User:RFBailey/HRM

Halifax Regional Municipality is a local government area of Nova Scotia, Canada, based around its capital, Halifax. The municipality was established on 1 April 1996, when all levels of municipal government in Halifax County (including the cities of Halifax and Dartmouth) were amalgamated into a single entity.

The municipality is commonly referred to as HRM. Sometimes, it is known simply as Halifax, although this disguises the fact that the municipality covers a much wider area, covering 5,577 square kilometres (2,353 sq mi),. It includes the island of Sable Island, 180 km offshore.

The population in 2006 was 372,679;, with 282,924 in the Halifax urban area. The municipality is therefore the largest in Nova Scotia (with 40% of the province's population), and in the Maritimes (with 15% of the population), as well as being the largest population centre in Canada east of Québec City.

Description
The first permanent European settlement in the area was the establishment of the Town of Halifax in 1749, with other towns and villages were settled throughout the region in the decades that followed. In 1996 the provincial government amalgamated all municipal governments within Halifax County to create HRM, a regional municipality comprising approximately 200 individual neighbourhoods and communities (place-names) for civic addressing grouped into 18 planning areas for zoning purposes.

The Halifax urban area is a major economic centre in eastern Canada with a large concentration of government services and private sector companies. Major employers and economic generators include the Department of National Defence, various levels of government, and the Port of Halifax. Agriculture, fishing, mining, forestry and natural gas extraction are major resource industries found in the rural areas of HRM.

Geography
The Halifax Regional Municipality occupies an area of 5,577 square kilometres (2,353 sq mi), (approximately 10% of Nova Scotia) comparative to the province of Prince Edward Island, and measures approximately 165 kilometres (102.5 mi) in length between its eastern and western-most extremities.

The coastline is heavily indented, accounting for its length of approximately 400 kilometres (250 mi), with the northern boundary usually being between 50-60 kilometres (30-37 mi) inland. The coast is mostly rock with small isolated sand beaches in sheltered bays. The largest bays include St. Margaret's Bay, Halifax Harbour/Bedford Basin, Cole Harbour, Musquodoboit Harbour, Jeddore Harbour, Ship Harbour, Sheet Harbour, and Ecum Secum Harbour. The municipality's topography spans from lush farmland in the Musquodoboit Valley to rocky and heavily forested rolling hills.

Urban-rural characteristics
The region is large in physical area, centred on the urban core and surrounded by areas of decreasing density the farther the community is from the core.

Unlike most municipalities with a sizable census metropolitan area, Halifax Regional Municipality's suburbs are completely incorporated into the entire municipality, with the urban area including the urban core, suburban communities and a rural commuter shed that encompasses almost half the municipality's landmass.

The urban area of HRM (2006 pop: 282,924 ) is located in the western end of the municipality, fronting on Halifax Harbour. The dense urban core is centred on the Halifax Peninsula and the area of Dartmouth inside of the Circumferential Highway. The suburban area stretches beyond Mainland Halifax to the west, Cole Harbour to the east, and Bedford, Sackville, Nova Scotia and Windsor Junction areas to the north.

This urban area constitutes the most populous urban area on Canada's Atlantic coast, and the second largest coastal population centre in the country, after Vancouver, British Columbia. HRM currently accounts for 40% of Nova Scotia's population, and 15% of that of the Atlantic provinces.

The north eastern area centred on Sheet Harbour and the Musquodoboit Valley is completely rural, with more in common with adjacent rural areas of neighbouring counties.

HRM's boundary includes all of Halifax County except for several First Nation reserves. Statistics Canada identifies HRM as a census subdivision while Halifax County is listed as a census division, despite the fact that both geographic areas differ by only several dozen hectares. Statistics Canada also lists the dissolved municipalities of Bedford, Dartmouth and Halifax, describing them as "Dissolved (municipalities) having undergone an amalgamation/dissolution)."

Neighbourhoods and communities


The Halifax Regional Municipality is an amalgamation of four municipal governments in the urban and rural areas, therefore it has a diverse variety of neighbourhoods and communities.

There are over 200 official rural and urban communities within Halifax County that have maintained their original geographic names (including the dissolved cities of Halifax and Dartmouth and the town of Bedford). These community names are used on survey and mapping documents, for 9-1-1 service, municipal planning, and postal service.

HRM is divided into eighteen community planning areas which are further divided into neighbourhoods or villages. Several communities or neighbourhoods that were amalgamated by the former constituent municipalities in previous decades are starting to see their names gain increased use. The regional municipality has taken steps to reduce duplicate street names for its 9-1-1 emergency dispatch services; at the time of amalgamation, some street names were duplicated several times throughout HRM.

The term Halifax urban area is used to roughly describe the urban concentration surrounding Halifax Harbour in the western part of the municipality, and includes the Halifax Metropolitan Area, the Dartmouth Metropolitan Area, and the Bedford-Sackville areas.

Rural areas lie to the east, west and north of this urban core, with the Atlantic Ocean to the south. Certain rural communities on the urban fringe function as suburban or exurban areas, with the majority of those residents working in the urban core. Farther away, rural communities in HRM function much as any resource-based area in Nova Scotia, being sparsely populated, with their local economies developing around four major resource industries: agriculture, fishing, mining and forestry. It should be noted that the tourism industry is beginning to change how some rural communities in HRM function, particularly in coastal areas such as Hubbards, Peggys Cove and Lawrencetown.

