B. People and Environments · Living and Working in Ontario

Municipalities and Local Government Services

B3 B1About 40 minutes

Learning goals

I can explain what a municipality is and name different kinds (city, town, township).
I can tell the difference between urban and rural communities.
I can name services that a municipal government provides.
I can explain who makes decisions for a municipality and how they are chosen.

Words to know

municipality
A city, town, township or village with its own local government.

urban
In a city or town, with many people and buildings close together.

rural
In the countryside, with farms, forests and fewer people spread out.

municipal government
The local government that runs services for a city, town or township.

mayor
The leader of a municipal government. In some townships, the leader is called a reeve.

council
The group of people elected to make decisions for a municipality. Each member is a councillor.

taxes
Money people and businesses pay to governments to pay for services everyone shares.

Who plows the snow?

It snowed all night. In the morning, a big plow scrapes your street. Who sent it? Who pays the driver? Who decided your street gets plowed?

The answer is your municipal government: the local government of your city, town or township.

An orange snowplow truck clears snow from a street in a neighbourhood of houses. — Plowing snow is one of the services a municipal government provides for its community. AI-generated image

What is a municipality?

A municipality is a community with its own local government. In Ontario, municipalities come in different sizes:

Cities, like Toronto, Ottawa, Mississauga and Thunder Bay. Lots of people.
Towns, like Cobourg or Kapuskasing. Fewer people.
Townships and villages, often in rural areas with farms and forests.
Some places, like Waterloo Region or Simcoe County, are made of several municipalities that work together on some services.

Toronto is Ontario's biggest municipality. Some townships have only a few hundred people.

	Urban community	Rural community
People	many people, close together	fewer people, spread out
Homes	apartments, townhouses, houses on small lots	farmhouses, houses on big lots, cottages
Land use	stores, offices, factories, transit	farms, forests, open land
Getting around	buses, subways, streetcars, bikes, cars	mostly cars and trucks; long distances
Example in Ontario	Toronto, Hamilton, London	a township in Grey County or Northumberland County

Comparing urban and rural communities

What does a municipal government do?

Your municipality gives you services: things everyone in the community shares.

💧 Clean drinking water coming out of your tap, and sewers that take dirty water away.
🗑️ Garbage pickup and, in many places, a green bin for food scraps.
❄️ Snow plowing and fixing local streets and sidewalks.
🚒 Fire department.
🚌 Public transit (buses, and in some cities, like Toronto, Ottawa and Waterloo Region, trains too).
📚 Public libraries.
🏒 Parks, arenas, pools and community centres.
🚓 Police: many cities have their own police service; many smaller places pay the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP).
📋 Rules, called by-laws: about noise, pets, parking and what can be built where (zoning).

Not everything is municipal!

Canada has three levels of government:

Municipal (local): snow plowing on local streets, garbage, libraries, local parks.
Provincial (Ontario, at Queen's Park in Toronto): schools and hospitals, and big highways like Highway 401.
Federal (Canada, on Parliament Hill in Ottawa): mail (Canada Post), money, the army.

So the town plows your street, but the province looks after the 401!

Canada's three levels of government and some of the services each one looks after. Your municipality looks after the services closest to home.

Who makes the decisions?

Each municipality has a council. The council is led by a mayor (in some townships, a reeve). The other members are councillors.

People who live in the municipality vote to choose the mayor and councillors. You must be 18 to vote.
In Ontario, municipal elections happen every four years, in October. In 2026, Ontario's municipal election day is Monday, October 26.
The council meets to decide things like: Should we build a new splash pad? How often should garbage be picked up? Where can new homes be built?
Services are paid for mostly by property taxes (money paid by people who own homes and businesses) and fees (like a bus fare or a swimming lesson).

How a municipal council is chosen and how services are paid for. In 2026, Ontario's municipal election day is Monday, October 26.

Worked example

Let's figure out who is responsible

Sort these: (a) a pothole on your street, (b) a new hospital, (c) a letter to your cousin, (d) the town library's hours.

