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 ...
is the
fourth-most populous province
A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...
in
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
with 4,262,635 residents as of
2021 Census of Population and is the
fourth-largest in land area at .
Alberta's 344
municipalities
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...
cover of the province's land mass and are home to of its population.
These municipalities provide
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 ...
services, including roads, water, sewer and garbage collection among others, and a variety of programs to their residents.
According to the Municipal Government Act (MGA), which was enacted in 2000, a municipality in Alberta is "a
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 ...
,
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 ...
,
village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...
,
summer village
Summer is the hottest of the four temperate seasons, occurring after spring and before autumn. At or centred on the summer solstice, the earliest sunrise and latest sunset occurs, daylight hours are longest and dark hours are shortest, wit ...
,
municipal district
A municipal district is an administrative entity comprising a clearly-defined territory and its population. It can refer to a city, a town, a village, a small grouping of them, or a rural area.
Brazil
In Brazil, municipal districts are, in genera ...
or
specialized municipality, a town under the Parks Towns Act, or a municipality formed by special Act".
The MGA also recognizes
improvement districts and
special areas as municipal authorities while
Metis settlements are recognized as municipalities by the
Government of Alberta
The government of Alberta (french: gouvernement de l'Alberta) is the body responsible for the administration of the Canadian province of Alberta. As a constitutional monarchy, the Crown—represented in the province by the lieutenant governor—i ...
's Ministry of
Municipal Affairs.
Cities, towns, villages, summer villages, municipal districts, specialized municipalities and improvement districts are formed under the provincial authority of the MGA.
Special areas and Metis settlements are formed under the provincial authority of the Special Areas Act (SAA) and the Metis Settlements Act (MSA) respectively, of which both were enacted in 2000.
As provincial law, the MGA, the SAA and the MSA were passed by the
Legislative Assembly of Alberta
The Legislative Assembly of Alberta is the deliberative assembly of the province of Alberta, Canada. It sits in the Alberta Legislature Building in Edmonton. The Legislative Assembly currently has 87 members, elected first past the post from singl ...
with
royal assent
Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in other ...
granted by the
Lieutenant Governor
A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...
.
Of Alberta's 344 municipalities, 257 of them are urban municipalities (19 cities, 106 towns, 81 villages and 51 summer villages), 6 are specialized municipalities, 73 are rural municipalities (63 municipal districts, 7 improvement districts and 3 special areas) and 8 are Metis settlements.
The MGA, the SAA and the MSA stipulate governance of these municipalities.
Alberta's Ministry of Municipal Affairs is responsible for providing provincial services to municipalities.
Over half of Alberta's population resides in its two largest cities.
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 ...
, the largest city, is home to of the province's population (1,306,784 residents), while
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 ...
, Alberta's capital city, is home to (1,010,899 residents).
Improvement District No. 13 (Elk Island).
Improvement District No. 12
Improvement District No. 12 (Jasper National Park), or Improvement District No. 12, is an List of communities in Alberta#Improvement districts, improvement district in Alberta, Canada. Coextensive with Jasper National Park in Alberta's Rockies, ...
(Jasper National Park) and
Improvement District No. 25 (Willmore Wilderness) are Alberta's smallest municipalities by population; they are unpopulated according to the 2021 Census of Population.
The largest municipality by land area is
Mackenzie County
Mackenzie County is a specialized municipality in northern Alberta, Canada. It is located in Census Division 17, along the Mackenzie Highway. The municipal office is located in the hamlet of Fort Vermilion.
History
Originally ''Improvement ...
at , while the smallest by land area is the Summer Village of
Castle Island at .
Urban municipalities
![Alberta's Urban Municipalities](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/69/Alberta%27s_Urban_Municipalities.png)
Alberta's Municipal Government Act (MGA), enacted in 2000, defines urban municipality as a "city, town, village or summer village."
