Electoral district boundaries review

The Municipal Government Act (MGA) [PDF] requires that all municipalities in Nova Scotia regularly conduct a review of the number and boundaries of electoral districts in the municipality.

While the municipality is responsible for conducting the review and putting forth a recommendation, the final decision on municipal electoral districts and boundaries is made by the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board (NSUARB).

Beginning in 2022 and concluding in 2023, the municipality engaged in a thorough and collaborative review of existing electoral boundaries. The NSUARB released their boundary review decision [PDF] on Dec. 21, 2023, with updated electoral boundaries in the Halifax Regional Municipality going into effect for the 2024 Municipal and Conseil scolaire acadien (CSAP) Election.

District changes and updates

Updated electoral district boundaries within the municipality can be viewed here. Select the map layers button in the navigation menu to see both current and updated boundaries. 

Approved by the NSUARB with a final order [PDF] having been released on Jan. 12, 2024, updates to the municipality's electoral district boundaries – taking effect for the upcoming 2024 Municipal and CSAP Election – can be explored further by downloading:

In addition to an interactive boundary map, updated PDF electoral district boundary maps are available for download. 

Review background and timeline

On Dec. 14, 2021, Regional Council approved that a 2022 electoral district boundary review be conducted in two phases:

  • phase one to determine the size of Council and its governance structure;
  • phase two to set specific district boundaries.

Download the report to learn more [PDF].

Winter 2022

  • On Feb. 8, 2022, Council approved the creation of the District Boundary Resident Review Panel, which advised Council, through the Executive Standing Committee (ESC), on the boundaries of the municipal electoral districts for the municipality as part of the second phase of Council’s process to develop its application to the NSUARB for the 2022 district boundary review. Learn more about the committee’s role by downloading the staff report [PDF] and committee terms of reference [PDF].
  • On Feb. 28, 2022, the ESC approved in principle the public engagement process for phrase one of the review. Download the report [PDF] to learn more.
  • On March 28, 2022, the ESC approved the proposed survey questions and revised public engagement timeline for the first phase of the review. Download the report [PDF] and staff presentation [PDF] to learn more.

Spring 2022

  • On May 30, 2022, the ESC approved the final report on the first phase of the review and forwarded a recommendation on the size of Council, its governance structure and potential legislative amendments requests to Council. View the meeting minutes, report, presentations and video of the discussion.
  • On June 1, 2022, the review panel held its first meeting. 
  • On June 14, 2022, Council approved the ESC’s recommendation on the first phase of the review, confirming the recommended number of electoral districts and councillors at 16 and directing that this be applied to the second phase of the review. Council further directed staff to prepare a staff report on potential electoral reforms. View the meeting minutes, report, presentation and video of the discussion.

Fall 2022

  • On Sept. 14, 2022, the panel approved its proposed mapping option for the 2024 electoral boundaries for use in the public engagement activities for the second phase of the review.
  • Public engagement on the second phase of the review took place from Oct. 11 to Nov. 9, 2022.  Feedback received from the public was included in the final report from the panel recommendation, which was provided to Council through the ESC on Dec. 13, 2022.
  • On Nov. 2, 2022, the panel passed a motion requesting that the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) prepare a report with recommendations and rationale for amendments to the proposed mapping option developed by the panel on Sept. 14, 2022, based on the public engagement feedback from the second phase of the review.
  • On Nov. 18, 2022, the panel considered a staff report [PDF] providing recommendations on adjustments to the proposed boundaries and deferred consideration of the matter pending receipt of a supplemental staff report providing potential boundary adjustments to proposed Districts 5 and 16.
  • On Nov. 23, 2022, the panel received a supplemental report [PDF] containing recommendations to the proposed polling boundaries for Districts 5 and 16, with corresponding changes to Districts 6 and 14. The panel adopted a motion to approve the boundaries for the polling districts for recommendation to the ESC for its recommendation to Council.
  • On Nov. 28, 2022, the ESC received a report [PDF] and presentation [PDF] from the panel on the second phase of the review. The committee adopted a motion recommending that Council approve the proposed electoral district boundaries as set out in Attachments 1 and 3 of the staff report dated Nov. 24, 2022, for submission to the NSUARB.
  • On Dec. 13, 2022, Council unanimously approved the committee’s recommendation on the second phase of the review [PDF], confirming the District Boundary Resident Review Panel’s recommendations on proposed alterations to the municipality’s 16 electoral districts based on public consultation.

Previous electoral district boundary reviews

All documents are in PDF format: