Nova Scotia is theseventh-most populousprovince in Canada with 969,383 residents as of the2021 Census of Population, and thesecond-smallest province in land area at 52,824.71 km2 (20,395.73 sq mi).[1] Nova Scotia's 49municipalities cover99.8% of the territory's land mass, and are home to98.7% of its population.[a][2]
Unlike the provinces ofBritish Columbia,Ontario andQuebec, which have two-tiered municipal systems, Nova Scotia has a one-tier system of municipalities[3] inclusive of four municipality types –regional municipalities, towns,county municipalities anddistrict municipalities.[4] Regional municipalities may incorporate under theMunicipal Government Act (MGA) of 1998, which came into force on April 1, 1999,[5] while towns, county municipalities and district municipalities are continued as municipalities under theMGA.[6] TheMGA gives municipal councils the power to make bylaws for "health, well being, safety and protection of persons" and "safety and protection of property" in addition to a few expressed powers.[7]
Of its 49 municipalities, Nova Scotia has 4 regional municipalities, 25 towns, 9 county municipalities and 11 district municipalities.[4][8] The regional municipality ofHalifax is the capital and largest municipality of Nova Scotia by population with 439,819 residents representing45% of the total population of the province and land area at 5,475.57 km2 (2,114.13 sq mi).[2]Pictou was the first municipality to incorporateMay 4, 1874,[9] and the newest municipality isWest Hants Regional Municipality that incorporated through an amalgamation of the Municipality of the District of West Hants and the Town ofWindsor onApril 1, 2020.[8]
Regional municipalities are incorporated under the authority of section 372 of Nova Scotia'sMunicipal Government Act. To consider the incorporation of a regional municipality, theNova Scotia Utility and Review Board (NSUARB) must receive a request from all municipalities within a county. If the request is unanimous, the NSUARB commissions the preparation of a study to determine if the incorporation of "a regional municipality would be in the interests of the people of the county." Nova Scotia'sGovernor in Council can order the incorporation of a regional municipality if the results of the study are deemed to be in the best interests of the people, and if a plebiscite is undertaken that results in the majority of electors in the county voting in favour of incorporation of a regional municipality.[6]
Nova Scotia has four regional municipalities. The largest regional municipality by population is Halifax, which is the capital and largest municipality of Nova Scotia by population. Halifax's 439,819 residents represent45% of the total population of the province. Halifax is also the largest municipality by land area at 5,475.57 km2 (2,114.13 sq mi).Cape Breton Regional Municipality is the second largest municipality with a population of 93,694 and a land area of2,419.70 km2. TheRegion of Queens Municipality is Nova Scotia's smallest regional municipality by population with 10,422 residents andWest Hants Regional Municipality is the smallest by land area 1,250.50 km2 (482.82 sq mi) respectively.[2] The province's newest regional municipality is West Hants Regional Municipality.[8]
Arural municipality in Nova Scotia provides local government for rural areas outside incorporated towns. Rural municipalities were established in 1879 and are inclusive of county municipalities and district municipalities. District municipalities are withinhistorical counties that were previously subdivided into districts, whereas county municipalities are within historical counties that were not previously subdivided into districts.[10]
