County Counting in Canada

Comments

6 responses to “County Counting in Canada”

1. 

   brent

   January 2, 2012

   Just know that different provinces call regional municipalities different things. In Ontario, there are Counties, Regional Municipalities, at least one stand-alone jurisdiction on it’s own, Toronto. Saskatchewan and Manitoba have “rural municipalities”, and in Alberta they’re called “municipal districts”, and BC “district municipalities”. Counties tend to be an Eastern Canada thing, though Alberta has a few counties as well. Alberta, uniquely, also has the “Special Areas”, that have evolved out the depression and rural depopulation from thence onward.

   In other words, good luck, sir. Let me know if I can help you wade through the mess.

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   1. 

      Twelve Mile Circle

      January 2, 2012

      I have to admit that I’ve always had a great deal of difficulty trying to learn and understand all of the Canadian variations. It makes the USA’s counties, parishes (of Louisiana), boroughs and census areas of the Unorganized Borough (of Alaska), independent cities (predominately in Virginia), counties in name only that still exist primarily for Federal statistical purposes (e.g., parts of New England), plus the special case of the District of Columbia, seem like child’s play. At least the vast preponderance of what the US Census Bureau calls "county equivalents" are indeed counties. Canada’s situation is much more convoluted and that’s no easy feat.

      Reply
2. 

   Mike Lowe

   January 3, 2012

   I took a cruise into Vancouver from Puget Sound. I saw Point Roberts and the exact US/Canada border from my cabin balcony. I guess that means I have a BC county equivalent or two. I’ll set up my map later.

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3. 

   The Basement Geographer

   January 3, 2012

   Actually, here in BC they are called ‘regional district’, which are directly analogous to US counties. ‘District municipalities’ are just another type of community incorporation (smaller or more dispersed than a ‘city’ but larger than a ‘village’ or ‘town’), similar to a PA borough.

   From a legal standpoint, all municipal entities in AB, SK, and MB are separate, whether county/municipal district/rural municipality/etc. or city/town/village – think VA’s independent cities but with EVERY SINGLE incorporated city, town or village being independent. The general rule of thumb here for county counting is to assign the towns and villages to the county/etc. they’re surrounded by and leave the cities independent (plus the AB town of Drumheller, which was a city/county merger). You’ll notice Wikipedia does this for towns and villages in AB. Mob Rule follows this rule for AB as well but sadly not for SK/MB (it just uses census divisions there), which would make county counting a lot more challenging and fun there.

   Generally:

   British Columbia: Regional districts
   Alberta: Counties, municipal districts, regional municipalities, specialised municipalities, improvement districts, special areas, cities
   Saskatchewan: Rural municipalities, cities, unorganised area
   Manitoba: Rural municipalities, local government districts, cities, unorganised area
   Ontario: Counties, districts, regions, single-tier municipalities
   Quebec: Regional county municipalities
   New Brunswick: Counties
   Nova Scotia: Counties
   Prince Edward Island: Counties
   Newfoundland and Labrador: Census divisions (NL has no natural administrative equivalents to a county)
   Nunavut: Regions
   Northwest Territories: Regions
   Yukon: Yukon

   (Apologies if this is being posted multiple times. My WiFi is cutting in and out and I have no idea what’s going on.)

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4. 

   Phil Sites

   January 4, 2012

   Never been much of a county counter – partly because I’m afraid to start! Though I imagine I can somewhat easily piece together a map from memory, as I’ve tabbed every city and town (and routes through) I’ve visited in my lifetime.

   That said, I may be more inspired to keep track of my Canadian travels. I’m going on seven provinces now even though my visits to Manitoba and Nova Scotia are laughably short and worth all of one county. I have two of PEI’s three…reminds me of Delaware in that regard, just chopped into three slices.

   Kudos to “gridlockjoe”. Any guy from Dallas who has somehow visited 92 of Quebec’s 104 “parts” must get around…

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5. 

   brent

   January 6, 2012

   Thanks to TBG for setting it straighter than I’d left it…

   Reply