Administrative divisions of Canada

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Canada is divided into ten provinces and three territories.

The provinces and territories are further subdivided into census divisions. These may serve as a level of government, in which case they may be called counties (or Municipal districts), regional municipalities, regional districts or regional county municipalities, depending on the province. If a census division does not operate as a government, then it is termed a district or a division, and exists mainly to aggregate statistical census data.

Most census divisions, in turn, are divided into municipalities, which may be:

For statistical census purposes, municipalities may also be called census subdivisions, although communities within an incorporated municipality may also have census subdivision status.

However, in Ontario and Nova Scotia, some census divisions function as municipalities themselves, with no further government subdivision.

Cities in Quebec are further subdivided into arrondissements.

For census purposes, several municipalities with close geographical and economic relationships may be grouped together into Census Agglomerations or Census Metropolitan Areas. These may or may not correspond to census divisions. They do not normally function as a level of government, although in some CMAs, e.g. the Greater Toronto Area, the municipalities may appoint and maintain regional boards to coordinate services such as transportation planning across the whole region.