City of Canada Bay

The City of Canada Bay is a local government area in the Inner West region of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The city was formed on 1 December 2000, following the merger of Concord and Drummoyne councils. The city covers an area of 19.82 km2 and as at the had a resident population of 89,177. The city is ultimately named after Canada Bay, a bay and suburb along the Parramatta River.

Councillor Michael Megna was appointed to be mayor on 25 January 2024, and the deputy mayor is Joseph Cordaro.

Location and topography
The City of Canada Bay is located in the northern part of the Inner West region of Sydney. To the north it is bounded by the Parramatta River, and to the south by Parramatta Road. In the east and west, it is bounded by two large bays: Iron Cove in the east, and Homebush Bay in the west. At its centre is a third large bay, Hen and Chicken Bay. (The eponymous Canada Bay is an inlet of the larger Hen and Chicken Bay.) As a result, the area is largely in the form of two peninsulas, linked by a narrow strip of land at its centre, which is the location of the eponymous suburb of Canada Bay. As a result of its geographical layout, many of the suburbs in the City of Canada Bay enjoy water frontages onto one of the bays of Parramatta River.

Suburbs and localities in the local government area
Suburbs in the City of Canada Bay are:


 * Abbotsford
 * Breakfast Point
 * Cabarita
 * Canada Bay
 * Chiswick
 * Concord
 * Concord West
 * Drummoyne
 * Five Dock
 * Liberty Grove
 * Mortlake
 * North Strathfield
 * Rhodes
 * Rodd Point
 * Russell Lea
 * Strathfield (minor, with most of the suburb within Strathfield and other parts in Burwood)
 * Wareemba

Some of the localities in the City of Canada Bay are:


 * Birkenhead Point
 * Concord Repatriation General Hospital
 * Concord Oval

Demographics
At the there were 88,015 people in the Canada Bay local government area; of these 48.1 per cent were male and 51.9 per cent were female. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 0.5 per cent of the population. The median age of people in the City of Canada Bay was 36 years. Children aged 0 – 14 years made up 16.2 per cent of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 14.7 per cent of the population. Of people in the area aged 15 years and over, 50.8 per cent were married and 9.3 per cent were either divorced or separated.

Population growth in the City of Canada Bay between the and the  was 10.73 per cent; and in the subsequent five years to the, population growth was 15.24 per cent. t the 2016 census, the population in the City of Canada Bay increased by 16.17 per cent. When compared with total population growth of Australia for the same period, being 8.8 per cent, population growth in Canada Bay local government area was nearly double the national average. The median weekly income for residents within the City of Canada Bay is significantly higher than the national average.

Current composition and election method
Canada Bay City Council is composed of nine councillors, including the mayor, for a fixed four-year term of office. The mayor has been directly elected since 2004 while the eight other Councillors are elected proportionally as one ward. The most recent election was held on 4 December 2021,.

Michael Megna was appointed Mayor of the City of Canada Bay by the NSW Governor on 25 January 2024, following his nomination by fellow Councillors in December 2023. Canada Bay Council voted in a new mayor after its former leader was dismissed and barred from government for five years. This leaves the current composition of Council to 8 until the next general election in September 2024. The makeup of the council, including the mayor, is as follows:

The current Council, elected in 2021, in order of election, is:

History
A 2015 review of local government boundaries by the NSW Government Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal recommended that the City of Canada Bay merge with adjoining councils. The government proposed a merger of the Burwood, Canada Bay, and Strathfield Councils to form a new council with an area of 41 km2 and support a population of approximately 163,000. In May 2016 Strathfield Council challenged the proposed merger between Strathfield, Burwood and Canada Bay and commenced proceedings in the New South Wales Land and Environment Court. After the Court heard that there were legal flaws in the report from the state government-appointed delegate who examined the proposal for merging the councils, the NSW Government withdrew from the case and the merger proposal stalled. In July 2017, the Berejiklian government decided to abandon the forced merger of the Strathfield, Burwood and Canada Bay local government areas, along with several other proposed forced mergers.