![Alberta Towns](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/38/Alberta_Towns.png)
A town is an
urban municipality status type used in the
Canadian province
Within the geographical areas of Canada, the ten provinces and three territories are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North ...
of
Alberta
Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...
. Alberta
town
A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world.
Origin and use
The word "town" shares an ori ...
s are created when communities with populations of at least 1,000 people, where a majority of their buildings are on parcels of land smaller than 1,850 m
2, apply to
Alberta Municipal Affairs
Alberta Municipal Affairs is a ministry of the Executive Council of Alberta. Its major responsibilities include assisting municipalities in the provision of local government, administering the assessment of linear property in Alberta, administeri ...
for town status under the authority of the ''Municipal Government Act''.
Applications for town status are approved via orders in council made by the Lieutenant Governor in Council under recommendation from the Minister of Municipal Affairs.
[
Alberta has 106 towns that had a cumulative population of 455,053 and an average population of 4,293 in the ]2016 Canadian Census
The 2016 Canadian census was an enumeration of Canadian residents, which counted a population of 35,151,728, a change from its 2011 population of 33,476,688. The census, conducted by Statistics Canada, was Canada's seventh quinquennial census. ...
.[ The number of towns decreased from 107 to 106 on February 1, 2020, when ]Granum
Thylakoids are membrane-bound compartments inside chloroplasts and cyanobacteria. They are the site of the light-dependent reactions of photosynthesis. Thylakoids consist of a thylakoid membrane surrounding a thylakoid lumen. Chloroplast th ...
dissolved from town status to become a hamlet. Alberta's largest and smallest towns are Okotoks
Okotoks (, originally ) is a town in the Calgary Region of Alberta, Canada. It is on the Sheep River, approximately south of Calgary. Okotoks has emerged as a bedroom community of Calgary. According to the 2016 Census, the town has a population ...
and Stavely with populations of 28,881 and 541 respectively.[ Nobleford is Alberta's newest town, incorporating from village status on February 28, 2018.]
When a town's population exceeds 10,000 people, the council may request a change to city
A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...
status, but the change in incorporated status is not mandatory. Towns with populations less than 1,000, whether their populations have declined below 1,000 or they were incorporated as towns prior to the minimum 1,000 population requirement, are permitted to retain town status.
A total of 699 elected town officials (107 mayors and 592 councillors) provide town governance throughout the province.
The highest frequency of towns in Alberta is found in the Queen Elizabeth II Highway/ Highway 2A corridor between Calgary
Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...
and Edmonton
Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...
corridor including, from south to north, Crossfield, Carstairs
Carstairs (, Scottish Gaelic: ''Caisteal Tarrais'') is a village in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. Carstairs is located east of the county town of Lanark and the West Coast Main Line runs through the village. The village is served by Carstairs ra ...
, Didsbury
Didsbury is a suburban area of Manchester, England, on the north bank of the River Mersey, south of Manchester city centre. The population at the 2011 census was 26,788.
Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, there are ...
, Olds Olds may refer to:
People
* The olds, a jocular and irreverent online nickname for older adults
* Bert Olds (1891–1953), Australian rules footballer
* Carl D. Olds (1912–1979), New Zealand-born American mathematician
* Chauncey N. Olds (181 ...
, Bowden Bowden may refer to:
Places Australia
* Bowden Island, one of the Family Islands in Queensland
* Bowden, South Australia, northwestern suburb of Adelaide
* Bowden railway station
Canada
* Bowden, Alberta, town in central Alberta
England
* Bowde ...
, Innisfail, Penhold
Penhold is a town in central Alberta, Canada. Penhold is surrounded by Red Deer County, south of Red Deer at the junction of Highway 2A and Highway 42. It is located north of Calgary, east of the Red Deer River.
History
Originally, Penhold ...
, Blackfalds
Blackfalds is a town in central Alberta, Canada. It is located along Highway 2A 13.5 km north of Red Deer. The town's name, Waghorn (for Walter Waghorn, post master), changed in 1903 to Blackfalds, after Blackfalds, a Scottish hamlet.
Dem ...
