A municipal district (MD) is the most common form of all rural municipality statuses used in the Canadian province of

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest T ...

. Alberta's municipal districts, most of which are branded as a county (e.g. Yellowhead County, County of Newell, etc.), are predominantly rural areas that may include either farmland,

Crown land Crown land (sometimes spelled crownland), also known as royal domain, is a territorial area belonging to the monarch, who personifies the Crown. It is the equivalent of an entailed estate and passes with the monarchy, being inseparable from it ...

or a combination of both depending on their geographic location. They may also include country residential subdivisions and unincorporated communities, some of which are recognized as hamlets by Alberta Municipal Affairs. Municipal districts are created when predominantly rural areas with populations of at least 1,000 people, where a majority of their residential buildings are on parcels of land greater than 1,850 m², apply to Alberta Municipal Affairs for municipal district status under the authority of the ''Municipal Government Act''. Applications for municipal district status are approved via orders in council made by the Lieutenant Governor in Council under recommendation from the Minister of Municipal Affairs. As of the 2011 Census, Alberta's then 64 municipal districts ( Lac La Biche County has since then converted to a specialized municipality) had a cumulative population of 451,979 and an average population of 7,062. Alberta's most populous and least populated municipal districts are Rocky View County and the MD of Ranchland No. 66 with populations of 36,461 and 79 respectively. 437 elected officials (eight

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

s, 56 reeves and 373

councillor A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...

s) provide municipal district governance throughout the province. __TOC__

Branding

An order in council to incorporate any municipality must give the municipality an official name. Of Alberta's 63 municipal districts, 16 still have ''municipal district'' in their official names, while 47 of them have branded themselves as a ''county'' in their official names. Twenty-five of Alberta's municipal district's retain a numerical designation (e.g. "No. 8") in their official names. The use of the ''county'' term in the official names of 47 municipal districts (and three specialized municipalities) has partially led to a common belief that a ''county'' is its own separate municipal status type, which is not the case. The other major contributor to this common belief is that a ''county'' was once a former municipal status type in Alberta prior to the County Act being repealed in the mid-1990s. Those municipalities that were once officially incorporated as counties were continued under the ''Municipal Government Act'' (MGA) as municipal districts and were permitted to retain the term ''county'' in their official names.

Municipal office locations

More than half of the 63 municipal districts have their main administration offices, including council chambers, in a separate municipality such as a city, town, or village. This municipality (like all other cities, towns, and villages) is not part of the municipal district's jurisdiction. Nine municipal districts have their offices in a hamlet, which is part of the district's jurisdiction. They are

Acadia Acadia (french: link=no, Acadie) was a colony of New France in northeastern North America which included parts of what are now the Maritime provinces, the Gaspé Peninsula and Maine to the Kennebec River. During much of the 17th and earl ...

( Acadia Valley), Bighorn (

Exshaw Exshaw is a hamlet in Alberta, Canada within Municipal District (MD) of Bighorn No. 8. Located approximately west of downtown Calgary and east of Canmore, Exshaw is situated within the Bow River valley north of the Bow River. The hamlet was ...

), Birch Hills ( Wanham), Clear Hills ( Worsley), Cypress ( Dunmore),

Grande Prairie Grande Prairie is a city in northwest Alberta, Canada within the southern portion of an area known as Peace River Country. It is located at the intersection of Highway 43 (part of the CANAMEX Corridor) and Highway 40 (the Bighorn Highway), a ...

( Clairmont), Lac Ste. Anne ( Sangudo), Opportunity ( Wabasca), and Thorhild ( Thorhild). One municipal district, Ranchland, has its offices in a provincial park,

Chain Lakes Provincial Park Chain Lakes Provincial Park is a provincial park located in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains west of Nanton, Alberta, Canada. It was established along the Chain Lakes Reservoir. The Cowboy Trail runs along the eastern boundary of the park. ...

. Thirteen municipal districts have their offices in their jurisdiction, outside the boundaries of a city, town, or village. They are Brazeau ( Drayton Valley), Lacombe (between Gull Lake and Lacombe), Mountain View ( Didsbury), Newell ( Brooks), Northern Sunrise (

Peace River The Peace River (french: links=no, rivière de la Paix) is a river in Canada that originates in the Rocky Mountains of northern British Columbia and flows to the northeast through northern Alberta. The Peace River joins the Athabasca River in ...

), Paintearth ( Castor), Parkland ( Stony Plain),

Peace Peace is a concept of societal friendship and harmony in the absence of hostility and violence. In a social sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (such as war) and freedom from fear of violence between individuals or groups. ...

( Berwyn),

Red Deer The red deer (''Cervus elaphus'') is one of the largest deer species. A male red deer is called a stag or hart, and a female is called a hind. The red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Anatolia, Iran, and parts of ...

(

), Saddle Hills ( Spirit River), Wheatland ( Strathmore), Willow Creek ( Claresholm), and Woodlands ( Whitecourt).

List

The below table is a list of only those ''

rural municipalities A rural municipality is a classification of municipality, a type of local government, found in several countries. These include: * Rural municipalities in Canada, a type of municipal status in the Canadian provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, ...

'' in Alberta that are incorporated as ''municipal districts''. Despite their names, Lac La Biche County, Mackenzie County, and Strathcona County are not listed because they are in fact incorporated as '' specialized municipalities'', not ''municipal districts''. The Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo is likewise a specialized municipality and is thus not listed here. For more information on ''specialized municipalities'', see List of specialized municipalities in Alberta. Alberta's eight '' improvement districts'' and three '' special areas'' are also not listed because they are their own separate type of ''rural municipality'' and not subset types of the ''municipal district'' status. For more information on ''special areas'', see '' Special Areas Board''.

Former municipal districts

Changed status

Dissolved

References

External links

Alberta Association of Municipal Districts and Counties
(AAMDC) :
AAMDC - The Members

Alberta Municipal Affairs
{{Topics on Alberta Municipal Districts