Municipalities

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Legal Status
Origins
Constitutive Acts
Composition
Appointment
Powers

On January 2002, there were 1 148 cities in Quebec, among which the two thirds (2/3) had a population of 2 000 inhibitants or less.

Legal Status

As it is prescribed by section 92(8) of the Constitution Act, 1867, local government is a provincial matter. Thus, cities doesn't exist on their own, contrairly to federated states in a federation, but are created by an act passed by the Parliament of Quebec. Such act defines the powers and responsabilities devolved to local governments.

Origins

The first municipal corporations appeared in Quebec in the 1830s, when the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada granted charters to the cities of Quebec and Montreal. However, it's in 1855 that local government was definitely introduced in Quebec with the Acte des municipalités et des chemins du Bas-Canada. This act, enforced thorough Lower Canada, defined principles that still applies to local government these days.

Constitutive Acts

In Quebec, cities must respect approximately fourty acts of the Parliament of Quebec in their running. Among them, the six more important acts are the following:

As we stressed before, the powers held by municipalities are devolved by the National Assembly. Thus, local governments can't excede the powers expressly devolved to them.

Composition

Each city is administrated by a Conseil municipal (Municipal Council) whose members are elected to universal suffrage. The Municipal Council is made of the mayor and of six councillors (sometimes more, in cities with a population of more than 20 000 people).

The mayor holds the "executive power" in a municipality. He ensures that decisions made by the municipal council are applied by municipal civil servants, exercices some administrative functions and watches and controls the operations of the municipal administration.

The "legislative power" in a municipality is held by the Municipal Council. It exercices the responsabilities devolved to cities by the Laws of Quebec. It adopts a budget every year, passes regulations and ensure that the interests of the citizens that elected it are taken into account. The Municipal Council meets at least once a month, and its deliberations are public.

Appointment

Mayors and councillors are elected for a four year mandate. The mayor is elected by all the electors on a municipality, while councillors are elected to the first past the post system in as many districts that there are councillors, except in small towns, where councillors may be elected to block vote. Municipal elections are held on the first monday of november, every year.

Powers

In accordance with the Law of Quebec, municipalities exercice, exclusively or jointly with the Government of Quebec, responsabilities in the domains of environment and environmental safety, housing, land use planning and development, public security, recreation and culture and transportation. More precisely, matters devolved to municipalities are the following:

Public safety: Police (joint responsability); Fire protection; Emergency measures (joint responsability).
Environment and environmental safety: Air quality (joint responsability); Water supplies; Sewers and storm drains; Wastewater treatment; Garbage removal and disposal (joint responsability).
Transportations: Urban streets and rural roads; urban public transit; Road system lighting (joint responsability).
Housing: Accomodation improvement (joint responsability); Social housing assistance (joint responsability); Regulations (joint responsability).
Recreation and culture: Libraries and museums (joint responsability); Exhibitions and fairs; Parks and playgrounds; Recreational activities; Cultural and heritage properties (joint responsability).
Land use planning and development: Planning and zoning by-laws; Economic development (joint responsability).

Sources

Gravel, Robert J. 1987. Les institutions administratives locales et régionales au Québec : structures et fonctions. Seconde édition. Sainte-Foy: presses de l'Université Laval, 1998.

Ministère des Affaires municipales. 1998. Le système municipal québécois. Québec: Éditeur officiel du Québec.

Dernière mise à jour: 11 novembre 2004

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