List of municipalities in Prince Edward Island

Map of Canada showing the location of PEI in red.
A map of Canada, showing Prince Edward Island in red.
Map showing locations of all of Prince Edward Island's municipalities
Distribution of Prince Edward Island's 72 municipalities by municipal status type as of 2017

Prince Edward Island is the least populous province in Canada with 154,331 residents as of the 2021 census and is the smallest in land area at 5,681.18 km2 (2,193.52 sq mi).[1] Prince Edward Island's 63 municipalities cover 34.7% of the province's land mass and were home to 73% of its population in 2021.[2][3][a] These municipalities provide local government services to their residents in the form of fire protection, municipal planning services, and emergency measures planning.[4] The remaining unincorporated areas have no local government.[5]

Municipal statuses in Prince Edward Island are cities, towns, rural municipalities, and resort municipalities.[6] Under Prince Edward Island's Municipal Government Act (MGA), which came into force on December 23, 2017,[7] the formation of a municipality can be proposed by the Minister of Fisheries and Communities, the council of an existing municipality, or a petition signed by 30% of the residents that would be the electors of the new municipality.[4] To be eligible for city or town status, certain minimum estimated population and total property assessment value criteria must be met.[4] If those criteria are not met, rural municipality status can be granted if it is the opinion of the Minister of Fisheries and Communities that it would be in the public interest.[4] The province's lone resort municipality – the Resort Municipality of Stanley Bridge, Hope River, Bayview, Cavendish and North Rustico – was established by order in council in 1990.[6] The 2017 MGA prevents creation of any new resort municipalities.[6]

Prince Edward Island has two cities, ten towns, fifty rural municipalities and one resort municipality,[3][6] which are distributed across three counties – Kings, Prince and Queens. Charlottetown is Prince Edward Island's capital and largest municipality by population while Belfast is the largest municipality by land area.[2] The smallest municipalities by population and land area are Tignish Shore and St. Louis respectively.[2]

  1. ^ "Population and dwelling counts, for Canada, provinces and territories, 2021 and 2016 censuses – 100% data". Statistics Canada. March 14, 2022. Retrieved March 14, 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d Cite error: The named reference 2021census was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b c "Prince Edward Island Municipal Boundaries" (PDF). Prince Edward Island: Communities, Land and Environment. September 18, 2019. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 13, 2019. Retrieved April 11, 2020.
  4. ^ a b c d "Municipal Government Act" (PDF). Prince Edward Island Queen's Printer. November 28, 2019. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 30, 2020. Retrieved June 25, 2020.
  5. ^ "Canada – Prince Edward Island Agreement Municipal Strategic Component 2014 - 2019 Guidelines and Criteria" (PDF). Government of Prince Edward Island. March 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 13, 2019. Retrieved December 29, 2017.
  6. ^ a b c d "Existing Municipalities and New Municipalities – Municipal Government Act". Government of Prince Edward Island. January 6, 2017. Archived from the original on December 1, 2017. Retrieved December 26, 2017.
  7. ^ "EC2017–747: Municipal Government Act Proclamation" (PDF). Prince Edward Island Executive Council. December 12, 2017. p. 414. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 30, 2019. Retrieved December 26, 2017.


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