Talk:List of communities in Alberta

Ponoka
Ponoka currently redirects here. If the Ponoka, Alberta article is created, Ponoka should be changed to redirect there. PeepP 21:11, July 29, 2005 (UTC)

Fort Mac
Where's Fort Mcmurry?
 * Fort McMurray and Sherwood Park are two unusual communities in Alberta. They are both big enough to be cities, but they are unincorporated communities. In other words, they are huge hamlets. I rather think they take pride in their status. Cadillac 23:00, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

Split lists
I've moved sections of the article to separate lists: Towns of Alberta, Villages of Alberta, Hamlets of Alberta; then added Main links to the sections (same for List of Alberta Municipal Districts, List of Alberta Indian reserves and Métis in Alberta)

This separate lists contain definitions of terms and some statistical data as well.

For hamlets and indian reserves, the complete lists are in their sections, but the red links are commented out (they should be revealed as new articles are created).

For the municipal districts and hamlets I replaced the table with an (almost) unformated list.

Should the same be done for towns and villages? Awaiting comments. --Qyd 12:08, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

New list
Take a look at List of the 100 largest cities in Canada by population. There they have ranked "cities" in three different ways. By metro area population, by urban area population and by municipal government population. We need to make similar lists for Alberta. e.g. a list of the largest municipalities in Alberta regardless of legal status. That way we can see who governmens more taxpayers and voters, the mayor of st. albert (a city) or wood buffalo (a regional municipality). Failing that, or in addition, we need a list of the largest settlements or agglomerations by population so that Fort MacMurry, a city in all but name, can be compared to other (legal) cities. Think so, or does it just duplicate the Canadian lists too much? Kevlar67 11:37, 31 December 2006 (UTC)


 * Population ranking lists already exist on Alberta Population – AltaPop (see Population Summaries section). There are lists for all settlements (incorporated and unincorporated urban communities) and all municipalities.  There are also lists by municipality groups (i.e., urban, specialized and rural municipalities) by municipality types (i.e., cities, towns, villages, summer villages, specialized municipalities, municipal districts, special areas and improvements districts).  As I revamp this article, and subsequently revamp the List of Cities/Towns/Villages/etc. of Alberta articles, either links to the appropriate list on Alberta Population – AltaPop will be added and/or "X largest..." tables will be created, where X = a number appropriate to the type of list (i.e., 100 for all settlements and all municipalities, 25 for towns, villages and municipal districts, 10 for summer villages, etc). --Hwy43 (talk) 09:17, 8 December 2009 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Wetaskiwin flag.png
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BetacommandBot 04:49, 20 July 2007 (UTC)

Article Reorganization
I wanted to give a head's up that I am going to improve this article over numerous sequential edits such that it is consistent with the types of municipalities listed in the Municipal Government Act and the hierarchy of municipalities presented on the Alberta Municipal Affairs website (see http://www.municipalaffairs.alberta.ca/am_what_are_municipalities.cfm). I was thinking of the following municipal categories with the following municipal types within: Everything will be verifyiable by various publications on the Municipal Affairs website. So, if anyone has any questions or concerns throughout the sequential edit process, please don't hesitate to contact me. Cheers, --Hwy43 (talk) 04:48, 7 December 2009 (UTC)
 * Urban Municipalities (Cities, Towns, Villages and Summer Villages);
 * Specialized Municipalities;
 * Rural Municipalities (Municipal Districts aka Counties, Improvement Districts and Special Areas);
 * Former Municipalities (those municipalities that have dissolved or amalgamated to become part of other municipalities);
 * Unincorporated Comminities (Urban Services Areas to cover off Fort McMurray and Sherwood Park, Townsites to cover off Redwood Meadows on the Tsuu T'ina Nation, and Hamlets];
 * Métis Settlements;
 * Indian Reserves; and
 * Other (Ghost Towns).