For
federal census purposes,
Statistics Canada
Statistics Canada (StatCan; french: Statistique Canada), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and cultur ...
recognizes all four urban municipality types as
census subdivision
The census geographic units of Canada are the census subdivisions defined and used by Canada's federal government statistics bureau Statistics Canada to conduct the country's quinquennial census. These areas exist solely for the purposes of sta ...
s.
Combined, Alberta has 257 urban municipalities comprising 19 cities, 106 towns, 81 villages and 51 summer villages.
The 257 urban municipalities have a total population of 3,533,377, a total land area of . These totals represent of Alberta's population yet only of its land area.
Cities
The MGA stipulates that an area may incorporate as a
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 ...
if it has a population of 10,000 people or more and the majority of its buildings are on parcels of land smaller than .
Alberta has 19 cities that had a cumulative population of 3,023,641 in the 2021 Census of Population.
These 19 cities include
Lloydminster
Lloydminster is a city in Canada which has the unusual geographic distinction of straddling the provincial border between Alberta and Saskatchewan. The city is incorporated by both provinces as a single city with a single municipal administrati ...
, of which a portion is located within the neighbouring province of
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...
.
Alberta's largest city by population and land area is Calgary with 1,306,784 and , while
Wetaskiwin
Wetaskiwin ( ) is a city in the province of Alberta, Canada. The city is located south of the provincial capital of Edmonton. The city name comes from the Cree word ''wītaskiwinihk'', meaning "the hills where peace was made".
Wetaskiwin is ...
is its smallest city by population with 12,594 and land area at .
Beaumont
Beaumont may refer to:
Places Canada
* Beaumont, Alberta
* Beaumont, Quebec
England
* Beaumont, Cumbria
* Beaumont, Essex
** Beaumont Cut, a canal closed in the 1930s
* Beaumont Street, Oxford
France (communes)
* Beaumont, Ardèche
* ...
is Alberta's newest city; it became Alberta's 19th city on January 1, 2019.
Towns
The MGA stipulates that an area may incorporate as a
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 ...
if it has a population of 1,000 people or more and the majority of its buildings are on parcels of land smaller than .
Alberta has 106 towns that had a cumulative population of 471,028 in the 2021 Census of Population.
The province's largest and smallest towns by population are
Cochrane and
Rainbow Lake with 32,199 and 495 respectively, while its largest and smallest by land area are
Drumheller
Drumheller is a town on the Red Deer River in the badlands of Central Alberta, east-central Alberta, Canada. It is northeast of Calgary and south of Stettler, Alberta, Stettler. The Drumheller portion of the Red Deer River valley, often ref ...
and
Eckville
Eckville is a town in central Alberta, Canada. It is west of Red Deer on Highway 766 just north of Highway 11.
History
Eckville gets its name from A. E. T. Eckford, a pioneer citizen. Eckville relocated to its current location in 1912, af ...
with and respectively.
Nobleford is Alberta's newest town, which changed from a village to a town on February 28, 2021.
Villages
The MGA stipulates that an area may incorporate as a
village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...
if it has a population of 300 people or more and the majority of its buildings are on parcels of land smaller than .
Alberta has 81 villages that had a cumulative population of 32,753 in the 2021 Census of Population.
The province's largest and smallest villages by population are
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 ...
and
Halkirk
Halkirk ( gd, Hàcraig) is a village on the River Thurso in Caithness, in the Highland council area of Scotland. From Halkirk the B874 road runs towards Thurso in the north and towards Georgemas in the east. The village is within the parish o ...
with 1,164 and 92 respectively, while its largest and smallest by land area are
Chipman and
Edberg with and respectively.
The last communities to incorporate as villages were
Alberta Beach and
Spring Lake, which both changed from summer villages to villages on January 1, 1999.
Summer villages
Under previous legislation, a community could incorporate as a
summer village
Summer is the hottest of the four temperate seasons, occurring after spring and before autumn. At or centred on the summer solstice, the earliest sunrise and latest sunset occurs, daylight hours are longest and dark hours are shortest, wit ...
if it had "a minimum of 50 separate buildings occupied as dwellings at any time during a six-month period".
A community can no longer incorporate as a summer village under the MGA.
