The

Province of Quebec Quebec is Canada's largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, New Brunswick to the southeast and a coastal border ...

is divided into entities that deliver

local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of a higher-level political or administrative unit, such a ...

, along with other types of functional divisions.

Local municipalities

The primary level of local organization is the local municipality. This general term includes specific

types of municipalities in Quebec The following is a list of the types of local and supralocal territorial units in Quebec, Canada, including those used solely for statistical purposes, as defined by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs, Regions and Land Occupancy and compiled by t ...

such as city or town, municipality, village, parish, township, and northern village. Municipal governments are authorities that are elected locally to provide services that are best managed locally. Revenue for services is mostly raised via

property taxes A property tax (whose rate is expressed as a percentage or per mille, also called ''millage'') is an ad valorem tax on the value of a property.In the OECD classification scheme, tax on property includes "taxes on immovable property or net we ...

and other local sources. They are created by the province under the Cities and Towns Act and the Municipal Code of Québec. Municipalities have power over

public transport Public transport (also known as public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) are forms of transport available to the general public. It typically uses a fixed schedule, route and charges a fixed fare. There is no rigid definition of whic ...

fire protection Fire protection is the study and practice of mitigating the unwanted effects of potentially Conflagration, destructive fires. It involves the study of the behaviour, Compartmentalization (fire protection), compartmentalisation, suppression and inve ...

and emergency, municipal court,

drinking water Drinking water or potable water is water that is safe for ingestion, either when drunk directly in liquid form or consumed indirectly through food preparation. It is often (but not always) supplied through taps, in which case it is also calle ...

, sewage, and rubbish collection. Shared powers with the province include housing, roads, police, recreation and culture, parks, and urban planning. Quebec has a multi-tier system, with a layer of government between the municipality and the province, for example

urban agglomeration An urban area is a human settlement with a high population density and an infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas originate through urbanization, and researchers categorize them as cities, towns, conurbations or suburbs. In urbani ...

regional county municipality The term regional county municipality or RCM (, , MRC) is used in Quebec, Canada to refer to one of 87 county-like political entities. In some older English translations they were called county regional municipality. Regional county municipalit ...

, or metropolitan community.

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Quebec City Quebec City is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...

Longueuil Longueuil () is a city in the province of Quebec, Canada. It is the seat of the Montérégie, Montérégie administrative region and the central city of the urban agglomeration of Longueuil. It sits on the South Shore (Montreal), south shore o ...

Sherbrooke Sherbrooke ( , ) is a city in southern Quebec, Canada. It is at the confluence of the Saint-François River, Saint-François and Magog River, Magog rivers in the heart of the Estrie administrative region. Sherbrooke is also the name of a territ ...

, Saguenay,

Lévis Lévis () is a city in eastern Quebec, Canada, located on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, opposite Quebec City. A ferry links Old Quebec with Old Lévis, and two bridges, the Quebec Bridge and the Pierre-Laporte Bridge, connect we ...

Métis-sur-Mer Métis-sur-Mer (, ) is a city in the La Mitis Regional County Municipality within the Bas-Saint-Laurent region of Quebec, Canada. It had a population of 594 in the Canada 2021 Census. The name "Métis" is said to come from a Mi'kmaq word meani ...

and

Grenville-sur-la-Rouge Grenville-sur-la-Rouge () is a municipality in the Argenteuil Regional County Municipality in the Laurentides region of Quebec, Canada. It is a predominantly Francophone community situated along the southern border of Quebec between Montreal and ...

are divided into

arrondissement An arrondissement (, , ) is any of various administrative divisions of France, Belgium, Haiti, and certain other Francophone countries, as well as the Netherlands. Europe France The 101 French departments are divided into 342 ''arrondissem ...

s (boroughs), sub-municipal entities that have mayors and councillors. Elections are held across the province on the same day in every municipality every four years.

Agglomerations

Urban agglomerations (UA) are collections of municipalities with certain shared services, managed by the agglomeration council. The council is formed from elected officials from all of the municipalities, and votes are weighted according to the relative population of each municipality. Each agglomeration contains a "central municipality" which has extended powers; the mayor of the central municipality becomes the

ex-officio An ''ex officio'' member is a member of a body (notably a board, committee, or council) who is part of it by virtue of holding another office. The term ''List of Latin phrases (E)#ex officio, ex officio'' is Latin, meaning literally 'from the off ...

mayor of the agglomeration council. The UAs of Montréal, Québec, and Longueuil have each been delegated powers usually reserved for regional county municipalities. The urban agglomerations are: *

Urban agglomeration of Montreal The urban agglomeration of Montreal (, ) is an Urban agglomerations of Quebec, urban agglomeration in Quebec, Canada. Coextensive with the List of regions of Quebec, administrative region of Montreal, it is a territory equivalent to a regional c ...

