Municipal Restructuring since 1996

Since the mid-1990's, expansion of urban areas, changes in responsibilities of local government and provincial government initiatives have lead to a massive wave of municipal mergers. The most important changes saw some counties and regional municipalities merge with their constituent local municipalities. As a result, the number of municipalities has been reduced by more than forty percent between 1996 and 2001, from 815 to 447.

Consult the annual Municipal Directory (published by the Association of Municipalities of Ontario) for information about these changes as well as changes that have affected local municipalities since the beginning of the 20th century. This directory can be consulted at the Archives of Ontario and in most libraries in Ontario.

The table below provides information on many of the changes that have taken place at the county or regional government level since 1996. Click on the links to view maps of pre-1998 regional municipalities.

For additional information you may also want to consult the following resources:

The website of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario provides links to other municipal organizations and information on the development of municipal policies and programs.
The web site of the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing includes information and maps on municipal restructuring.
The annual official road map shows localities that are not incorporated municipalities; it is available on the Web site of the Ministry of Transportation.

County/Regional municipality merged with its constituent municipalities	Name of the new municipality	Year of change
Brant County (minus the City of Brantford)	City of Brant County (the city Brantford is distinct from this new municipality)	1999
Regional Municipality of Haldimand-Norfolk	(east half) Haldimand County (west half) Norfolk County (borders between the two counties are somewhat different from the pre-1973 borders)	2001
Regional Municipality of Hamilton-Wentworth	City of Hamilton	2001
Kent County	Municipality of Chatham-Kent	1998
Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton	City of Ottawa	2001
Prince Edward County	City of Prince Edward County	1998
Regional Municipality of Sudbury	City of Greater Sudbury	2001
Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto	City of Toronto	1998
Victoria County	City of Kawartha Lakes	2001