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Municipal elections in Canada fall within the jurisdiction of the various provinces and territories, who usually hold their municipal elections on the same date every two, three or four years, depending on the location.
Each province has its own nomenclature for municipalities and some have local elections for unincorporated areas which are not technically municipalities. These entities can be called cities, towns, villages, townships, hamlets, parishes and, simply, municipalities, county municipalities, regional county municipalities, municipal districts, regional districts, counties, regional municipalities, specialized municipalities, district municipalities or rural municipalities. Many of these may be used by Statistics Canada as the basis for census divisions or census subdivisions.
Municipal elections usually elect a mayor and city council and often also a school board. Some locations may also elect other bodies, such as Vancouver, which elects its own parks board. Some municipalities will also hold referenda or ballot initiatives at the same time, usually relating to spending projects or tax changes.
Elections for city councils are held through either a ward system or an at-large system, depending on the location. Vancouver is the largest city in Canada to use the at-large system, while most other large cities use wards.
Most councils are non-partisan and elect only independents. However, some municipalities have locally based political parties or election slates. These include Montreal, Quebec City and Longueuil in Quebec and Vancouver, Victoria, Surrey and Richmond in British Columbia. These local parties are rarely affiliated with any provincial or federal parties.
Voting may be done with paper ballots that are hand-counted, or by various forms of electronic voting.
Municipal election chart by province and territory
| Province or Territory | Occurrence | Date | Last election | Next election | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alberta | Excluding Lloydminster | 4 years (3 years prior to 2013) | 3rd Monday in October | 2021 | 2025 |
| British Columbia | 4 years (3 years prior to 2014) | 3rd Saturday in October | 2022 | 2026 | |
| Manitoba | 4 years | 4th Wednesday in October | 2022 | 2026 | |
| New Brunswick | 4 years | 2nd Monday in May | 2022 (special) | 2026 | |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | 4 years | last Tuesday in September | 2021 | 2025 | |
| Northwest Territories | Taxed communities | 3 years | 3rd Monday in October | 2021 | 2024 |
| Hamlets | 2 years | 2nd Monday in December | 2022 | 2024 | |
| Nova Scotia | 4 years | 3rd Saturday in October | 2020 | 2024 | |
| Nunavut | 4 years | 4th Monday in October | 2019 | 2023 | |
| Ontario | 4 years (3 years prior to 2006) | 4th Monday in October | 2022 | 2026 | |
| Prince Edward Island | 4 years | 1st Monday in November | 2022 | 2026 | |
| Quebec | 4 years | 1st Sunday in November | 2021 | 2025 | |
| Saskatchewan | Urban municipalities, including Alberta portion of Lloydminster |
4 years (3 years prior to 2012) | 2nd Wednesday in October | 2020 | 2024 |
| Odd-numbered districts in rural municipalities | 4 years (2 years prior to 2015) [1] | 2nd Wednesday in October | 2020 | 2024 | |
| Even-numbered districts in rural municipalities | 4 years (2 years prior to 2015) [1] | 2nd Wednesday in October | 2022 | 2026 | |
| Yukon | 3 years | 3rd Thursday in October | 2021 | 2024 | |
See also
- 2023 Canadian electoral calendar
- Elections in Canada
- Municipal government in Canada
- Provincial elections in Canada