Nova Scotia's county municipalities originate from a historical system of 18 counties.[11] Prior to the establishment of rural municipalities in 1879, local government was administered by appointed courts of sessions.[10] On April 17, 1879, the original non-elected courts of sessions were abolished in favour of elected councils whenThe County Incorporation Act came into force.[10] As a result, 12 county municipalities were established, while the remaining 6 counties, which were previously divided into districts for court sessional purposes, were established as district municipalities.[10]
The province had 12 county municipalities for over a century until the mid-1990s when 3 became regional municipalities.[12] Its 9 remaining county municipalities were then continued as county municipalities in 1998 under the authority of theMunicipal Government Act.[6] These county municipalities provide local government to the residents of their historical counties who live outside incorporated towns.[10]
Nova Scotia's largest county municipality by population is theMunicipality of the County of Kings at 47,918 residents, while the largest by land area is theMunicipality of the County of Cumberland at 4,253.04 km2 (1,642.11 sq mi). TheMunicipality of the County of Victoria is the least populated county municipality at a population of 6,750. TheMunicipality of the County of Richmond is Nova Scotia's smallest county municipality by land area at 1,240.46 km2 (478.94 sq mi).[2]
Prior to the establishment of elected rural local government in Nova Scotia, 6 of the 18 historical counties were divided into districts for court sessional purposes.[10] On April 17, 1879, these 6 historical counties were established as 12 district municipalities, rather than county municipalities, based on their previous district divisions.[10] The district municipalities provide local government to the residents of the 6 historical counties who live outside incorporated towns.[10] On April 1, 2020, the Municipality of the District of West Hants amalgamated with the Town of Windsor to become a regional municipality,[8] reducing the number of district municipalities in Nova Scotia to 11. These continue administratively as district municipalities under the authority of theMunicipal Government Act of 1998.[6]
Nova Scotia's largest and smallest district municipalities by population areLunenburg andSt. Mary's with 25,545 and 2,161 residents respectively.[2] Nova Scotia's largest district municipality by land area isGuysborough at 2,115.25 km2 (816.70 sq mi), while the smallest by land area isYarmouth at 584.69 km2 (225.75 sq mi).[2]
Prior to mid-2015, towns were incorporated under the authority of sections 383 through 388 of Nova Scotia'sMunicipal Government Act (MGA).[13] To incorporate an area as a town, 100 electors within the area were required to prepare and submit an application to the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board (NSUARB).[13] Upon receiving the application, the NSUARB would undertake a hearing to solicit input from interested parties and determine if there were reasonable grounds to incorporate as a town.[13] The NSUARB would issue an incorporation order if the application was deemed reasonable.[13] On May 11, 2015, sections 383 through 388 of theMGA were repealed, thereby preventing further incorporations of towns.[14]
Nova Scotia had 27 towns at the time of the 2016 census.[2] This total has since been reduced to 25 due to the dissolution of the Town ofParrsboro and the amalgamation of the Town of Windsor with the Municipality of the District of West Hants.[15][8] In the 2021 census, the remaining 25 towns had a cumulative population of 96,580. Nova Scotia's largest and smallest towns by population areTruro andLockeport with 12,954 and 476 residents respectively.[2] Truro is also Nova Scotia's largest by land area at 34.49 km2 (13.32 sq mi) andAnnapolis Royal is the smallest by land area at 1.98 km2 (0.76 sq mi).[2]
| Name | Municipal type | County[2] | Incorporation date[9] | 2021 Census of Population[2] | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Population (2021) | Population (2016) | Change | Land area | Population density | ||||||
| km2 | sq mi | /km2 | /sq mi | |||||||
