Municipal government in Canada

In Canada, municipal government is a type of local council authority that provides local services, facilities, safety and infrastructure for communities.Canada has three levels of government; federal, provincial and municipal. According to Section 92(8) of the Constitution Act, 1867, "In each Province the Legislature may exclusively make Laws in relation to... Municipal Institutions in the Province." There are about 3,700 municipal governments in Canada. Technically the municipal government is not sanctioned in the Constitution but may be established pursuant to provincial/territorial authority.

Like many Canadian political institutions, municipal government has its roots in the medieval system of government in England. Famously, the city of Winchester was given its charter in 1185, and the granting of freedoms became endorsed in Magna Carta, which was signed in 1215. The first formal municipality in Canada was the city of Saint John in New Brunswick, which received royal approval in 1785. For municipal government, this began an almost 50-year hiatus of receiving approval from the government, ending in the 1830s when the issue was placed on the agenda once again. In 1835, the British parliament passed the Municipal Corporations Act, which specified how municipalities were to function and be elected. The ideas from this law were transferred to Canada by Lord Durham, who submitted a report to then-Governor-General, Lord Sydenham. In late 1840 to early 1841 the governments of what was Canada at the time enacted various acts which established municipal government in all areas of the country.

In 1849, the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada approved a Canadian version of the Municipal Corporations Act, often referred to as the Baldwin Act in honour of its creator, Robert Baldwin. It delegated authority to the municipal governments so they could raise taxes and enact by-laws. It also established a hierarchy of types of municipal governments, starting at the top with cities and continued down past towns, villages and finally townships. Changes to the boundaries of these new governments could be made by petitioning the provincial Municipal Board or by requesting a change through the legislature.

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