Alberta has 51 summer villages that had a cumulative population of 5,955 in the 2021 Census of Population.
The province's largest summer village by population is
Norglenwold
Norglenwold is a summer village in central Alberta, Canada. It is located on the southeast shore of Sylvan Lake adjacent to the Town of Sylvan Lake.
Demographics
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, the Summer Vil ...
with 306, while
Castle Island is Alberta's smallest summer village with a population of 15.
The province's largest and smallest summer villages by land area are
Silver Sands and Castle Island with and respectively.
Gull Lake and Kapasiwin were the last communities in Alberta to incorporate as summer villages. Both were incorporated on September 1, 1993.
Since then, two summer villages have incorporated as villages (Alberta Beach and Edmonton Beach, now named Spring Lake) and one has dissolved (
White Gull).
List of urban municipalities
Calgary Skyline 2015.png, alt=Skyline of Calgary, 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 ...
, Alberta's largest city
Edmonton Downtown Skyline daytime new.jpg, alt=Skyline of Edmonton, 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 ...
, Alberta's capital and second largest city
File:Red Deer - Aerial - downtown bridges.jpg, alt=Aerial view of Red Deer , Red Deer
The red deer (''Cervus elaphus'') is one of the largest deer species. A male red deer is called a stag or hart, and a female is called a hind. The red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Anatolia, Iran, and parts of wes ...
, Alberta's third largest city, is located at the midpoint between Calgary and Edmonton.
Downtown Lethbridge Skyline.jpg, alt=Skyline of Lethbridge, Lethbridge
Lethbridge ( ) is a city in the province of Alberta, Canada. With a population of 101,482 in its 2019 Alberta municipal censuses, 2019 municipal census, Lethbridge became the fourth Alberta city to surpass 100,000 people. The nearby Canadian ...
is Alberta's fourth largest city.
Downtown clocktower St. Albert Alberta.jpg, alt=Downtown St. Albert, St. Albert, Alberta's fifth largest city, is located adjacent to Edmonton.
Specialized municipalities
![Fort mcmurray aerial](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/20/Fort_mcmurray_aerial.jpg)
Specialized municipalities in Alberta are unique local governments.
Alberta's Municipal Government Act (MGA), enacted in 2000, provides the authority to form a specialized municipality under the following scenarios:
* where the Minister of Municipal Affairs is satisfied that the other incorporated statuses under the MGA do not meet the needs of the proposed municipality's residents;
* to form a local government that, in the opinion of the Minister of Municipal Affairs, will provide for the orderly development of the municipality in a similar fashion to the other incorporated statuses within the MGA, including other previously incorporated specialized municipalities; or
* for any other circumstances that are deemed appropriate by the Minister of Municipal Affairs.
Alberta has six specialized municipalities, which are recognized as census subdivisions by Statistics Canada.
In the 2021 Census of Population, they had a cumulative population of 202,461, a total land area of .
These totals represent of Alberta's population yet of its land area.
The province's largest and smallest specialized municipalities by population are
Strathcona County
Strathcona County is a specialized municipality in the Edmonton Metropolitan Region within Alberta, Canada between Edmonton and Elk Island National Park. It forms part of Census Division No. 11.
Strathcona County is both urban and rural in ...
and the
Municipality of Jasper with 99,225 and 4,738 respectively, while its largest and smallest by land area are Mackenzie County and the
Municipality of Crowsnest Pass with and respectively.
Lac La Biche County
Lac La Biche County is a specialized municipality within Division No. 12 in northern Alberta, Canada. It was established through the amalgamation of the Town of Lac La Biche and Lakeland County in 2007.
History
Lac La Biche County was origin ...
is Alberta's newest specialized municipality, which was formed on January 1, 2018.
Alberta's first specialized municipality was the
Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo
The Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo (abbreviated RMWB) is a specialized municipality in northeast Alberta, Canada. It is the second largest municipality in Alberta by area and is home to oil sand deposits known as the Athabasca oil sand ...
, which formed on April 1, 1995.
