Lesson 5 — Activity 2:

Responsibilities of Municipal Governments


Warm Up


In the previous activity, you learned about how municipal governments are organized. In this next lesson, you will learn about the responsibilities of local governments.



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Snow removal is a local government responsibility.   

Each provincial government determines the areas of responsibility for the local governments within its province. Generally, responsibilities of local governments include services that are addressed best at a local level because they:

  • must be immediately available to a region's citizens
  • need to reflect a local region's geography and demographics
  • vary in importance according to a region's population



Listed below are some of the areas of responsibilities of a municipal government.

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Lethbridge , AB. Fire Hall
       


  • emergency services such as fire and ambulance


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EMS Calgary       


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    Edmonton Police   


  • police services



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 RCMP vehicle      

NOTE: Some cities in Alberta and all rural regions depend on the RCMP to provide their police services. Larger cities have their own police forces.

        
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  • recreational facilities, such as libraries, parks, swimming pools, arenas, and community halls



         

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LRT Edmonton       

  • roads and transportation, including repairing roads, building interchanges, and providing public transportation

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   Road repair    


Sometimes, a responsibility is so large that the responsibility and cost are shared between the provincial and municipal governments. At times, even the federal government may be involved.

Although many rules are used by all local governments, each municipal government determines its own rules. Municipal governments pass bylaws to govern the people and their activities. Items such as parking tickets and animal licences are determined by municipal bylaws, for example. Generally, larger communities such as cities have more bylaws than those areas with smaller populations.



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For example, in the city of Calgary, all cats and dogs three months of age and older must have licenses. The costs are as follows:

  1. puppies (up to six months old) and altered dogs — $31
  2. unaltered dogs — $52
  3. altered cats — $10
  4. unaltered kittens (up to six months old) — $15
  5. unaltered cats — $30

The penalty for not licensing your cat or dog is $250.


Self-check!

Try This!

Click here to play a game where you will identify what level of government is responsible for the services found in a particular city.



Digging Deeper!

Click on the Play button below to watch a video about the different levels of government and the services they provide.