| Cape Breton | Regional municipality | Cape Breton | August 1, 1995 | 93,694 | 94,285 | −0.6% | 2,419.70 | 934.25 | 38.7 | 100 |
| Halifax | Regional municipality | Halifax | April 1, 1996 | 439,819 | 403,131 | +9.1% | 5,475.57 | 2,114.13 | 80.3 | 208 |
| Queens | Regional municipality | Queens | April 1, 1996 | 10,422 | 10,302 | +1.2% | 2,387.52 | 921.83 | 4.4 | 11 |
| West Hants | Regional municipality[8] | Hants | April 1, 2020[8] | 19,509 | 19,016 | +2.6% | 1,250.50 | 482.82 | 15.6 | 40 |
| Annapolis[b] | County municipality | Annapolis | April 17, 1879 | 18,834 | 18,252 | +3.2% | 3,172.36 | 1,224.86 | 5.9 | 15 |
| Antigonish[c] | County municipality | Antigonish | April 17, 1879 | 15,101 | 14,584 | +3.5% | 1,448.72 | 559.35 | 10.4 | 27 |
| Colchester[d] | County municipality | Colchester | April 17, 1879 | 36,044 | 36,091 | −0.1% | 3,568.71 | 1,377.89 | 10.1 | 26 |
| Cumberland[e] | County municipality | Cumberland | April 17, 1879 | 19,964 | 19,402 | +2.9% | 4,253.04 | 1,642.11 | 4.7 | 12 |
| Inverness[f] | County municipality | Inverness | April 17, 1879 | 13,239 | 13,170 | +0.5% | 3,795.34 | 1,465.39 | 3.5 | 9.1 |
| Kings[g] | County municipality | Kings | April 17, 1879 | 47,918 | 47,404 | +1.1% | 2,087.88 | 806.13 | 23.0 | 60 |
| Pictou[h] | County municipality | Pictou | April 17, 1879 | 20,676 | 20,692 | −0.1% | 2,795.08 | 1,079.19 | 7.4 | 19 |
| Richmond[i] | County municipality | Richmond | April 17, 1879 | 8,509 | 8,458 | +0.6% | 1,240.46 | 478.94 | 6.9 | 18 |
| Victoria[j] | County municipality | Victoria | April 17, 1879 | 6,750 | 6,552 | +3.0% | 2,832.48 | 1,093.63 | 2.4 | 6.2 |
| Argyle | District municipality | Yarmouth | April 17, 1879 | 7,870 | 7,899 | −0.4% | 1,526.07 | 589.22 | 5.2 | 13 |
| Barrington | District municipality | Shelburne | April 17, 1879 | 6,523 | 6,646 | −1.9% | 631.98 | 244.01 | 10.3 | 27 |
| Chester | District municipality | Lunenburg | April 17, 1879 | 10,693 | 10,310 | +3.7% | 1,120.61 | 432.67 | 9.5 | 25 |
| Clare | District municipality | Digby | April 17, 1879 | 7,678 | 8,018 | −4.2% | 851.14 | 328.63 | 9.0 | 23 |
| Digby | District municipality | Digby | April 17, 1879 | 7,242 | 7,107 | +1.9% | 1,654.59 | 638.84 | 4.4 | 11 |
| East Hants | District municipality | Hants | April 17, 1879 | 22,892 | 22,453 | +2.0% | 1,786.53 | 689.78 | 12.8 | 33 |
| Guysborough | District municipality | Guysborough | April 17, 1879 | 4,585 | 4,670 | −1.8% | 2,115.25 | 816.70 | 2.2 | 5.7 |
| Lunenburg | District municipality | Lunenburg | April 17, 1879 | 25,545 | 24,863 | +2.7% | 1,757.79 | 678.69 | 14.5 | 38 |
| Shelburne | District municipality | Shelburne | April 17, 1879[10] | 4,336 | 4,288 | +1.1% | 1,816.71 | 701.44 | 2.4 | 6.2 |
| St. Mary's | District municipality | Guysborough | April 17, 1879 | 2,161 | 2,233 | −3.2% | 1,904.08 | 735.17 | 1.1 | 2.8 |
| Yarmouth | District municipality | Yarmouth | April 17, 1879[10] | 10,067 | 9,845 | +2.3% | 584.69 | 225.75 | 17.2 | 45 |
| Amherst | Town | Cumberland | December 18, 1889 | 9,404 | 9,413 | −0.1% | 12.07 | 4.66 | 779.1 | 2,018 |
| Annapolis Royal | Town | Annapolis | November 29, 1892 | 530 | 491 | +7.9% | 1.98 | 0.76 | 267.7 | 693 |
| Antigonish | Town | Antigonish | January 9, 1889 | 4,656 | 4,364 | +6.7% | 4.98 | 1.92 | 934.9 | 2,421 |
| Berwick | Town | Kings | May 25, 1923[16] | 2,455 | 2,509 | −2.2% | 6.53 | 2.52 | 376.0 | 974 |
| Bridgewater | Town | Lunenburg | February 13, 1899 | 8,790 | 8,532 | +3.0% | 13.63 | 5.26 | 644.9 | 1,670 |
| Clark's Harbour | Town | Shelburne | March 4, 1919 | 725 | 758 | −4.4% | 2.82 | 1.09 | 257.1 | 666 |
| Digby | Town | Digby | December 18, 1890 | 2,001 | 2,060 | −2.9% | 3.16 | 1.22 | 633.2 | 1,640 |
| Kentville | Town | Kings | May 1, 1886 | 6,630 | 6,271 | +5.7% | 17.08 | 6.59 | 388.2 | 1,005 |
| Lockeport | Town | Shelburne | February 26, 1907 | 476 | 531 | −10.4% | 2.32 | 0.90 | 205.2 | 531 |
| Lunenburg | Town | Lunenburg | October 29, 1888 | 2,396 | 2,263 | +5.9% | 4.04 | 1.56 | 593.1 | 1,536 |