, Ponoka and Millet
Millets () are a highly varied group of small-seeded grasses, widely grown around the world as cereal crops or grains for fodder and human food. Most species generally referred to as millets belong to the tribe Paniceae, but some millets al ...
.
Administration
Pursuant to Part 5, Division 1 of the ''Municipal Government Act (MGA)'', each municipality created under the authority of the MGA is governed by a council. As a requirement of the MGA, a town council consists of an odd number of councillors, one of which is the town's chief elected official (CEO) or mayor. A town council consists of seven councillors by default, but it can consist of a higher or lower odd number if council passes a bylaw altering its size (so long as it does not consist of fewer than three councillors).[ For the 2017–2021 term, 82 towns have a council of seven, and 25 have a council of five.
Town councils are governed by a mayor and an even number of councillors that are elected by ]popular vote
Popularity or social status is the quality of being well liked, admired or well known to a particular group.
Popular may also refer to:
In sociology
* Popular culture
* Popular fiction
* Popular music
* Popular science
* Populace, the total ...
, resulting in a total odd number of members to avoid tie votes on council matters.[ All council members are elected under the provisions of the ''Local Authorities Election Act (LAEA)''.] Mayoral or councillor candidates are required to be residents of their municipality for a minimum of six consecutive months prior to nomination day. The last municipal election was October 16, 2017.
Alberta Municipal Affairs, a ministry of the Cabinet of Alberta
The Executive Council of Alberta (the Cabinet) is a body of ministers of the Crown in right of Alberta, who along with the lieutenant governor, exercises the powers of the Government of Alberta. Ministers are selected by the premier and typicall ...
, is charged with coordination of all levels of local government
Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...
.
Administrative duties of towns include public safety, local transit, roads, water service, drainage and waste collection, as well as coordination of infrastructure with provincial and regional authorities (including road construction, education, and health).
List
The below table is a list of only those '' urban municipalities'' in Alberta that are incorporated as ''towns''.
The municipalities of Crowsnest Pass
Crowsnest Pass (sometimes referred to as Crow's Nest Pass, french: link=no, col du Nid-de-Corbeau) is a low mountain pass across the Continental Divide of the Canadian Rockies on the Alberta– British Columbia border.
Geography
The pass is ...
and Jasper
Jasper, an aggregate of microgranular quartz and/or cryptocrystalline chalcedony and other mineral phases,Kostov, R. I. 2010. Review on the mineralogical systematics of jasper and related rocks. – Archaeometry Workshop, 7, 3, 209-213PDF/ref> ...
are not listed because they are incorporated as '' specialized municipalities'', not ''towns''. For more information on ''specialized municipalities'', see Specialized municipalities of Alberta.
New towns
New town is a former urban municipal status in Alberta that is no longer in use. The authority to incorporate a community as a new town came from ''The New Towns Act'', which was chapter 39 of the ''Statutes of Alberta, 1956''.
At least 12 communities incorporated as a new town between 1956 and 1967. Cynthia
Cynthia is a feminine given name of Greek origin: , , "from Mount Cynthus" on Delos island. The name has been in use in the Anglosphere since the 1600s. There are various spellings for this name, and it can be abbreviated to Cindy, Cyndi, Cyndy, ...
and Drayton Valley
Drayton Valley is a town in central Alberta, Canada. It is located on Highway 22 (Cowboy Trail), approximately southwest of Edmonton. It is surrounded by Brazeau County, known for its vast oil fields. The town is located between the North Sas ...
were the first communities in Alberta to incorporate as new towns on June 1, 1956.[ Drayton Valley did so after only six months of incorporation as a village,][ and was also the community that operated under new town status for the shortest period – eight months from June 1, 1956, to February 1, 1957.][
The last community to incorporate as a new town was Fox Creek on July 19, 1967.][ Fox Creek was previously unincorporated prior to this date. It remained a new town for just over sixteen years until September 1, 1983, when it changed to town status.][
Rainbow Lake was the last community to be recognized as a new town. Its status was changed to that of a town in 1994 when numerous former acts under the authority of Alberta Municipal Affairs were transitioned into the current ''Municipal Government Act''.][ Rainbow Lake was also the community that operated under new town status for the longest period – nearly 28 years from September 1, 1966, to May 2, 1994.