 * As I revamp this article, I now realize that the List of Cities/Towns/Villages/etc. of Alberta articles will also have to be revamped to ensure consistency and to minimize redundancy. I'll move onto these pages after the revamp of this article is complete. --Hwy43 (talk) 09:03, 8 December 2009 (UTC)

urban service areas
Isn't Lac la Biche now also a urban service area (since it merged into Lakeland County? --Qyd (talk) 06:03, 30 December 2009 (UTC)


 * Hi Qyd, It isn't. I too thought this at one point as there was discussion by the two municipalities before they amalgamated about LLB becoming an urban service area.  I recall seeing it discussed in either council minutes, the local online newspaper, or both.  Also, for a very brief period after they amalgamated, Lac La Biche's boundary was maintained as urban service area boundary in the province's geo-administrative base mapping, but was deleted and replaced with a hamlet point in the geo-admin base about a month or two later.  This begs the question, did the two municipalities apply to AMA to have LLB designated as an urban service area only to be turned down due to not meeting urban service area requirements?  If so, what are these requirements?  To date, I've yet to see any requirements or an official definition published by AMA or in any of its acts.  Perhaps an inquiry to AMA or LLB County is in order to learn what transpired with the LLB situation.
 * In case you haven't seen it before, Alberta Municipal Affairs (AMA) publishes an annual Municipal Codes publication that lists all municipalities and hamlets. Under the hamlets section, it indicates which hamlets are designated urban service areas in parantheses after the hamlet's official name.  See Municipal Codes 2009.
 * By the way, thank you for your recent presentation of The Red Maple Leaf Award! Cheers, --Hwy43 (talk) 06:53, 30 December 2009 (UTC)

Ghost towns and renaming article
I would like to propose the removal of the ghost towns subsection from this article as every section/subsection within the article, with the exception of ghost towns, are recognized municipal entities in Alberta. As part of this proposal, we could place Ghost towns in Alberta under the see also section as it is a related article. Thoughts?

Also, if we agree to delete ghost towns per above, I would also like to propose the renaming of this article to Municipalities of Alberta since the article would then be solely about all municipality types (urban, specialized and rural municipalities, Metis settlements and Indian reserves) and statuses (cities, towns, villages, summer villages, MDs, special areas and IDs) and sub-municipal entities (urban service areas, townsites, hamlets) recognized by Alberta Municipal Affairs.

As proposed, Municipalities of Alberta would be consistent with the naming convention used for Villages of Alberta, Summer villages of Alberta and Hamlets of Alberta. Under the discussion page for List of towns in Alberta, I'll be proposing a name change to Towns of Alberta as well for consistency purposes. Thoughts?

Cheers, --Hwy43 (talk) 08:06, 14 March 2010 (UTC)


 * I have no problems with that. 117Avenue (talk) 00:01, 15 March 2010 (UTC)


 * Thanks. I just implemented the suggestion regarding ghost towns. I will now official propose the article renaming. --Hwy43 (talk) 05:06, 15 March 2010 (UTC)

Cities of Alberta
I see that there was once a List of Cities in Alberta article and that it was redirected to this article about nine months ago. Any idea why this former article was redirected here while the articles for Villages of Alberta, Summer villages of Alberta and Hamlets of Alberta were not?

I would like to propose that a Cities of Alberta article be created (note the same naming convention of the three other articles above) and that the detail under the cities section of this article be transferred to the new article and replaced with summary information similar to the summary information presented in this article's various other sections and subsections. Any thoughts/questions/concerns?

Note that I am aware that the List of Alberta municipal districts doesn't meet the same naming convention of the others either. This article is on my radar for revamping per this discussion, I just haven't gotten to it yet. If this and my two other proposals (List of communities in Alberta → Municipalities of Alberta and List of towns in Alberta → Towns of Alberta) are the desired courses of action, I will propose the renaming of this article as well at the time of revamping.

