Urban agglomerations in Quebec


An agglomeration, or urban agglomeration, is an administrative division of Quebec consisting of a number of municipalities. One municipality in each agglomeration is known as the "central municipality" and has special status; the others are known as "related municipalities:.

Definition

The 2004 defines the expression "urban agglomeration" as follows:
One municipality in each agglomeration is known as the "central municipality" and has special status under the Act. The other municipalities are called "related municipalities".
The Act defines the powers exercised by the agglomeration and those exercised by the municipalities, known respectively as "agglomeration powers" and "local powers".

History

Between 2000 and 2003, Quebec's provincial government merged many small municipalities into larger "super-cities. This municipal reorganisation proved to be controversial in several municipalities.
A new liberal government elected in 2003 held a referendum to allow voters to vote for de-amalgamation. Several municipalities voted in a 2004 referendum to reverse their amalgamation. However, the new municipalities did not fully regain their old autonomy. Urban agglomerations were introduced over each formerly-merged region, grouping together a number of municipalities that were abolished as independent entities on 1 January 2002 but reconstituted on 1 January 2006.
These municipalities were required to share major services, such as police, transit, and water, under an agglomeration council, in most cases controlled by the central municipality.

Agglomeration and municipal powers

Urban agglomerations have certain powers that would ordinarily be exercised by individual municipalities.
Agglomeration powers are exercised by "agglomeration councils". These powers are defined by statute and many are performed by the central municipality in each agglomeration. For example, the Montreal city police has jurisdiction in the neighbouring communities.
Some powers are shared, for example, regarding public transport. While other powers are reserved to the municipalities. This can lead to some fragmentation with Montreal and Quebec City, for example, said to have up to 5 levels of local government.

List of constituent municipalities

For each agglomeration, the legally designated central municipality appears first.