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Ontario is divided into 444 different communities called municipalities.
Each municipality has its own local government which is responsible for the planning, safety
and growth of their community. Municipal governments actually receive their
powers from the provincial government. They are responsible for local and everyday matters,
such as water, fire protection, policing, parks, community and recreation centres, libraries,
garbage and recycling, land use and planning, roads and sidewalks, transportation systems,
and much more. A municipality can be called a city, town,
village, township, county or region – and they are part of either a single-tier or two-tier
system.
A single-tier system has one government with one council. A two-tier system has two governments
with two councils. Single-tier municipalities manage all of their
responsibilities on their own. Examples include larger cities like Toronto, Windsor and Ottawa,
or smaller townships like Red Rock and Nipissing.
In a two-tier system, several lower-tier municipalities are grouped together under the umbrella of
an upper-tier municipality.
An upper-tier municipality is responsible for some larger regional services, such as
policing and waste management.
For example, Brampton, Mississauga and Caledon are lower-tier municipalities and the Region
of Peel is the upper-tier municipality.
Every municipality is different, but they all have several things in common: a defined
geographic area, the power to tax and an elected council.
The elected council of lower-tier and single-tier municipalities is called a local municipal
council.
The head of the local council is called a mayor or a reeve. They are elected at-large
– which means by all eligible voters within a municipality.
Local council members are called councillors or aldermen, and they can be elected at-large,
or by using a ward system that breaks a municipality down into smaller areas. Some municipalities
use a mix of both at-large and ward systems.
The role of council members is to listen to the concerns of people living in their community
and to attend meetings to discuss, debate, and create by-laws and decisions for the municipality.
Your municipal government impacts you every day. In an election, you decide who will lead
and direct your municipality. Vote wisely.