Strathcona County and the Regional Municipality (RM) of Wood Buffalo are home to the unincorporated
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 ...
of
Sherwood Park and
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 ...
respectively.
These communities are designated
urban service areas, which are deemed equivalents of cities.
Excluding Sherwood Park and Fort McMurray, 18 other unincorporated communities, also
recognized as hamlets by Alberta Municipal Affairs, are distributed among Mackenzie County, Strathcona County and the RM of Wood Buffalo.
Rural municipalities
![Alberta's Rural Municipalities](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/Alberta%27s_Rural_Municipalities.png)
Rural municipalities in Alberta include municipal districts, improvement districts and special areas.
For federal census purposes, Statistics Canada recognizes all three rural municipality types as census subdivisions.
However, Statistics Canada embeds Alberta's eight Metis settlements, a separate type of municipality, into the census subdivisions for six municipal districts.
Combined, Alberta has 73 rural municipalities comprising 63 municipal districts, 7 improvement districts and 3 special areas.
The 73 rural municipalities have a total population of 481,120, a total land area of .
These totals represent of Alberta's population yet of its land area.
Municipal districts
In Alberta, a
municipal district
A municipal district is an administrative entity comprising a clearly-defined territory and its population. It can refer to a city, a town, a village, a small grouping of them, or a rural area.
Brazil
In Brazil, municipal districts are, in genera ...
, typically branded as a
county
A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...
, is a type of rural municipality.
The MGA, enacted in 2000, stipulates that an area may incorporate as a municipal district if it has a population of 1,000 people or more and the majority of its buildings are on parcels of land larger than .
Alberta has 63 municipal districts that had a cumulative population of 470,620 in the 2021 Census of Population.
The province's largest and smallest municipal districts by population are
Rocky View County
Rocky View County is a municipal district in southern Alberta, Canada that is named for its views of the nearby Rocky Mountains to the west. It surrounds most of Calgary, forming the city's northern boundary and most of the city's western and e ...
and the
Municipal District (MD) of Ranchland No. 66 with 41,028 and 110 respectively, while its largest and smallest by land area are the
MD of Greenview No. 16 and the
MD of Spirit River No. 133 with and respectively.
Unincorporated communities recognized as hamlets by Alberta Municipal Affairs are located within every municipal district with the exception of
Mountain View County
Mountain View County is a municipal district in Division No. 6 in central Alberta, Canada. Located between the cities of Calgary and Red Deer within the Calgary-Edmonton corridor, its municipal office is located north of the Town of Didsbury. ...
, the MD of Ranchland No. 66 and the MD of Spirit River No. 133.
Improvement districts
In Alberta, an
improvement district is a type of rural municipality that can be incorporated by the
Lieutenant Governor in Council
The King-in-Council or the Queen-in-Council, depending on the gender of the reigning monarch, is a constitutional term in a number of states. In a general sense, it would mean the monarch exercising executive authority, usually in the form of ap ...
on the recommendation of Alberta's Minister of Municipal Affairs under the authority of the MGA.
Improvement districts are administered by the Province of Alberta through its Ministry of Municipal Affairs.
Alberta had eight improvement districts that had a cumulative population of 2,024 in the 2021 Census of Population.
The number of improvement districts was reduced to seven on May 1, 2021 when
Improvement District (ID) No. 349 dissolved by way of annexation to the
MD of Bonnyville No. 87.
Five of Alberta's improvement districts are within
national parks
A national park is a natural park in use for conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual ...
while two are within
provincial parks
file:Ischigualasto national park.jpg, Ischigualasto Provincial Park
A provincial park (or territorial park) is a park administered by one of the provinces of a country, as opposed to a national park. They are similar to state parks in other countr ...
.
Alberta's largest improvement district by population is
ID No. 9, located within
Banff National Park
Banff National Park is Canada's oldest National Parks of Canada, national park, established in 1885 as Rocky Mountains Park. Located in Alberta's Rockies, Alberta's Rocky Mountains, west of Calgary, Banff encompasses of mountainous terrain, wi ...