| Mahone Bay | Town | Lunenburg | March 31, 1919 | 1,064 | 1,036 | +2.7% | 3.12 | 1.20 | 341.0 | 883 |
| Middleton | Town | Annapolis | May 31, 1909 | 1,873 | 1,832 | +2.2% | 5.55 | 2.14 | 337.5 | 874 |
| Mulgrave | Town | Guysborough | December 1, 1923 | 627 | 722 | −13.2% | 17.83 | 6.88 | 35.2 | 91 |
| New Glasgow | Town | Pictou | May 6, 1875 | 9,471 | 9,075 | +4.4% | 9.96 | 3.85 | 950.9 | 2,463 |
| Oxford | Town | Cumberland | April 19, 1904 | 1,170 | 1,190 | −1.7% | 10.68 | 4.12 | 109.6 | 284 |
| Pictou | Town | Pictou | May 4, 1874 | 3,107 | 3,186 | −2.5% | 7.99 | 3.08 | 388.9 | 1,007 |
| Port Hawkesbury | Town | Inverness | January 22, 1889 | 3,210 | 3,214 | −0.1% | 8.10 | 3.13 | 396.3 | 1,026 |
| Shelburne | Town | Shelburne | April 4, 1907[17] | 1,644 | 1,743 | −5.7% | 8.75 | 3.38 | 187.9 | 487 |
| Stellarton | Town | Pictou | October 22, 1889 | 4,007 | 4,208 | −4.8% | 8.99 | 3.47 | 445.7 | 1,154 |
| Stewiacke | Town | Colchester | August 30, 1906 | 1,557 | 1,373 | +13.4% | 17.62 | 6.80 | 88.4 | 229 |
| Trenton | Town | Pictou | March 18, 1911 | 2,407 | 2,474 | −2.7% | 6.07 | 2.34 | 396.5 | 1,027 |
| Truro | Town | Colchester | May 6, 1875 | 12,954 | 12,261 | +5.7% | 37.52 | 14.49 | 345.3 | 894 |
| Westville | Town | Pictou | August 20, 1894 | 3,540 | 3,628 | −2.4% | 14.24 | 5.50 | 248.6 | 644 |
| Wolfville | Town | Kings | March 4, 1893 | 5,057 | 4,195 | +20.5% | 6.46 | 2.49 | 782.8 | 2,027 |
| Yarmouth | Town | Yarmouth | August 6, 1890 | 6,829 | 6,518 | +4.8% | 10.57 | 4.08 | 646.1 | 1,673 |
| Sub-total regional municipalities | 563,444 | 526,734 | +7.0% | 11,533.29 | 4,453.03 | 48.9 | 127 | |||
| Sub-total county municipalities | 187,035 | 184,605 | +1.3% | 25,194.07 | 9,727.48 | 7.4 | 19 | |||
| Sub-total district municipalities | 109,592 | 108,332 | +1.2% | 15,749.44 | 6,080.89 | 7.0 | 18 | |||
| Sub-total towns | 96,580 | 93,847 | +2.9% | 242.06 | 93.46 | 399.0 | 1,033 | |||
| Total municipalities | 956,651 | 913,518 | +4.7% | 52,718.86 | 20,354.87 | 18.1 | 47 | |||
| Province of Nova Scotia | 969,383 | 923,598 | +5.0% | 52,824.71 | 20,395.73 | 18.4 | 48 | |||
Nova Scotia has undergone reforms to local government since the mid-1990s, which has seen various municipalities amalgamate to form larger municipalities or dissolve into surrounding municipalities.
TheMunicipality of the County of Cape Breton, theCity of Sydney, and the towns ofDominion,Glace Bay,Louisbourg,New Waterford,North Sydney, andSydney Mines dissolved and amalgamated on April 1, 1995, to form theCape Breton Regional Municipality. TheCity of Halifax along with theCity of Dartmouth, theTown of Bedford and theMunicipality of the County of Halifax also dissolved and amalgamated on April 1, 1996, to become theHalifax Regional Municipality. Also on April 1, 1996, theMunicipality of the County of Queens amalgamated with the Town ofLiverpool to form the Region of Queens Municipality.[12] The latest amalgamation to occur involved the Town of Windsor and the Municipality of the District of West Hants merging to form the West Hants Regional Municipality on April 1, 2020.[8]
Five towns have dissolved since 2011 and are now under the jurisdiction of their adjacent rural municipalities. Canso dissolved on July 1, 2012, to become part of the Municipality of the District of Guysborough.[4] On April 1, 2015, Bridgetown and Springhill dissolved to become parts of theMunicipality of the County of Annapolis and the Municipality of the County of Cumberland respectively.[4] Hantsport became part of theMunicipality of the District of West Hants on July 1, 2015.[4] Parrsboro dissolved to become part of the Municipality of the County of Cumberland on November 1, 2016.[15]
The Canadian provinces of Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia have two-tier municipality systems.
It was incorporated as a town on April 4, 1907.
Articles related to municipalities in Nova Scotia | |
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