Alberta's Specialized and Rural Municipalities

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 ...

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 sin ...

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 D ...

at , while the smallest by land area is the Summer Village of Castle Island at .

Urban municipalities

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

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

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

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

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,

, Alberta's largest city Edmonton Downtown Skyline daytime new.jpg, alt=Skyline of Edmonton,

, 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

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

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

, 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.

Notes

References

External links

Alberta Municipal Affairs

Alberta Municipalities

Association of Summer Villages of Alberta

Metis Settlements General Council

Rural 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 ...

Urban municipalities

Cities

Towns

Villages

Summer villages

List of urban municipalities

Specialized municipalities

Rural municipalities

Municipal districts

Improvement districts

Special areas

List of rural municipalities

Metis settlements

See also

Notes

References

External links