Municipal and School Board Boundaries

The Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board ("NSUARB" or "Board") is required by the Municipal Government Act to conduct periodic reviews of the number and boundaries of municipal polling districts and the number of councillors. The NSUARB must consider the number of electors, relative parity of voting power, population density, community of interest and geographic size. The NSUARB also hears applications respecting the incorporation or dissolution of towns, the amalgamation of municipalities and/or towns, and the annexation of a municipality or town with the whole or part of another municipality.

During the fall of 1993 and the winter and spring of 1994 the Board conducted reviews across the province of the municipal polling districts of the 24 rural municipalities. After considering the Supreme Court of Canada decision Reference Re: Electoral Boundaries Act (1991), 81 D.L.R. (4th) 16, [also referred to as the Carter decision] and the 1991 report of the Nova Scotia Electoral Boundaries Commission, the Board determined that for purposes of these reviews (and also reviews of school board electoral district boundaries) a variation of +/- 25% from the average number of voters per elected official would be the appropriate guideline to apply when considering municipal polling districts and school board electoral districts.

In 1993 and 1994, pursuant to the School Board Act (now the Education Act), the Board conducted the first reviews of the electoral districts of the then 22 school boards. When the school boards were amalgamated in 1996, the Board conducted further hearings to set the new electoral districts for the seven amalgamated boards. Following the release of the Report of the Task Force on the Review of School Board Boundaries in February, 2000, the Board again reviewed the school board electoral districts.

In 1999-2000 the Board was again required to review municipal polling districts. In addition to the rural municipalities, for the first time the Board was required to review the wards or polling districts in the towns and regional municipalities, a total in all of 55 municipal units.

Applications for the next periodic review of municipal polling districts must be filed by the end of 2006. Applications for the next School Board reviews must be filed by 2007.

The Board expects variances for relative parity between polling districts to be within +/-10%, only allowing variances up to +/-25% in extraordinary circumstances where the Municipality, Town or School Board has provided a detailed written explanation confirming that factors such as community of interest or geography clearly justify the necessity of an increased variance in a polling district. In such cases, it is incumbent upon an affected municipal unit or school board to clearly explain the reasons for such a high variation. The greater the variation, the greater the burden to justify the high variance from the average number of electors. Even with very extensive and detailed justification, the Board will approve a variation of +/-25% or more only in very extraordinary circumstances. For more information on this issue, please refer to the Board's analysis in its 2004 decision in Re Halifax Regional Municipality.

The Municipal Government Act, the Education Act, together with Rules governing the practice and procedure respecting such applications can be accessed through the "Statutes" and "Rules and Regulations" buttons located on the top of the screen.

Also, decisions of the Board can be accessed through the "Decisions" button located on the top of this screen.