The last change to Canada's political map?

[Nite]

How many of you are aware to the last change to Canada's political map

https://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/...40006-15-e.pdf




The one before is a little bit more know however

https://www.solon.org/Constitutions/...ap_2001nl.html

[Chadillaccc]

Did you mean to make this a poll?

[Nite]

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

Did you mean to make this a poll?

I didn't but you can add one

[Metro-One]

I always called it the Yukon (with no “Territory” behind it) so I didn’t notice that.

FYI, I love the name “Yukon.”

[Acajack]

Not sure if we're doing municipalities, but in 2020 the town of Asbestos, QC changed its name to Val-des-Sources.

It has a population of about 7,000 people. Not large of course but it's decent-sized as far as places that recently changed their names go.

Are there any other recent ones that aren't small villages?

[niwell]

Not as drastic, but in March 2019 the Town of Richmond Hill (population ~210k) changed their official name to the City of Richmond Hill.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by niwell

Not as drastic, but in March 2019 the Town of Richmond Hill (population ~210k) changed their official name to the City of Richmond Hill.

I once heard that there might be some kind of advantage for municipalities in Ontario to remain a "Town" as opposed to graduating to "City" status.

I.e. they get more support from the province, or have fewer responsibilities to take on.

Which explains why you still have large "Towns" like Oakville and Markham.

[SignalHillHiker]

My favourite from Newfoundland:



Also… “Baytona”? lol Not a great way to avoid ridicule.

*****

I don’t actually wish we’d kept our Latin name and called the province Terra Nova and ourselves Terra Novans, it’s too far gone now for that. But I do wish we could force Nova Scotia to be Newscotland so that there would be at least one stupider than ours lol

[le calmar]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I once heard that there might be some kind of advantage for municipalities in Ontario to remain a "Town" as opposed to graduating to "City" status.

I.e. they get more support from the province, or have fewer responsibilities to take on.

Which explains why you still have large "Towns" like Oakville and Markham.

Markham is no longer a town. Ajax is one though.

[Innsertnamehere]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I once heard that there might be some kind of advantage for municipalities in Ontario to remain a "Town" as opposed to graduating to "City" status.

I.e. they get more support from the province, or have fewer responsibilities to take on.

Which explains why you still have large "Towns" like Oakville and Markham.

None that I am aware of. In Ontario the municipalities are free to choose their name as far as I know.

Markham changed it's name to the "City of Markham" in about 2014 from what I remember.

Oakville remains a "town" though, however ridiculous that may be. I believe Milton is still a "town" as well.

You get some municipalities choosing fun names too - like the "Township of Uxbridge", some going with County (County of Norfolk), while others use Region (Region of Durham), and still others use "regional municipality".

It's a giant hodgepodge. Some use "City" when they really shouldn't, like the City of Kawartha Lakes, where the largest settlement is Lindsay, a town of about 20,000, which is about 1/4th of the entire municipalities population and is dominantly rural.

[niwell]

I think that prior to the big municipal re-org and update of the Municipal Act back in 2001 there may have been some functional differences between Village/Town/City designations in Ontario, but that's no longer the case. As far as the Province is concerned there are single-tier, upper-tier and lower-tier municipalities which are treated more or less identically with some exceptions (e.g. the City of Toronto Act). Funding is doled out based on need and very few places in Southern Ontario qualify, bar uploading of social services and one-off payments for things like social housing.

Some places like Oakville hold on to the Town designation because they think it reflects their identity as a quaint wealthy village, no matter how ridiculous that may now be!

[Dengler Avenue]

Nomenclature-wise, you also have the weird one like Whitewater Region which is a township in Renfrew County.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I once heard that there might be some kind of advantage for municipalities in Ontario to remain a "Town" as opposed to graduating to "City" status.

Riverview NB is a town even though it could petition for city status if it wanted to.

At about 21,000 people, this suburb of Moncton is the fifth largest municipality in the province, and larger than any of the four northern cities.

Part of the reason why they wish to remain a town is because this fits with the towns identity as a bucolic and leafy bedroom community. The other reason is that by law, all cities in NB have to be able to provide bilingual municipal services. Towns do not. Riverview is 95% anglophone, and proudly and stubbornly English speaking in it's identity. If Riverview ever became a city, this might have to change.

