Comparative Analysis of Municipal Acts in Canadian Provinces

This report provides a comparative analysis of municipal acts across several Canadian provinces, including Ontario, Nova Scotia, and Alberta, examining key features, reforms, and their impact on local governance. The analysis highlights the commonalities and differences among these statutes, such as those related to firefighting, policing, transportation, education, finance, and utilities. The report delves into specific acts like the City of Toronto Act 1997, the Municipal Government Act 1998 of Nova Scotia, the Charlottetown Area Municipalities Act 2016, the Municipal Act 2001 of Ontario, and the Municipal Government Act 2000 of Alberta, detailing their respective functions, powers, and contributions to the betterment of local communities. It concludes that while the functions of these statutes vary, they share common goals of enhancing municipal authority and improving the environment for local residents. The report also emphasizes the reforms made by municipal statutes to address the problems and challenges faced by each province.

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There are three primary levels of the government of Canada, such as the Federal level,
Provincial Level, and Municipal level. Such federal level of the government has followed the
rules or laws enumerated in the Constitution Act 1867 (Malcolmson et al., 2016). This Act
affects all over the country. Local independent government has referred to the freedom of a
native body of government to act unconventionally to deliver for such local requirements. The
values of local self-government, in brief, municipalities are progressively renowned as
commanding, within such sphere the power of delegation. Last thirty years, most of the
territories and provinces have reformed various municipal legislation for providing more
facilities to its people. This paper aims to discuss the most important features of such reforms of
the municipal statutes and how these statues help to enhance municipal authorities.
The common features of the municipal statues are described in this paragraph. Though
the functions of the statutes are different from each other and also vary from one province to
another, there are some similarities among those statutes. Firstly, the management of the
firefighting stations, as well as local policing, are almost the same in the municipal statues.
Secondly, though there is no responsibility of municipal governments towards roads, highways,
but they also operate train or bus services (Cleave, & Arku, 2015). Thirdly, education systems,
development, and planning sectors are also work in similar ways. Fourthly, most of the finance
department and collection of municipality taxes have an important feature of the municipal taxes.
Lastly, in Ontario, Alberta, and Quebec, the chain of services of local government is extended to
include telephone, gas, and electricity services.
Section 8 of the City of Toronto Act, 1997, has dealt with functions of the municipal
government of Toronto in local planning, as well as adjustment committee functions. This
section has discussed about the recreational facilities, spending limits of amount, which has

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allocated by such city council (Varga et al., 2015). Some additional functions with respect to
development to the urban areas are also mentioned in this section of the Act. Section 9 of this
Act also deliberated with the establishment of the Hydro-Electric Commission in this province.
Part III of the Act has concerned about the duties, expenses, remuneration, guidelines, and many
other important features of such Financial Advisory Board. Section 20 of the Act has concerned
about the personal information and privacy of the individuals of this territory. Therefore, this
municipal statute has enhanced benefits to the local public in this territory as it has discussed
about various facilities to them.
The Municipal Government Act, 1998 of Nova Scotia, is also one of the essential
municipal statutes among the provinces of the government of Canada. Part II of the Act describes
the administration systems of the province along with the obligations of the officer of Chief
administrative authority towards the public (Richter et al., 2017). Part III has dealt with the
powers of the municipal government for improvement of local health, transportation, regional
libraries, housing and highways agreements, agreements for village services, and many others.
Section 190 of this Act has stated that the purpose of Part VIII, which deals with development
and planning, is to protect, as well as identify the welfares of the provinces for the development
and use of such land. This Act has made various provisions for the welfare of the public of this
territory. The municipal government of this province of Canada has made various reforms
through the implementation of this Act. Therefore, this municipal statute has enhanced assistance
to the public of the province of Nova Scotia in Canada.
Part III of the Charlottetown Area Municipalities Act 2016 has dealt with coordination
between municipalities. The part of this Act aims to make available an opportunity to discuss the
common substances and concerns among the minister, and local governments, or a

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representative, are the associates of such coordination committee. In that logic, it is a restricted
endowment for the discussion in this statute.
The province of Ontario has been governed by the Municipal Act 2001, and it is one of
the primary governing statutes of this province in Canada relating to administration, creation,
and municipality government (Arku, 2015). This Act has been operating all over the province of
Ontario, but the area of Toronto is operated by its own municipality Act, that is, the City of
Toronto Act 1997. The functions of the Municipal Act 2001 are discussed in this paragraph. The
main functions of this Act are described in section 11. It has divided the government of
municipality into two tires, such as the lower-tier municipality, as well as the upper-tier
municipality. Both tiers of municipalities have possessed the power to pass laws and regulations
for transportation systems, waste management, culture, heritage, recreation. The municipality
government also has the power to control flood, drainage, animals, and services of economic
development, business licensing, and many others. However, there are fewer responsibilities for
parking on highways, animals, and some other places. Therefore, it can be determined that this
municipality statute has made a significant revolution in the province of Ontario.
The province of Alberta in the government of Canada has enacted the Municipal
Government Act 2000 to regulate its province in a better way. Part I of the Act describes the
powers, capacity, and purposes of municipalities in this territory. Division 3 of Part III of the Act
has enumerated public utilities. Section 34 of the Act has described the duties of the municipal
government to supply various utility services to the public of this territory (Furlong, 2016). Part
IV of this Act has made the formation of areas into city, town or village, and other official
administrations. Section 134 of this Act has also made additional taxes to the property, which are
located in the area of the municipality. This statute of municipality government has made a

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distinct affair for the betterment of the public, and it has helped to create a suitable environment
in this jurisdiction of the province of Alberta. Therefore, the reform of this municipal statute has
made a significant mutation in the laws and regulations of the territory of Alberta.
Therefore, it can be concluded that there are various similarities in the features of the
municipal statutes in the provinces of the government of Canada. The municipality statutes have
made various changes and transformations of the territory of all provinces of Canada. The
reforms of the municipality statutes have helped each province to overcome its problems and
made a better environment in these provinces. It has enhanced the municipal authority of the
provinces.

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References
Arku, G. (2015). Economic development practices of cities in Ontario, Canada. Community
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City of Toronto Act, 1997
Cleave, E., & Arku, G. (2015). Place branding and economic development at the local level in
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Constitution Act 1867
Furlong, K. (2016). Leaky governance: Alternative service delivery and the myth of water utility
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Malcolmson, P., Myers, R., Baier, G., & Bateman, T. (2016). The Canadian regime: An
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Municipal Government Act 2000
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Richter, A., Bruce, N., Ng, K. T., Chowdhury, A., & Vu, H. L. (2017). Comparison between
Canadian and Nova Scotian waste management and diversion models—a Canadian case
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Varga, C., Pearl, D. L., McEwen, S. A., Sargeant, J. M., Pollari, F., & Guerin, M. T. (2015).
Area-level global and local clustering of human Salmonella enteritidis infection rates in
the city of Toronto, Canada, 2007–2009. BMC infectious diseases, 15(1), 359.
Charlottetown Area Municipalities Act 2016