Other communities that applied for new town status included ]Slave Lake
Slave Lake is a town in northern Alberta, Canada that is surrounded by the Municipal District of Lesser Slave River No. 124. It is approximately northwest of Edmonton. It is located on the southeast shore of Lesser Slave Lake at the junction o ...
and Smith
Smith may refer to:
People
* Metalsmith, or simply smith, a craftsman fashioning tools or works of art out of various metals
* Smith (given name)
* Smith (surname), a family name originating in England, Scotland and Ireland
** List of people wi ...
. Slave Lake applied, despite already being incorporated, to access additional provincial funding but the application was denied by the provincial cabinet. In the case of Smith, after applying in 1968, its application was denied after the province's feasibility study for the community determined Smith was unlikely to attract further economic development.
Below is a list of the 12 communities that were once incorporated as a new town. All but one of them are resource communities in northern or west–central Alberta and were recently founded communities at their dates of incorporation as new towns. St. Albert was the only community that was not in northern or west–central Alberta and had been incorporated as its own municipality since December 7, 1899.[
]
Former towns
All cities in Alberta
A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...
and the former cities of Fort McMurray
Fort McMurray ( ) is an urban service area in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo in Alberta, Canada. It is located in northeast Alberta, in the middle of the Athabasca oil sands, surrounded by boreal forest. It has played a significant ...
[ and Strathcona] previously held town status in their histories. Other communities that previously held town status include Beverly, Big Valley, Blairmore, Bowness, Carmangay, Coleman, Cynthia, Diamond City, Forest Lawn, Gleichen
Gleichen is the name of two groups of castles in Germany, thus named from their resemblance to each other (german: gleich like, or resembling).
Castles in Thuringia between Gotha and Erfurt
The first is a group of three (hence called “die dre ...
, Grande Cache, Grand Centre, Grouard
Grouard, also known as Grouard Mission, is a hamlet in northern Alberta within Big Lakes County. It was previously an incorporated municipality between 1909 and 1944.
Grouard is located north of Highway 2, approximately northeast of Grande ...
, Irvine, Jasper Place
Jasper Place, originally named West Jasper Place, is a former town in Alberta, Canada now within the City of Edmonton. Prior to amalgamation with Edmonton, the town was bounded by 149 Street to the east, 118 Avenue to the north, 170 Street ...
, Lac La Biche, Lodgepole, Montgomery and Youngstown
Youngstown is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio, and the largest city and county seat of Mahoning County. At the 2020 census, Youngstown had a city population of 60,068. It is a principal city of the Youngstown–Warren metropolitan area, which ...
. Of these, the villages of Big Valley, Carmangay and Youngstown are the only communities that remain incorporated municipalities. The others either amalgamated to form other municipalities (Blairmore, Coleman, Grand Centre and Lac La Biche), were absorbed through annexation by Calgary (Bowness, Forest Lawn and Montgomery) or Edmonton (Beverly and Jasper Place) or dissolved to become hamlets
A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. Its size relative to a parish can depend on the administration and region. A hamlet may be considered to be a smaller settlement or subdivision or satellite entity to a lar ...
under the jurisdiction of municipal districts (Cynthia, Diamond City, Gleichen, Grande Cache, Grouard, Irvine and Lodgepole).[
]
Town status eligibility
The villages of Stirling
Stirling (; sco, Stirlin; gd, Sruighlea ) is a city in central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the royal citadel, the medieval old town with its me ...
, Duchess
Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ranked ...
, and Alberta Beach, with population counts of 1,269, 1,085, and 1,018 respectively,[ meet the legislated population requirements for town status. There are also at least ten hamlets – ]Cardiff
Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...
, Clairmont, Dunmore Dunmore from the ga, Dún Mór, link=no or gd, Dùn Mòr, link=no, meaning "great fort", may refer to:
People
* Dunmore (surname)
* Earl of Dunmore, a title in the Peerage of Scotland, includes a list of earls
* Countess of Dunmore (disambiguat ...
, Fort Chipewyan
Fort Chipewyan , commonly referred to as Fort Chip, is a hamlet in northern Alberta, Canada, within the Regional Municipality (RM) of Wood Buffalo. It is located on the western tip of Lake Athabasca, adjacent to Wood Buffalo National Park, app ...
