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Metro Vancouver Greater Vancouver Regional District
A view from Arbutus Ridge, Vancouver
Flag Logo
Motto: Building a sustainable region
Location of Metro Vancouver in British Columbia
Coordinates: 49°14′58″N 122°58′47″W / 49.24944, -122.97972
Country	Canada
Province	British Columbia
Region	Lower Mainland
Seat	Burnaby
Established	1967
Government [1]
- Board	Metro Vancouver Board of Directors
- Chair	Lois Jackson
- MPs	List of MPs Don Bell Dawn Black Raymond Chan John Cummins Libby Davies Sukh Dhaliwal Ujjal Dosanjh David Emerson Hedy Fry Nina Grewal Russ Hiebert Peter Julian Randy Kamp James Moore Stephen Owen Penny Priddy Bill Siksay Mark Warawa Blair Wilson
- MLAs	List of MLAs Harry Bains Iain Black Harry Bloy Jagrup Brar Gordon Campbell Raj Chouhan David Chudnovsky Rich Coleman Adrian Dix Kevin Falcon Mike Farnworth Guy Gentner Sue Hammell Colin Hansen Randy Hawes Dave Hayer Gordon Hogg Olga Ilich Daniel Jarvis Jenny Kwan Richard T. Lee Lorne Mayencourt Joan McIntyre John Nuraney Wally Oppal Mary Polak Chuck Puchmayr Bruce Ralston Linda Reid Gregor Robertson Val Roddick Michael Sather Shane Simpson Ralph Sultan Carole Taylor Diane Thorne Katherine Whittred John Yap
Area [2]
- Total	2,877.36 km² (1,111 sq mi)
Elevation	60 m (197 ft)
Population (2006)[2]
- Total	2,116,581
- Density	735.6/km² (1,905.2/sq mi)
	Canadian CD rank: 2nd
Time zone	PST (UTC-8)
Anmore Belcarra Bowen Island Burnaby Coquitlam Delta Langley Langley DM Lions Bay Maple Ridge New Westminster N.Vancouver North Vancouver DM Pitt Meadows Port Coquitlam Port Moody Richmond Surrey Vancouver West Vancouver White Rock Electoral District A A Municipalities of Metro Vancouver
Website: Metro Vancouver

Metro Vancouver, legally the Greater Vancouver Regional District, is the inter-municipal body, or regional district, charged with certain aspects of governance for the metropolitan area surrounding and including the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The territory under Metro Vancouver's authority is essentially synonymous with what is usually meant by the colloquial term Greater Vancouver, and Statistics Canada defines the Vancouver CMA (Census Metropolitan Area) as having perfectly coterminal boundaries with Metro Vancouver. Although the region's principal city is Vancouver, its seat is in the suburb of Burnaby.

The Greater Vancouver Regional District was formed in 1967^[3], following the creation of Greater Vancouver Sewerage and Drainage District (GVSDD) in 1914 and Greater Vancouver Water District (GVWD) in 1926. In 2007, the GVRD board unanimously supported a proposal to the provincial government to change its official name to Metro Vancouver.^[4], and the new name took effect in September 2007. The body's letters patent have yet to be amended.

Contents 1 Geography 2 Municipalities 3 Administrative role 4 Demographics 5 Notes 6 External links

Metro Vancouver occupies the southwest corner of mainland British Columbia. It comprises the western half of the Lower Mainland.

Thirteen of the province's thirty most populous municipalities are located in Metro Vancouver.^[5]. The official land area of the district is 2,878.52 km² (1,111.4 sq mi). It is the most densely populated regional district in British Columbia.