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Riverview NB is a town even though it could petition for city status if it wanted to.

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Part of the reason why they wish to remain a town is because this fits with the towns identity as a bucolic and leafy bedroom community. The other reason is that by law, all cities in NB have to be able to provide bilingual municipal services. Riverview is 95% anglophone, and proudly and stubbornly English speaking in it's identity. If Riverview ever became a city, this might have to change.

This applies to Quispamsis and Oromocto as well. The bilingual hurdle is one of course, but there are also others such as municipal services that must be provided as cities that are not required as towns.

NB has too many municipalities and not enough provincial power, IMO, and frankly it would be good if some were either forced to amalgamate or forced to attain their proper statuses so that they can provide better servicing for their residents.

As others have pointed out this no longer is really the case in Ontario after the Municipal Act was brought in.

[MolsonExport]

Ajax is named in honor of that scouring powder.
Comet should also have a town.

[dmuzika]

Personally, the changing of status from Town to City, etc. almost doesn't count as a political map change as mostly likely the name remains the same.

Relatively minor on the national scale, Hobbema was renamed as Maskwacis in 2014. It's a community that serves 5 Indigenous reserves south of Edmonton (between Wetaskiwin & Ponoka on Hwy 2A).

[SignalHillHiker]

Originally Posted by niwell

I think that prior to the big municipal re-org and update of the Municipal Act back in 2001 there may have been some functional differences between Village/Town/City designations in Ontario, but that's no longer the case. As far as the Province is concerned there are single-tier, upper-tier and lower-tier municipalities which are treated more or less identically with some exceptions (e.g. the City of Toronto Act). Funding is doled out based on need and very few places in Southern Ontario qualify, bar uploading of social services and one-off payments for things like social housing.

Some places like Oakville hold on to the Town designation because they think it reflects their identity as a quaint wealthy village, no matter how ridiculous that may now be!

I wish we would do the same. It's part of way there, but still a mess here.

Almost everything here was incorporated post-Confederation because as a country Parliament governed directly (even St. John's only incorporated in 1888, and even then it was just an advisory council to the Prime Minister, who appointed its chair).

We have three different levels people can reside in:

1. Unincorporated - these surround most incorporated areas and pay no property taxes, encouraging our rural sprawl.
2. Town - these are all governed under the same Municipalities Act. Most are tiny and can barely get enough people to run for council. You'll have six towns in close proximity all paying for separate everything and, of course, getting the shittiest possible expertise (most have no planner, for example). If it's incorporated, and NOT a City, then it is a Town. Doesn't matter if the population is 2 or 2,000. We don't do village or hamlet or anything else.
3. City - each city has to petition the province for approval to be granted this status. Generally you need 20,000 people. If the province bites, they negotiate jurisdiction, etc., and a separate Act is legislated to establish each City.

[niwell]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Ajax is named in honor of that scouring powder.
Comet should also have a town.

Fun fact - the Town of Ajax is actually newer than the cleaning product! Ajax cleaning powder was first sold in 1947, while the Town of Ajax was established in 1955. Though the latter was named after British heavy cruiser HMS Ajax of Battle of River Plate fame - there are silhouettes of the cruiser on some of the street signs in the waterfront areas.

Ajax was home to a pretty massive munitions factory during WWII so I guess it's kinda fitting - I think only one of the original buildings survives, or at least it was still there a decade ago. Definitely not much of a "there" in Ajax, save for Pickering Village which is technically in city limits. So maybe the cleaner would have been a more accurate etymology.

[manny_santos]

Originally Posted by niwell

Not as drastic, but in March 2019 the Town of Richmond Hill (population ~210k) changed their official name to the City of Richmond Hill.

There's an even more recent one in BC.

The District of Mission voted just a month ago to become the City of Mission, and it has been approved by the province. Their last council meeting as the District of Mission was on June 7. They are currently in the in-between phase, as the new City branding and logo has yet to be created.

As far as I know there is no functional difference between a District and a City in BC; this appears to be being done for marketing reasons. Several municipalities in Metro Vancouver are former Districts, including Surrey and Burnaby. West Vancouver is still a District.

[Blitz]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Ajax is named in honor of that scouring powder.
Comet should also have a town.

It almost does...Comet is a hamlet on the Lake Erie shoreline south of Windsor.