* Urban agglomeration of Quebec City *

Urban agglomeration of Longueuil The urban agglomeration of Longueuil was created on January 1, 2006 as a result of the 2000–06 municipal reorganization in Quebec#Calls for de-amalgamation, de-amalgamation process brought upon by the Jean Charest, Charest government. It encomp ...

* Urban agglomeration of Mont-Laurier * Urban agglomeration of La Tuque * Urban agglomeration of Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine * Urban agglomeration of Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts * Urban agglomeration of Mont-Tremblant * Urban agglomeration of Cookshire-Eaton * Urban agglomeration of Rivière-Rouge * Urban agglomeration of Sainte-Marguerite–Estérel Urban agglomerations came into effect after the

2000–2006 municipal reorganization in Quebec The 2000–2006 municipal reorganization in Quebec resulted in large-scale amalgamation of smaller municipality (Quebec), municipalities in Quebec into larger cities. It was undertaken by one administration, but was modified and partially undone ...

, which saw the provincial government merging municipalities in large cities against the wishes of many of the municipalities, themselves.

Supralocal organizations

Regional county municipalities

Regional county municipalities coordinate among neighbouring municipalities on services. There are 86 in total. Most municipalities belong to an RCM. None of the municipalities in the

are in an RCM. Other municipalities have certain powers usually reserved for RCMs, including Québec, Saguenay,

Trois-Rivières Trois-Rivières (, ; ) is a city in the Mauricie administrative region of Quebec, Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Saint-Maurice River, Saint-Maurice and Saint Lawrence River, Saint Lawrence rivers, on the north shore of the Sain ...

, Longueuil,

Shawinigan Shawinigan (; ) is a city located on the Saint-Maurice River in the Mauricie area in Quebec, Canada. It had a population of 49,620 as of the 2021 Canadian census. Shawinigan is also a territory equivalent to a regional county municipality (TE) ...

, Laval, Mirabel,

Rouyn-Noranda Rouyn-Noranda (; Canada 2021 Census, 2021 population 42,313) is a city on Osisko Lake in the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region of Quebec, Canada. The city of Rouyn-Noranda is coextensive with a territory equivalent to a regional county municipalit ...

Gatineau Gatineau ( ; ) is a city in southwestern Quebec, Canada. It is located on the northern bank of the Ottawa River, directly across from Ottawa, Ontario. Gatineau is the largest city in the Outaouais administrative region of Quebec and is also p ...

, Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine and La Tuque. RCMs have responsibility for territorial planning, realty assessment, waste management, emergency planning, local economic development and employment assistance as well as local financing of the local development centre or CLD. The powers of the RCM are exercised by the RCM council. It is composed of the mayors of each of the member municipalities and possibly other elected municipal officials as well as a warden. Depending on the RCM, a warden can either be appointed by the council (in which case the warden must be one of the mayors) or elected by universal suffrage (in which case they cannot hold any other elective office). The voting strength of each municipality on the council is determined in part by its population, but a formula is used to prevent a small number of large municipalities from making decisions unilaterally. Unorganized territories are

unincorporated areas An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

that are not part of any municipality. Municipal authority is exercised the MRC or equivalent to which they belong.

Nord-du-Québec

The

Nord-du-Québec Nord-du-Québec (; ) is the largest, but the least populous, of the seventeen administrative regions of Quebec, Canada. Spread over nearly 14 degrees of latitude, north of the 49th parallel, the region covers on the Labrador Peninsula, making ...

is divided into three territories each equivalent to a regional municipality: * The

Kativik Regional Government The Kativik Regional Government (, ARK) is the representative regional authority for most of the Nunavik region of Quebec. Nunavik is the northern half of the Nord-du-Québec administrative region and includes all the territory north of the 55 ...

offers regional services to 14 northern villages and associated

Inuit Inuit (singular: Inuk) are a group of culturally and historically similar Indigenous peoples traditionally inhabiting the Arctic and Subarctic regions of North America and Russia, including Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwe ...

reserved lands as well as the

Naskapi The Naskapi (Nascapi, Naskapee, Nascapee) are an Indigenous people of the Subarctic native to the historical region St'aschinuw (ᒋᑦ ᐊᔅᒋᓄᐤ, meaning 'our Clusivity, nclusiveland'), which was located in present day northern Qu ...

village municipality of Kawawachikamach. The Cree village

Whapmagoostui Whapmagoostui (, "place of the beluga") is the northernmost Cree village in Quebec, Canada, located at the mouth of the Great Whale River () on the coast of Hudson Bay in Nunavik. About 906 Cree with about 650 Inuit, living in the neighbourin ...

