List_of_municipal_districts_in_Alberta

List of municipal districts in Alberta

List of municipal districts in Alberta

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A municipal district (MD) is the most common form of all rural municipality statuses used in the Canadian province of Alberta. Alberta's municipal districts, most of which are branded as a county (e.g. Yellowhead County, County of Newell, etc.), are predominantly rural areas that may include either farmland, Crown land or a combination of both depending on their geographic location. They may also include country residential subdivisions and unincorporated communities, some of which are recognized as hamlets by Alberta Municipal Affairs.[1]

Quick Facts Municipal districts of Alberta, Location ...

Municipal districts are created when predominantly rural areas with populations of at least 1,000 people, where a majority of their residential buildings are on parcels of land greater than 1,850 m2, apply to Alberta Municipal Affairs for municipal district status under the authority of the Municipal Government Act.[2] Applications for municipal district status are approved via orders in council made by the Lieutenant Governor in Council under recommendation from the Minister of Municipal Affairs.[2]

As of the 2011 Census, Alberta's then 64 municipal districts (Lac La Biche County has since then converted to a specialized municipality)[3] had a cumulative population of 451,979 and an average population of 7,062.[4] Alberta's most populous and least populated municipal districts are Rocky View County and the MD of Ranchland No. 66 with populations of 36,461 and 79 respectively.[4]

437 elected officials (eight mayors, 56 reeves and 373 councillors) provide municipal district governance throughout the province.[5]

Branding

An order in council to incorporate any municipality must give the municipality an official name.[2] Of Alberta's 63 municipal districts, 16 still have municipal district in their official names, while 47 of them have branded themselves as a county in their official names. Twenty-five of Alberta's municipal district's retain a numerical designation (e.g. "No. 8") in their official names.

The use of the county term in the official names of 47 municipal districts (and three specialized municipalities) has partially led to a common belief that a county is its own separate municipal status type, which is not the case. The other major contributor to this common belief is that a county was once a former municipal status type in Alberta prior to the County Act being repealed in the mid-1990s. Those municipalities that were once officially incorporated as counties were continued under the Municipal Government Act (MGA) as municipal districts and were permitted to retain the term county in their official names.[6]

Municipal office locations

More than half of the 63 municipal districts have their main administration offices, including council chambers, in a separate municipality such as a city, town, or village. This municipality (like all other cities, towns, and villages) is not part of the municipal district's jurisdiction. Nine municipal districts have their offices in a hamlet, which is part of the district's jurisdiction. They are Acadia (Acadia Valley), Bighorn (Exshaw), Birch Hills (Wanham), Clear Hills (Worsley), Cypress (Dunmore), Grande Prairie (Clairmont), Lac Ste. Anne (Sangudo), Opportunity (Wabasca), and Thorhild (Thorhild). One municipal district, Ranchland, has its offices in a provincial park, Chain Lakes Provincial Park. Thirteen municipal districts have their offices in their jurisdiction, outside the boundaries of a city, town, or village. They are Brazeau (Drayton Valley), Lacombe (between Gull Lake and Lacombe), Mountain View (Didsbury), Newell (Brooks), Northern Sunrise (Peace River), Paintearth (Castor), Parkland (Stony Plain), Peace (Berwyn), Red Deer (Red Deer), Saddle Hills (Spirit River), Wheatland (Strathmore), Willow Creek (Claresholm), and Woodlands (Whitecourt).

List

The below table is a list of only those rural municipalities in Alberta that are incorporated as municipal districts.

Despite their names, Lac La Biche County, Mackenzie County, and Strathcona County are not listed because they are in fact incorporated as specialized municipalities, not municipal districts. The Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo is likewise a specialized municipality and is thus not listed here. For more information on specialized municipalities, see List of specialized municipalities in Alberta.

Alberta's eight improvement districts and three special areas are also not listed because they are their own separate type of rural municipality and not subset types of the municipal district status. For more information on special areas, see Special Areas Board.

Former municipal districts

Changed status

More information Name Earlier name(s), Incorporation date (municipal district) ...

Dissolved

More information Incorporation date (municipal district), Dissolution date ...