The Regional District consists of 21 incorporated municipalities and one unincorporated area. The 21 municipalities are:

Municipality	Type	Population	Year
Anmore	village	1,785	2006
Belcarra	village	676	2006
Bowen Island	island municipality	3,362	2006
Burnaby	city	202,799	2006
Coquitlam	city	114,565	2006
Delta	district municipality	96,723	2006
Greater Vancouver A	regional district	11,050	2006
Langley	city	23,606	2006
Langley	district municipality	93,726	2006
Lions Bay	village	1,328	2006
Maple Ridge	district municipality	68,949	2006
New Westminster	city	58,549	2006
North Vancouver	city	45,165	2006
North Vancouver	district municipality	82,562	2006
Pitt Meadows	city	15,623	2006
Port Coquitlam	city	52,687	2006
Port Moody	city	27,512	2006
Richmond	city	174,461	2006
Surrey	city	394,976	2006
Vancouver	city	578,041	2006
West Vancouver	district municipality	42,131	2006
White Rock	city	18,755	2006
Greater Vancouver Regional District	Metropolitan Area	2,187,721	2006

The unincorporated Greater Vancouver Regional District Electoral Area A comprises all unincorporated land within the Regional District boundaries, including the University Endowment Lands and Barnston Island in the Fraser River.

There are also seventeen Indian reserves within the geographical area that are not subject to governance by the municipalities or the Regional District; they have a combined population of 7,550 (2006).

The cities of Abbotsford and Chilliwack and the district of Mission, located to the east, are commonly referred to by residents and tourists as being part of Greater Vancouver,^{[citation needed]} but they are technically part of the Fraser Valley Regional District.

The principal function of Metro Vancouver is to administer resources and services which are common across the metropolitan area. These include community planning, water, sewage, drainage, housing, transportation, air quality, and parks.

There are four legal entities of Metro Vancouver: the Greater Vancouver Water District (GVWD); the Greater Vancouver Sewerage and Drainage District (GVS&DD); the Greater Vancouver Housing Corporation (GVHC), and the Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD).

Metro Vancouver Regional Parks oversees the development and maintenance of nineteen regional parks, as well as various nature reserves and greenways. (The regional parks are distinct from municipal parks in that they are typically more "wild" and represent unique geographical zones within the region, such as bogs and mature rainforests.)

Although, the Greater Vancouver Water District comprises a system that covers more than 2,600 km², all the water for the district comes from three sources: the Capilano reservoir, the Seymour reservoir, and the Coquitlam reservoir. Metro Vancouver controls the Cleveland Dam on the Capilano reservoir, which supplies 40 percent of the district's water.^[6]

Metro Vancouver also oversees TransLink, which administers public transportation and major bridges and highways throughout the region. TransLink also runs the AirCare program, which primarily aims to improve air quality by reducing harmful emissions from automobiles. In the period 1992 to 2002, this program is credited with reducing the air emissions in the urban area by 35%.

One current initiative of Metro Vancouver is the Ashcroft, British Columbia, Ranch Mega-Landfill Proposal.

According to the 2001 census, 1,986,965 people lived in the metropolitan area, about half of the population of British Columbia. The 2006 Census has placed the population at 2,116,581, representing 6.5% growth since the last census^[7].

In 2006, Metro Vancouver had a population of 2,116,581 living in 870,992 dwellings. The regional district has a land area of 2,877.36 km² (1,111 sq mi) and a population density of 735.6/km² (1,905.2/sq mi).^[2]

• Metro Vancouver Official Site
• Metro Vancouver Regional Parks
• Census 2006 Population and Private Dwellings

v • d • e Municipalities of Metro Vancouver
Population over 100,000	Burnaby • Coquitlam • Delta • Langley Township • Richmond • Surrey • Vancouver
Population over 50,000	Maple Ridge • New Westminster • North Vancouver District • Port Coquitlam
Population over 10,000	Langley City • North Vancouver City • Pitt Meadows • Port Moody • West Vancouver • White Rock
Population under 10,000	Anmore • Belcarra • Bowen Island • Lions Bay
Unincorporated areas	Barnston Island • Passage Island • Bowyer Island • University Endowment Lands