, on the eastern shore of

Hudson Bay Hudson Bay, sometimes called Hudson's Bay (usually historically), is a large body of Saline water, saltwater in northeastern Canada with a surface area of . It is located north of Ontario, west of Quebec, northeast of Manitoba, and southeast o ...

, is an enclave and does not participate in the Kativik Regional Government. *

Jamésie Jamésie () is a territory equivalent to a regional county municipality (TE) of Nord-du-Québec, Canada. Its geographical code is 991 and together with Kativik TE and Eeyou Istchee TE it forms the administrative région and census division ( ...

: the four towns of Jamésie are not covered by a regional government, and supply their own services. It surrounds but does not administer the towns of

Chibougamau Chibougamau () is the largest town in Nord-du-Québec, central Quebec, Canada. Located on Lake Gilman, it has a population of 7,233 people (2021 Canadian census). Chibougamau is surrounded by, but not part of, the local municipality of Eeyou ...

, Chapais,

Lebel-sur-Quévillon Lebel-sur-Quévillon () is a city (Quebec), city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec, located on Quebec Route 113, Route 113 in the Jamésie region. It is located approximately 88 kilometres north of Senneterre ...

, and Matagami, as well as the unconstituted localities of Radisson, Valcanton, and Villebois. * Eeyou Istchee James Bay Regional Government, offers regional services to its nine

Cree The Cree, or nehinaw (, ), are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people, numbering more than 350,000 in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada, First Nations. They live prim ...

village municipalities and their associated reserved lands. It an uncontiguous territory enclaved within Jamésie.

Metropolitan communities

Metropolitan communities have responsibility for areas of common interest to their constituent municipalities such as urban planning, economic development, promotion of international trade, artistic and cultural development, public transportation and waste management. Each CM also has specific areas of jurisdiction defined by the legislation governing it. There are two metropolitan communities or CMs in Quebec: * The Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal comprises 82 municipalities, encompassing four RCMs and parts of another six RCMs. The council is chaired by the mayor of Montreal. The CMM contains four RCMs and overlaps with six. * The Quebec City metropolitan community consists of the Agglomoration of Quebec (containing four municipalities which do not belong to an RCM, and the municipalities in the RCMs of L'Île-d'Orleans parts of La Côte-de-Beaupré and La Jacques-Cartier. The council is chaired by the mayor of Quebec City.

Other divisions of the province

Administrative regions

There are 17 administrative regions of Quebec. They have no government, but serve to organize the provision of provincial services. They are: * 01

Bas-Saint-Laurent The Bas-Saint-Laurent (, 'Lower Saint-Lawrence) is an administrative region of Quebec located along the south shore of the lower Saint Lawrence River in Quebec. The river widens at this place, later becoming a bay that discharges into the Atlan ...

* 02

Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean (, ) is a region in Quebec, Canada on the Labrador Peninsula. It contains the Saguenay Fjord, the estuary of the Saguenay River, stretching through much of the region. It is also known as Sagamie in French, from the fi ...

* 03

Capitale-Nationale Capitale-Nationale (; ) is one of the 17 administrative regions of Quebec. It is anchored by the provincial capital, Quebec City, and is largely coextensive with that city's metropolitan area. It has a land area of 18,684.78 km2. It reported ...

* 04

Mauricie Mauricie () is a traditional and current administrative region of Quebec. La Mauricie National Park is contained within the region, making tourism in Mauricie popular. The region has a land area of 35,860.05 km2 (13,845.64 sq mi) and a popu ...

* 05

Estrie Estrie () is an List of Quebec regions, administrative region of Quebec that comprises the Eastern Townships. ''Estrie'', a French neologism, was coined as a derivative of ''est'', "east". Originally settled by anglophones, today it is about 90 pe ...

* 06

Montréal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

* 07

Outaouais Outaouais (, ; also commonly called The Outaouais) is a region of western Quebec, Canada. It includes the city of Gatineau, the municipality of Val-des-Monts, the municipality of Cantley, Quebec, Cantley and the Papineau Regional County Municipal ...

* 08

Abitibi-Témiscamingue Abitibi-Témiscamingue () is an administrative region located in western Québec, Canada, along the border with Ontario. It became part of the province in 1898. It has a land area of and its population was 147,082 people as of the 2021 cens ...

* 09

Côte-Nord Côte-Nord (Region 09) (, ; ) is an List of regions of Quebec, administrative region of Quebec, on the Quebec-Labrador peninsula, Quebec-Labrador Peninsula, Canada. The region runs along the St. Lawrence River and then the Gulf of St. Lawrence, ...

* 10

* 11

Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine () is an administrative region of Quebec consisting of the Gaspé Peninsula () and the . It lies in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence at the eastern extreme of southern Quebec. The predominant economic activities are fishing, forestry and tourism. ...