, Grande Cache, La Crete
La Crete ( ), also spelled La Crête, is a hamlet in northern Alberta, Canada, within Mackenzie County. It is located on Highway 697, approximately southeast of High Level and north of Edmonton.
The hamlet is located in Census Division No. ...
, Lac La Biche, Langdon, Springbrook Springbrook may refer to:
Places Australia
* Springbrook, Queensland
** Springbrook National Park, Queensland
** Springbrook State School, a heritage-listed building in the park
** Springbrook Road, a heritage-listed road
Canada
* Springbrook, ...
, and Wabasca – that meet the population requirements for town status.
City status eligibility
There are currently nine towns – Blackfalds, Canmore, Cochrane, High River
High River is a town within the Calgary Metropolitan Region of Alberta, Canada. It is approximately south of Calgary, at the junction of Alberta Highways 2 and 23. High River had a population of 14,324 in 2021.
History
The community take ...
, Okotoks, Stony Plain, Strathmore, Sylvan Lake and Whitecourt
Whitecourt is a town in central Alberta, Canada that is surrounded by Woodlands County. It is approximately northwest of Edmonton and southeast of Grande Prairie at the junction of Highway 43 and Highway 32. It has an elevation of .
White ...
– that are eligible for city status having populations in excess of 10,000.[ In addition, the Town of Hinton has expressed interest in incorporating as a city once it surpasses 10,000 people.] Its population in 2016 was 9,882.[ In 2016, the Town of ]Morinville
Morinville is a town in the Edmonton Metropolitan Region of Alberta, Canada. It is approximately north of Edmonton along Highway 2.
History
Morinville was settled by Jean-Baptiste Morin, a priest and missionary of the Missionary Oblates ...
conducted a municipal census in which it anticipated the town would surpass 10,000; thus the town investigated city status as well as a specialized municipality model with Sturgeon County
Sturgeon County is a municipal district the Edmonton Metropolitan Region of Alberta, Canada. It is north of Edmonton and west of the North Saskatchewan River. Sturgeon County is located in Division No. 11 and was named for the Sturgeon River.
...
. The census reported a population of 9,893, which was 107 people shy of the milestone.[
]
Gallery
Notes
See also
*List of census divisions of Alberta
Statistics Canada divides the province of Alberta into nineteen census divisions. Unlike in some other provinces, census divisions do not reflect the organization of local government in Alberta. These areas exist solely for the purposes of sta ...
*List of cities in Alberta
A city is the highest form of all incorporated List of communities in Alberta#Urban municipalities, urban municipality statuses used in the Canadian Province of Alberta. Alberta cities are created when communities with populations of at least 10 ...
*List of communities in Alberta
The province of Alberta, Canada, is divided into ten types of local governments – urban municipalities (including cities, towns, villages and summer villages), specialized municipalities, rural municipalities (including municipal district ...
*List of hamlets in Alberta
Hamlets in the province of Alberta, Canada, are unincorporated communities administered by, and within the boundaries of, specialized municipalities or rural municipalities ( municipal districts, improvement districts and special areas). The ...
*List of municipal districts in Alberta
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. ...
*List of municipalities in Alberta
Alberta is the fourth-most populous province in Canada with 4,262,635 residents as of 2021 Census of Population and is the fourth-largest in land area at . Alberta's 344 municipalities cover of the province's land mass and are home to of i ...
* List of population centres in Alberta
*List of summer villages in Alberta
A summer village is a type of urban municipality in the Canadian province of Alberta that has a permanent population generally less than 300 permanent inhabitants, as well as seasonal (non-permanent) inhabitants.
Alberta has a total of 51 summe ...
*List of villages in Alberta
A village is an urban municipality status type used in the Canadian province of Alberta. Alberta villages are created when communities with populations of at least 300 people, where a majority of their buildings are on parcels of land smaller ...
References
External links
Alberta Municipal Affairs
Alberta Urban Municipalities Association
{{Topics on Alberta
Towns
A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world.
Origin and use
The word "town" shares an ori ...