Climate
HRM's climate is heavily influenced by its location on Nova Scotia's Atlantic coast. The weather is usually milder or cooler than that of central Canada, with the temperature remaining (with occasional notable exceptions) between about -15°C and 35°C (5°F to 95°F) inland but the coast can be milder in the winter and cooler in the summer with the maritime influence.

Economy
The urban area of Halifax Regional Municipality is a major economic centre in eastern Canada with a large concentration of government services and private sector companies. Halifax serves as the business, banking, government and cultural centre for the Maritime region. Major employers and economic generators include the Department of National Defence, as well as the Port of Halifax. The municipality has a growing concentration of manufacturing industries and is becoming a major multi-modal transportation hub through growth at the port, the Halifax International Airport, and improving rail and highway connections. A real estate boom in recent years has led to numerous new property developments, including the gentrification of some former working-class areas.

Agriculture, fishing, mining, forestry and natural gas extraction are major resource industries found in the rural areas of HRM. The majority of agriculture & forestry of the Halifax Regional Municipality is the Musquodoboit Valley. The total number of farms in HRM is 150, of which 110 are family owned and as of the 2001 Census. Fishing harbours are located along all coastal areas with some having an independent harbour authority, and others being managed as small craft harbours under the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

Other resource industries in HRM include the natural gas fields off the coast of Sable Island, as well as clay, shale, gold, limestone, and gypsum extraction in rural areas of the mainland portion of the municipality.

Government
The Halifax Regional Municipality is governed by a mayor (elected at large) and a twenty-three person council, who are elected by geographic district; municipal elections occur every leap year. HRM has established community councils where three or more councillors agree to form these councils to deal primarily with local development issues. Most community council decisions are subject to final approval by regional council. The current Lord Mayor of the Halifax Regional Municipality is Peter Kelly.

The Halifax Regional Council is responsible for all facets of municipal government, including the Halifax Regional Police, Halifax Public Libraries, Halifax Fire and Emergency, Halifax Regional Water Commission, parks and recreation, public works, waste management, and planning and development.

Education
The Halifax Regional Municipality has a well-developed network of public and private schools, providing instruction from primary to grade 12; one hundred and fifty public schools are administered by the Halifax Regional School Board, as well as three public schools administered by the Conseil Scolaire Acadien Provincial, whereas the fourteen private schools are operated independently.

The municipality is also home to the following post-secondary educational institutions: Dalhousie University, Saint Mary's University, Mount Saint Vincent University, the Halifax campus of Université Sainte-Anne, University of King's College, Atlantic School of Theology, NSCAD University, and the Nova Scotia Community College. The presence of so many university and college students contributes to a vibrant youth culture in the region, as well as making it a major centre for university education in eastern Canada.



Transportation
The Halifax Regional Municipality is served by many modes of transportation.

Halifax Harbour is a major Canadian port used by numerous shipping lines, as well as the navy and coast guard and hosts a public ferry service connecting the urban core. Sheet Harbour is the other major port in the municipality and serves industrial shippers on the Eastern Shore.

The Halifax Port Authority's various shipping terminals constitute the eastern terminus of Canadian National Railway's transcontinental network. VIA Rail Canada provides overnight passenger rail service six days a week to Montreal with its train the Ocean.

Halifax Stanfield International Airport serves HRM and most of the province, providing scheduled flights to domestic and international destinations. CFB Shearwater, an air force base, is located in the urban core on the eastern side of Halifax Harbour but is presently being decommissioned for fixed-wing aircraft.

The municipality's urban core is linked by the Angus L. Macdonald and A. Murray MacKay suspension bridges, as well as a network of 100-series highways which function as expressways. The Armdale traffic circle is a notorious choke point for vehicle movement in the western part of the urban core, especially at rush hour.

The urban core of HRM is served by Metro Transit, which operates standard bus routes, bus-rapid transit routes, as well as the pedestrian-only harbour ferries. Established in 1752, the municipality's ferry service is the oldest continuously running salt water ferry service in North America. 

Demographics
The Halifax Regional Municipality is comprised of 372,679 residents (2006 census). Approximately 18% of the population is under the age of 14, while 11% are 65 and older.

Ethnic origins
The information regarding ethnicities at the right is from the 2001 Canadian Census. The percentages add to more than 100% because of dual responses (e.g. "French-Canadian" generates an entry in both the category "French" and the category "Canadian".) Groups with greater than 3000 responses are included.

Religious belief

 * 45.38% Protestant
 * 37.23% Catholic
 * 01.40% other Christian
 * 00.86% Muslim
 * 00.79% Christian Orthodox
 * 00.44% Jewish
 * 00.42% Buddhist
 * 00.27% Hindu
 * 00.05% Sikh
 * 00.10% other Eastern religions
 * 00.17% other religions
 * 12.90% no religious affiliation declared

Sister cities

 * [[Image:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg|border|25px]] Halifax, United Kingdom (?)
 * [[Image:Flag of Japan.svg|border|25px]] Hakodate, Japan (1982)
 * [[Image:Flag of Mexico.svg‎|border|25px]] Campeche, Mexico (1999)
 * [[Image:Flag of the United States.svg|border|25px]] Norfolk, United States (2006)