Ponoka County is 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 ...

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 ...

, Canada. It covers and it claims to "embody the essence of rural Alberta".Ponoka County official site
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History

Ponoka County was founded on January 1, 1952. The county's first public officials were Mr. Bruce Ramsey, who directed

municipal 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 ...

affairs, Mr. Peter McDonald as

secretary A secretary, administrative professional, administrative assistant, executive assistant, administrative officer, administrative support specialist, clerk, military assistant, management assistant, office secretary, or personal assistant is a w ...

treasurer A treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The significant core functions of a corporate treasurer include cash and liquidity management, risk management, and corporate finance. Government The treasury o ...

, and Mr. L.G. Saunders was head of the

school A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compuls ...

system. The town gets its name from the Blackfoot word for Elk.

Geography

Communities and localities

The following urban municipalities are surrounded by Ponoka County. ;

Cities 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 ...

*none ;

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 ...

* Ponoka *

Rimbey Rimbey is a town in central Alberta, Canada. It is located at the junction of Highways 20 and 53 in the Blindman River valley area approximately northwest of Red Deer and southwest of Edmonton. Provincially, Rimbey is part of the Rimbey-Roc ...

;

Villages 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 ...

*none ; Summer villages * Parkland Beach The following

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 ...

are located within Ponoka County. ;

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 ...

* Bluffton * Hoadley * Leedale *

Maskwacis Maskwacis (; cr, ᒪᐢᑿᒌᐢ, ), renamed in 2014 from Hobbema (), is an unincorporated community in central Alberta, Canada at intersection of Highway 2A and Highway 611, approximately south of the City of Edmonton. The community consists ...

(formerly Hobbema) The following localities are located within Ponoka County. ;Localities *Alberta Hospital * Crestomere *Frank Subdivision *Homeglen *Lavesta *Menaik *Morning Meadows Subdivision *Nugent *Paulson Pasture *Pleasant Hill Subdivision *Rimbey Ridge Estates *Springdale *Sunnyside *Tristram *Viewmar Estates *Willesden Green *Woodland Park

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by

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 ...

, Ponoka County had a population of 9,998 living in 3,689 of its 4,255 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 9,806. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021. In the 2016 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Ponoka County had a population of 9,806 living in 3,535 of its 4,199 total private dwellings, a change from its 2011 population of 8,856. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2016.

Government

The chief administrative officer (CAO) of Ponoka County is Charlie Cutforth. The five members of council, Nancy Hartford, Bryce Liddle, Mark Matejka, Paul McLauchlin, and Doug Weir, were elected October 21, 2013. Councillor Paul McLauchlin, from electoral division 4, was selected the reeve in a 2013 organizational meeting.

References

External links

* {{Alberta, RM=yes Municipal districts in Alberta