; page last retrieved on Sep. 19, 2009).

SANCTON, A. (2002). “Provincial and Local Public Administration,” in C. DUNN (ed.), The Handbook of Canadian Public Administration, Toronto, Oxford University Press.

TINDAL, R.,and S. TINDAL (2004). Local Government in Canada, 6th edition, Scarborough, Nelson Education Ltd., p. 416.