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alberta counties.

References

  1. [1]
    "2022 Municipal Codes" (PDF). Alberta Municipal Affairs. January 5, 2022. Retrieved January 21, 2022.
  2. [2]
    "Municipal Government Act". Alberta Queen's Printer. Retrieved March 27, 2010.
  3. [3]
    "O.C. 259/2017". Government of Alberta. September 14, 2017. Retrieved October 11, 2017.
  4. [4]
    "Population and dwelling counts, for Canada, provinces and territories, and census subdivisions (municipalities), 2011 and 2006 censuses (Alberta)". Statistics Canada. August 9, 2016. Retrieved November 5, 2016.
  5. [5]
    "Municipal Profiles (Municipal Districts)" (PDF) (PDF). Alberta Municipal Affairs. January 3, 2014. Retrieved January 5, 2014.
  6. [6]
    "Transitional Provisions, Consequential Amendments, Repeal and Commencement (Municipal Government Act)" (PDF) (PDF). Province of Alberta. Retrieved March 28, 2010.
  7. ↑
    "2016 Municipal Affairs Population List" (PDF). Alberta Municipal Affairs. ISBN 978-1-4601-3127-5. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 16, 2017. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
  8. ↑
    "Population and dwelling counts, for Canada, provinces and territories, and census subdivisions (municipalities), 2016 and 2011 censuses (Alberta)". Statistics Canada. February 8, 2017. Retrieved August 9, 2017.
  9. ↑
    "Rocky View's Total Population Results are In". Rocky View County. August 30, 2013. Retrieved August 31, 2013.
  10. [10]
    "Municipal Profiles (Specialized Municipalities)" (PDF) (PDF). Alberta Municipal Affairs. September 20, 2013. Retrieved October 1, 2013.
  11. [11]
    "Table 6: Population by census subdivisions, 1926-1946 and Table 6a: Population by census divisions and subdivisions showing reorganization of rural areas, 1931-1946". Census of the Prairie Provinces, 1946. Vol. I: Population. Ottawa: Dominion Bureau of Statistics. 1949. pp. 401–431.
  12. [12]
    "Population Data 1918" (PDF). Alberta Municipal Affairs. Retrieved November 18, 2013.
  13. [13]
    Alberta Gazette. Vol. 8. Government of Alberta. 1912.
  14. [14]
    Alberta Gazette. Vol. 15. Government of Alberta. 1919.
  15. [15]
    Alberta Gazette. Vol. 10. Government of Alberta. 1914.
  16. [16]
    "Location and History Profile: Town of Drumheller". Alberta Municipal Affairs. September 27, 2013. Retrieved October 1, 2013.
  17. [17]
    Jack K. Masson; Edward C. LeSage (1994). Alberta's Local Governments: Politics and Democracy. The University of Alberta Press. p. 108. ISBN 0-88864-251-2. Retrieved October 10, 2013. Badlands No. 7 January 1, 1991.
  18. [18]
    "Municipal Boundary Document Search (Forty Mile No. 8, County of)". Alberta Municipal Affairs. Retrieved October 2, 2013.
  19. [19]
    Alberta Gazette. Vol. 13. Government of Alberta. 1917.
  20. [20]
    "Order in Council (O.C.) 252/98" (PDF) (PDF). Province of Alberta. June 17, 1998. Retrieved October 1, 2013.
  21. [21]
    "Order in Council (O.C.) 332/2007" (PDF) (PDF). Province of Alberta. August 1, 2007. Retrieved October 1, 2013.
  22. [22]
    Alberta Gazette. Vol. 9. Government of Alberta. 1913.
  23. [23]
    "Changing Numbers of All Municipal Districts Throughout the Province" (PDF) (PDF). The Alberta Gazette. April 14, 1945. Retrieved October 2, 2013.
  24. [24]
    Alberta Gazette. Vol. 11. Government of Alberta. 1915.
  25. [25]
    Alberta Gazette. Vol. 12. Government of Alberta. 1916.
  26. [26]
    "Municipal Boundary Document Search (Warner No. 5, County of)". Alberta Municipal Affairs. Retrieved October 2, 2013.
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