Local government in Canada
Local government in Canada can be defined to include all elected local authorities which are legally empowered to make decisions on behalf of its electors, but excluding the federal government, the provinces or territories, or Indian bands. This can include municipalities, school boards, health authorities or hospital boards, and so on.
The most prominent form of local government in Canada is municipal government, which is a local council authority which provides local services, facilities, safety and infrastructure for communities. Municipal governments are local general-purpose authorities which provide services to all residents within a defined geographic area called a municipality.
Canada has three orders of government; federal, provincial and local/municipal. According to Section 92 of the Constitution Act, 1867, "In each Province the Legislature may exclusively make Laws in relation to... Municipal Institutions in the Province." Local governments are therefore frequently referred to as "creatures of the provinces". There were about 3,700 municipal governments in Canada c. 2002.