Cheers, --Hwy43 (talk) 08:27, 14 March 2010 (UTC)


 * List of cities in Alberta was always a redirect (created to accommodate some automatic links). Converting it to an article (starting maybe with material from List of communities in Alberta) would be a good thing. Having them consistently named (with or without "list" in the article name) makes sense to me. --Qyd (talk) 14:46, 14 March 2010 (UTC)


 * I agree with Qyd, when I created the List of Cities in Alberta I purposed it as a redirect. I did not add any content (other than the redirect), thats why the other articles where not redirected to this article. But i support with the proposal to create an article for Alberta cities using the information on this article.  Kyle  1278  04:05, 15 March 2010 (UTC)


 * Okay. I will start doing this. I will use List of towns in Alberta as the starting template for Cities of Alberta, copy and paste the applicable cities content from this article into Cities of Alberta (blowing the remaining town stuff away from the template that is not applicable), and then revise the Cities section of this article to be consistent with other sections of this article. Please peer review my work once I'm done for the evening to ensure everything expected to be there is there.  Within a day or so, our goal should be to have an article that is similar in content and quality to List of towns in Alberta, Villages of Alberta, Summer villages of Alberta and Hamlets of Alberta. Cheers, --Hwy43 (talk) 05:32, 15 March 2010 (UTC)

Rename article

 * The following discussion is an archived discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. No further edits should be made to this section. 

The result of the move request was: not moved; withdrawn. Aervanath (talk) 12:12, 31 March 2010 (UTC)

List of communities in Alberta → Municipalities of Alberta — Per this discussion, the name of this article is inconsistent with the name conventions used for Villages of Alberta, Summer villages of Alberta and Hamlets of Alberta. The article also is no longer a true list of all communities in Alberta. It is now a summary of all municipality types, statuses and sub-entities in Alberta that are recognized/established by Alberta Municipal Affairs. To address these two observations, it is proposed that this article be renamed to Municipalities of Alberta.

This proposal is consistent with a similar proposal here (List of towns in Alberta → Towns of Alberta).

Also note what is currently being discussed here as well with respect to the article's cities section.

Cheers, --Hwy43 (talk) 05:21, 15 March 2010 (UTC)


 * Oppose. It is consistent across Canada, see the template at the bottom of the page. It doesn't need to be consistent with villages and towns because they are sub-pages of this, as per WP:SIZE, the communities can't all be listed here. I think that this article can be called List of communities in Alberta because it explains the differences in the levels of communities, and provides links to more detail. 117Avenue (talk) 05:30, 15 March 2010 (UTC)
 * Did you look at each article across Canada closely however? All of them are undoubtedly lists, where this article evolved from a list to a summary of each municipal type, status and sub-entity due to the redundant nature of the separate list articles for List of towns in Alberta, Villages of Alberta, Summer villages of Alberta, Hamlets of Alberta, List of Alberta municipal districts and List of Alberta Indian reserves articles with brief lists only for those that not yet already have separate list articles (SMs, IDs, SAs and Metis settlements). (Also note that creating a separate article for Specialized Municipalities (SMs) is something on my radar.) --Hwy43 (talk) 06:55, 15 March 2010 (UTC)


 * Oppose Municipalities of Alberta, Support rename to Communities of Alberta; the article includes definitions and references to settlements that are not municipal corporations. --Qyd (talk) 15:01, 15 March 2010 (UTC)
 * Communities of Alberta could work, I still think it still has list qualities though. 117Avenue (talk) 05:05, 17 March 2010 (UTC)
 * Opposed until someone comes up with a compelling reason to change the title at all. — V = IR (Talk&thinsp;&bull;&thinsp;Contribs) 07:00, 17 March 2010 (UTC)
 * I disagree with the above comment. I would not propose any move without a compelling reason.  It had a compelling reason (due to the redundant nature of the linked main articles within, the article had evolved into a summary of all municipality types, statuses and sub-entities in Alberta that are recognized/established by Alberta Municipal Affairs, see here and here).  However, a bunch of major edits to the article were executed by 117Avenue after the requested move was proposed, which evolved it back to being a true list article once again, in doing so resolving the redundant nature concern of the past.  Although I am not sure these major edits should have been executed while this move request was open as they were made to support 117Avenue's position on the matter (perhaps they should have been discussed first within this forum), I am impressed and enthused by the article's new functionality as a result of these recent edits nonetheless.  Excellent edits 117Avenue! As such, I withdraw my originally proposed move request due to the recent edits. --Hwy43 (talk) 14:19, 17 March 2010 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