(a) Local streets are fixed by the municipal government.
(b) Hospitals are paid for mostly by the provincial government.
(c) Mail is delivered by Canada Post, which belongs to the federal government.
(d) Public libraries are run by the municipality.

(a) municipal, (b) provincial, (c) federal, (d) municipal.

Worked example

Let's think like a council

A town council has enough money for one project this year: a new skate park or a new sidewalk on a busy road near the school. What should the council think about?

Who would it help? The skate park helps people who skate. The sidewalk helps children walking to school and everyone else who walks there.
Is it about safety? A sidewalk on a busy road keeps people safe from cars.
What do residents want? Council can ask people at a public meeting or with a survey.
Council members vote, and the idea with the most votes wins.

Model answer: many councils would choose the sidewalk first because it is about safety, then plan the skate park for later. Your answer can be different if you explain your reasons.

Just for fun

Joke: What did the snowplow say to the snowy street?

"Don't worry, I'll clear things up!"

Hands-on activity

Service hunt in your community

You need: paper, a pencil and a grown-up.

With a grown-up, look at your municipality's website, or check the garbage calendar on your fridge.
Find five services your municipality gives. Write each one down.
Find the name of your mayor (or reeve).
Go on a short walk and look for signs of municipal services: a fire hydrant, a street sign, a library, a park sign with the town's name, a storm drain.
Draw one of them and write: "This helps my community because..."

Safety: stay with your grown-up near roads.

What to look for: five real services, the mayor's name, and a sentence that explains how one service helps people.

Your turn

What is a municipality?

Name two services a municipal government provides.

What is the leader of a city council called?

Is a farm area with houses far apart urban or rural?

How do people choose their mayor and councillors?

How often are municipal elections held in Ontario?

Which level of government runs schools in Ontario: municipal or provincial?

More practice: warm-up

Is Toronto urban or rural?

Who sends the snowplow to clear your local street?

What is a member of council called?

Name one place that is a municipal service you can visit.

What is a by-law?

More practice: on your own

How does a municipality pay for its services?

Name one difference between how people get around in urban and rural communities.

Why do we need a fire department paid for by everyone, instead of each family having its own?

A big highway gets a pothole. Who fixes it: the town or the province? Explain.

What day is Ontario's municipal election day in 2026? Who can vote?

Challenge

Why might a rural township not have public buses, even though a city does?

Your town wants to save money. It plans to pick up garbage every two weeks instead of every week. Give one good thing and one problem with this idea.

If you could tell your mayor about one thing to improve in your community, what would it be? Write two sentences: what and why.

Check your understanding

Quiz

What is a municipality?

Which is a municipal service?

Who leads a city council?

What does rural mean?

How are mayors and councillors chosen?

Which level of government is responsible for schools in Ontario?

How do municipalities get most of the money for services?

For parents and teachers

Big idea: Ontario is divided into municipalities (cities, towns, townships, villages) that have elected councils led by a mayor or reeve. Municipal governments provide shared services such as water, garbage collection, snow clearing on local roads, fire services, transit, libraries and parks, paid for mainly by property taxes. Municipal elections in Ontario are held every four years; the 2026 election day is Monday, October 26.

How to help at home:

Look at your property tax bill or water bill together (just the services listed) or the municipality's website.
If there is an election sign on your street this fall, talk about what a councillor does. You might bring your child with you when you vote.
Notice services as you use them: "The library is a town service. So is the arena."

Common difficulties:

Mixing up levels of government. At this age it is enough to know that local government does local services, and that schools, hospitals and big highways are provincial. Grade 5 goes deeper.
Thinking the mayor makes all the decisions alone. The whole council votes.
Recycling. In Ontario, the Blue Box program has been moving from municipalities to the companies that make packaging, so who runs recycling depends on where you live. We left it off the list for that reason.
First Nations communities have their own governments (chief and council) and are not municipalities. This is covered in a later lesson.