, with 1,004, while its largest by land area is ID No. 24, located within
Wood Buffalo National Park
Wood Buffalo National Park is the largest National Parks of Canada, national park of Canada at . It is located in northeastern Alberta and the southern Northwest Territories. Larger in area than Switzerland, it is the second-largest national park ...
, at .
ID No. 13 (Elk Island), ID No. 12 (Jasper National Park) and ID No. 25 (Willmore Wilderness) are unpopulated,
while its smallest by land area is ID No. 13 (Elk Island) at .
Alberta Municipal Affairs recognizes two unincorporated communities within improvement districts as hamlets –
Lake Louise within ID No. 9 (Banff National Park) and
Waterton Park
Waterton Park, commonly referred to as Waterton, is a hamlet in southwestern Alberta, Canada within Improvement District No. 4 Waterton (Waterton Lakes National Park).
It is located at the southwestern terminus of Highway 5, approximately wes ...
within
ID No. 4 (Waterton Lakes National Park).
Special areas
In Alberta, a
special area is a type of rural municipality that can be incorporated by the Lieutenant Governor in Council under the authority of the Special Areas Act, which was enacted in 2000.
They were originally created in 1938 as a result of hardship brought upon a particular area in southeastern Alberta during the
drought of the 1930s.
Alberta has three special areas that had a cumulative population of 4,238 in the 2021 Census of Populations.
The province's largest by population and land area is
Special Area (SA) No. 2 with 1,860 and respectively. Alberta's smallest by population is
SA No. 3 with 1,142, while its smallest by land area is
SA No. 4 with .
The last special area to form was SA No. 4, which incorporated on January 1, 1969 through the removal of certain lands from SA No. 3.
The three special areas are administered as a single unit by the
Special Areas Board
The Special Areas Board is the governing body of Alberta's special areas. Special areas are designated rural municipalities similar to municipal districts; however, the elected advisory councils are overseen by four representatives appointed by ...
, and are home to 16 unincorporated communities recognized as hamlets by Alberta Municipal Affairs.
List of rural municipalities
Metis settlements
Metis settlements are unique local governments dedicated to Alberta's
Metis people
Metis or Métis may refer to:
Ethnic groups
* Métis, recognized Indigenous communities in Canada and America whose distinct culture and language emerged after early intermarriage between First Nations peoples and early European settlers, prima ...
.
The settlements were originally created in 1938 under the authority of the
Metis Population Betterment Act with land and governance being transferred to the settlements in 1989.
Metis settlements are presently under the jurisdiction of the Metis Settlements Act, which was enacted in 2000.
Alberta has eight Metis settlements.
Unlike the other types of municipalities, Metis settlements are not recognized as census subdivisions by Statistics Canada for federal census purposes.
Rather, Statistics Canada recognizes them as
designated place
A designated place (DPL) is a type of community or settlement identified by Statistics Canada that does not meet the criteria used to define municipalities or population centres. DPLs are delineated every 5 years for the Canadian census as the sta ...
s embedded within six municipal districts.
Alberta's eight Metis settlements had a cumulative population of 4,238 in the 2021 Census of Population.
The province's largest and smallest Metis settlements by population are
Kikino and
East Prairie with 978 and 310 respectively, while the largest and smallest by land area are
Paddle Prairie and
Elizabeth
Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to:
People
* Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name)
* Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist
Ships
* HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships
* ''Elisabeth'' (sch ...
at and respectively.
See also
*
List of former urban municipalities in Alberta
The Province of Alberta currently has 256 urban municipalities including 19 cities, 106 towns, 80 villages and 51 summer villages. In addition, there are 100 communities that previously held some form of urban municipality status. These include ...
*
List of population centres in Alberta
Notes
References
External links
Alberta Municipal AffairsAlberta MunicipalitiesAssociation of Summer Villages of AlbertaMetis Settlements General CouncilRural Municipalities of Alberta
{{DEFAULTSORT:Municipalities in Alberta
*
Municipalities
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...