* 12

Chaudière-Appalaches Chaudière-Appalaches (, ) is an administrative region in Quebec, Canada. It comprises most of what is historically known as the " Beauce" (; compare with the electoral district of Beauce). It is named for the Chaudière River and the Appalachia ...

* 13 Laval * 14

Lanaudière Lanaudière (, ) is one of the seventeen administrative regions of Quebec, Canada, situated immediately to the northeast of Montreal. It has a total population ( 2016 Census) of 494,796 inhabitants, an increase of 4.9% over the 2011 census. Geogr ...

* 15

Laurentides The Laurentides (, ) is a region of Quebec. While it is often called the Laurentians in English, the region includes only part of the Laurentian Mountains. It has a total land area of and its population was 589,400 inhabitants as of the 2016 C ...

* 16

Montérégie Montérégie () is an administrative region in the southwest part of Quebec. It includes the cities of Boucherville, Brossard, Châteauguay, Longueuil, Saint-Hyacinthe, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Salaberry-de-Valleyfield and Vaudreuil-Dorion. ...

* 17

Centre-du-Québec Centre-du-Québec (, ''Central Quebec'') is a region of Quebec, Canada. The main centres are Drummondville, Victoriaville, and Bécancour. It has a land area of and a 2016 census population of 242,399 inhabitants. Description The Centre-du- ...

Census areas

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; ), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and culture. It is headquartered in ...

divides the province into census divisions, designated places, population centres, and economic regions.

Health authorities

The

Ministry of Health and Social Services The Minister of Health and Social Services (in Quebec French, French: ''Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux'') is responsible for the administration of health and social services in the province of Quebec since June 1985. The Minister o ...

serves 18 health regions.

Protected areas

* Federally-protected areas include

Forillon National Park Forillon National Park, one of 42 national parks and park reserves across Canada, is located at the outer tip of the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec and covers . Created in 1970, Forillon was the first National Parks of Canada, national park in Que ...

, La Mauricie National Park, Mingan Archipelago National Park Reserve, Saguenay–St. Lawrence Marine Park, and the national historic site of Grosse-Île-et-le-Mémorial-des-Irlandais,

National Wildlife Area A National Wildlife Area is a conservation designation for a geographical region in Canada that restricts most human activities on that region. However, land use permits may be issued "for activities that are compatible with conservation". Su ...

s, migratory bird sanctuaries, and

Gatineau Park Gatineau Park () is a federal park located in the Outaouais, Outaouais region of Quebec, Canada. Administered by the National Capital Commission as part of the National Capital Region (Canada), National Capital Region, Gatineau Park is a wedge ...

. *Provincially-run areas include 24 provincial parks, ecological reserves, exceptional forest ecosystems, and biodiversity reserves. *Quebec has a natural

world heritage World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

site, Miguasha National Park.

Reserves

There are federally-administrated

Indian reserves In Canada, an Indian reserve () or First Nations reserve () is defined by the ''Indian Act'' as a "tract of land, the legal title to which is vested in Her Majesty, that has been set apart by Her Majesty for the use and benefit of a band." R ...

, as well as northern villages and Inuit reserved lands, and Cree and Naskapi territories.

Canadian Forces bases

Canadian Forces bases in the province include

CFB Valcartier 2nd Canadian Division Support Base Valcartier (2 CDSB Valcartier), formerly known as and commonly referred to as Canadian Forces Base Valcartier (CFB Valcartier), is a Canadian Forces base located in the municipality of Saint-Gabriel-de-Valc ...

, Proof and Experimental Test Establishment,

CFB Montreal 2nd Canadian Division Support Base Valcartier, Detachment Montreal, formerly known as and commonly referred to as Canadian Forces Base Montreal (also CFB Montreal or Longue-Pointe) is a Canadian Forces base, Canadian Forces Base network located in ...

, and CFB Bagotville.

Historical counties

Quebec was divided into

counties A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

until the early 1980s when they were dissolved and the province was divided into regional county municipalities. The

Eastern Townships The Eastern Townships (, ) is a historical administrative region in southeastern Quebec, Canada. It lies between the Great Lakes–St. Lawrence Lowlands, St. Lawrence Lowlands and the American border, and extends from Granby, Quebec, Granby in ...

was an administrative region in southeastern Quebec. Since 1987, most of the area is within the administrative region

, and the term Eastern Townships is now used in tourist literature.

Judicial districts

The province is divided into 36 judicial districts.

References

External links

Union des municipalités du Québec
(Union of Quebec Municipalities)
Fédération québécoise des municipalités
(Federation of Quebec Municipalities) {{Subdivisions of Quebec, cities=yes, state=collapsed, regions=yes, counties=yes, region=10 Subdivisions of Quebec Local government in Quebec