Cities and municipal districts
The article does not make clear whether or not cities are within the jurisdiction of municipal districts.96.248.158.75 (talk) 02:56, 20 March 2011 (UTC)


 * Municipal districts have no jurisdiction over any other type of municipality in Alberta, including cities. They only have jurisidiction over themselves, which includes unincorporated communities such as hamlets. Hwy43 (talk) 03:57, 20 March 2011 (UTC)

Municipal seats
A discussion on the application of the municipal seat concept to Alberta community articles has been initiated at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Alberta. Any input there is appreciated. Hwy43 (talk) 04:41, 31 October 2013 (UTC)

Clubroot cases in Alberta map
boldly added this map to this article with the edit summary "Added map of rural municipalities with names for every division". I reverted the edit because the map is thematically presenting cases of clubroot in the province, which is not in the scope of this article and therefore not appropriate. The user then returned the bold addition, which is edit warring, stating "I am looking for a map that doesn't include the clubroot info, however, if you search you will see that no other map exists that contains every single unit of division in Alberta. This is the only one without any missing areas", which is untrue (see #5 below). Rather, per WP:BRD, the process is now to discuss the controversial edit to determine if there is consensus to include it, so I have reverted the edit once again to return the article to its stable version and started this thread. The map that has been added is inappropriate for the following reasons: I won’t go on any further. The above is more than sufficient in explaining why the map doesn’t below on this article. Also, there is misuse of the term ‘division’ in this map’s caption, edit summaries, and maps the user has attempted to add elsewhere. What we are seeing in this map are the boundaries of 5 of 6 specialized municipalities, 73 of 74 rural municipalities, and 3 of 19 cities. All municipalities in Alberta and most provinces and territories are ‘subdivisions’ (that is census subdivisions) of ‘divisions’ (that is census divisions). See List of census divisions of Alberta. Alberta’s other 344 census subdivisions (as of 2016) are not shown in the clubroot map. Cheers, Hwy43 (talk) 01:41, 13 August 2020 (UTC)
 * 1) again, the status of clubroot cases as presented in this map is of absolutely no relevance to this topic;
 * 2) the map uses a projection that distorts the area of the province;
 * 3) the map is cropped south of the province’s northern boundary;
 * 4) the map is out of date (Improvement District No. 349, created in 2012 from portions of Lac La Biche County and the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, is not shown);
 * 5) the map is redundant to the first two maps (the first map labels every single rural and specialized municipality labelled in this map, so there is indeed an existing map that contains every instance of rural/specialized municipalities in Alberta with labels that is both correct and up to date); and
 * 6) based on the edit summary quoted above, the map appears to have been created by someone other than Canadiancounties, who apparently has found the map online and uploaded it to Wikipedia Commons asserting it is their own work.

Broken table
Why does the "Indian reserves of Alberta" have no column headers? What do the columns mean? -- Mikeblas (talk) 17:10, 7 February 2021 (UTC)
 * All transcluded tables are missing column headers. I will investigate. Hwy43 (talk) 17:29, 7 February 2021 (UTC)
 * , mission accomplished. Hwy43 (talk) 18:04, 7 February 2021 (UTC)
 * Nice work! -- Mikeblas (talk) 19:06, 7 February 2021 (UTC)