v • d • e Subdivisions of British Columbia
Subdivisions	Regional districts · School districts · Regions
Communities	Municipalities · Regional district electoral areas · First Nations · Ghost towns
Urban centres	Vancouver · Victoria · Kelowna · Abbotsford · Kamloops · Nanaimo · Prince George
Regional districts	Alberni-Clayoquot · Bulkley-Nechako · Capital · Cariboo · Central Coast · Central Kootenay · Central Okanagan · Columbia-Shuswap · Comox-Strathcona · Cowichan Valley · East Kootenay · Fraser Valley · Fraser-Fort George · Kitimat-Stikine · Kootenay Boundary · Metro Vancouver · Mount Waddington · Nanaimo · North Okanagan · Northern Rockies · Okanagan-Similkameen · Peace River · Powell River · Skeena-Queen Charlotte · Squamish-Lillooet · Sunshine Coast · Thompson-Nicola
Unorganized area	Stikine Region

v • d • e Canadian Census metropolitan areas (CMAs) by size

Toronto, ON · Montreal, QC · Vancouver, BC · Ottawa–Gatineau, ON/QC · Calgary, AB · Edmonton, AB · Quebec City, QC · Winnipeg, MB · Hamilton, ON · London, ON · Kitchener, ON · St. Catharines-Niagara, ON · Halifax, NS · Oshawa, ON · Victoria, BC · Windsor, ON · Saskatoon, SK · Regina, SK · Sherbrooke, QC · St. John's, NL · Barrie, ON · Kelowna, BC · Abbotsford, BC · Greater Sudbury, ON · Kingston, ON · Saguenay, QC · Trois-Rivières, QC · Guelph, ON · Moncton, NB · Brantford, ON · Thunder Bay, ON · Saint John, NB · Peterborough, ON

v • d • e Largest and smallest census divisions of Canada
Province / Territory		Area (km²)						Population (2006)
		Largest			Smallest			Largest			Smallest
Alberta		Division No. 17	192,084.34		Division No. 8	9,908.36		Div. No. 6 (Calgary)	1,160,936		Division No. 4	10,600
British Columbia		Stikine Region	132,496.21		Nanaimo	2,034.94		Gtr. Vancouver	2,116,581		Stikine Region	574
Manitoba		Division No. 23	242,016.21		Division No. 11	572.12		Division No. 11	621,451		Division No. 23	8,989
New Brunswick		North'land Cnty.	12,112.44		St. John Cnty.	1,462.43		Westmorland Cnty.	132,849		Queens County	11,708
Newf'land & Labrador		Division No. 10	269,073.30		Division No. 2	6,099.04		Division No. 1	242,875		Division No. 3	19,370
Northwest Territories		Fort Smith Rgn.	618,360.38		Inuvik Region	522,747.99		Fort Smith Rgn.	32,272		Inuvik Region	8,536
Nova Scotia		Halifax Reg. Mun.	5,495.54		Richmond Cnty.	1,244.28		Halifax Reg. Mun.	372,679		Victoria County	7,960
Nunavut		Baffin Region	1,023,570.49		Keewatin Rgn.	444,680.40		Baffin Region	15,765		Kitikmeot Rgn.	5,361
Ontario		Kenora District	407,167.33		Toronto Div.	629.91		Toronto Div.	2,503,281		Manitoulin Dist.	13,090
Prince Edward Island		Queens County	2,020.17		Kings County	1,684.35		Queens County	72,744		Kings County	18,608
Quebec		Nord-du-Québec	747,719.86		Laval	247.07		Montreal	1,620,693		L'Île-d'Orléans	6,862
Saskatchewan		Division No. 18	268,498.80		Division No. 10	12,223.73		Division No. 11	244,273		Division No. 4	11,086
Largest and smallest areas and populations in italics. Yukon (area 474,706.97 km²; 2006 population 30,372) is treated as a single census division.