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Township of Minden Hills

Permanent2021
6,971
people living here all year
Person-year2021
9,851
full-time equivalent, modelled
Peak2021
16,571
everyone here at once

46% of dwellings are not occupied by permanent residents. Which of the three populations a figure is divided by changes the answer, so every per-person figure on this page says which one it used.

What is where

Pharmacies, hospitals, shops and licensed transmitters across the county, with this municipality’s picked out. A count cannot tell you what is nearest, or how far away the next one is.

HospitalPharmacyFamily health teamLong-term careSpecimen collectionMinistry of Health service register
LCBOLCBO agency outletOther licensed retailOntario liquor retail locations
Mobile and fixed wirelessMobile onlyFixed wireless onlyISED spectrum licences
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Algonquin HighlandsDysart et alHighlands EastMinden Hills
The whole county, with roads and place names →

What it is like to live here

Getting online

Businesses and services within reach

Family health teams

current

0.1per 1,000 person-years

Divided by the 2021 population, the nearest published to this figure.

Long-term care homes

current

0.1per 1,000 person-years

Divided by the 2021 population, the nearest published to this figure.

Specimen collection centres

current

0.1per 1,000 person-years

Divided by the 2021 population, the nearest published to this figure.

Post offices

current

0.1per 1,000 person-years

Divided by the 2021 population, the nearest published to this figure.

Recreation and setting

Parks and picnic areas

current

0.4per 1,000 person-years

Divided by the 2021 population, the nearest published to this figure.

  • Shown as filed, and not on a common basis with the other municipalities. The County's GIS maps this category unevenly between municipalities — most mapped points fall in one of them — so the count measures where the mapping effort went as much as where the facilities are.

Mapped trail features

current

0.1per 1,000 person-years

Divided by the 2021 population, the nearest published to this figure.

  • Shown as filed, and not on a common basis with the other municipalities. The County's GIS maps this category unevenly between municipalities — most mapped points fall in one of them — so the count measures where the mapping effort went as much as where the facilities are.

Lake access points

current

5

  • Shown as filed, and not on a common basis with the other municipalities. The County's GIS maps this category unevenly between municipalities — most mapped points fall in one of them — so the count measures where the mapping effort went as much as where the facilities are.

Indoor recreation facility space

2023

1.6 m²per person-year

Divided by the 2021 population, the nearest published to this figure.

  • Shown as filed, and not on a common basis with the other municipalities. Filed as the municipality reported it. Schedule 80D asks for recreation floor space without saying what counts as one, and the filings answer different questions: Highlands East filed 4,716 m2 of indoor space for 2018, 50,612 m2 for 2019 and 657 m2 for 2022, a 77-fold swing in four years during which it neither built nor closed anything of that size. Its outdoor figure moved from 37 m2 to 149,734 m2 in one year. What changed was the inventory being counted. Read one municipality against another and the answer is which inventory each chose.

Outdoor recreation facility space

2023

7.0 m²per person-year

Divided by the 2021 population, the nearest published to this figure.

  • Shown as filed, and not on a common basis with the other municipalities. Filed as the municipality reported it. Schedule 80D asks for recreation floor space without saying what counts as one, and the filings answer different questions: Highlands East filed 4,716 m2 of indoor space for 2018, 50,612 m2 for 2019 and 657 m2 for 2022, a 77-fold swing in four years during which it neither built nor closed anything of that size. Its outdoor figure moved from 37 m2 to 149,734 m2 in one year. What changed was the inventory being counted. Read one municipality against another and the answer is which inventory each chose.

Safety

Fire department calls per year

2026

66.5per 1,000 dwellings

Divided by the 2021 population, the nearest published to this figure.

Structure fire calls

2026

1.5per 1,000 person-years

Divided by the 2021 population, the nearest published to this figure.

  • ⚠ Not comparable with this municipality's earlier years: the basis changed.

Losses due to structural fires, 3-year average

2020

$223.23per person-year

Divided by the 2021 population, the nearest published to this figure.

Smoke alarm calls

Not availableThis department tables a monthly report and this atlas reads it, but the report does not break out smoke alarms. It counts agency assist, authorized burn, brush bush fire, canceled on route, co alarm, false alarm and 12 others. The category is absent from the department's own reporting, not from this atlas.How we get this data →

Medical assist calls

Not availableThis department tables a monthly report and this atlas reads it, but the report does not break out medical assists. It counts agency assist, authorized burn, brush bush fire, canceled on route, co alarm, false alarm and 12 others. The category is absent from the department's own reporting, not from this atlas.How we get this data →

Fire calls, annual total as reported

Not availableThis department's monthly report breaks calls out by type rather than stating a running year-to-date, so there is no figure of its own to take here. See fire department calls.How we get this data →

Fire department calls

Not availableThis department's report lists calls by type and prints no total line. Nothing is added up here that does not state a total of its own to check the addition against, so the 18 categories are published and their sum is not.How we get this data →

What the council does

What it costs

Fire protection expenses

2023

$80.98per person-year

Divided by the 2021 population, the nearest published to this figure.

General government expenses

2023

$216.86per person-year

Divided by the 2021 population, the nearest published to this figure.

  • Shown as filed, and not on a common basis with the other municipalities. Where the line between administration and operations is drawn differs. Algonquin Highlands books 2.5% of spending here against 14.3% in Minden Hills, while having the highest salary share and the highest total spending per dwelling of the four. It is a boundary, not an overhead.

General government expenses: 10-year growth (constant dollars)

2024

2.3% a year

  • Shown as filed, and not on a common basis with the other municipalities. Inherited from the base metric, which is not comparable between municipalities: Where the line between administration and operations is drawn differs. Algonquin Highlands books 2.5% of spending here against 14.3% in Minden Hills, while having the highest salary share and the highest total spending per dwelling of the four. It is a boundary, not an overhead. A rate of change does not repair that, because a boundary that moves appears in the rate as growth.

General government expenses: 5-year growth (constant dollars)

2024

3.4% a year

  • Shown as filed, and not on a common basis with the other municipalities. Inherited from the base metric, which is not comparable between municipalities: Where the line between administration and operations is drawn differs. Algonquin Highlands books 2.5% of spending here against 14.3% in Minden Hills, while having the highest salary share and the highest total spending per dwelling of the four. It is a boundary, not an overhead. A rate of change does not repair that, because a boundary that moves appears in the rate as growth.

Governance (council) expenses

2023

$22.26per person-year

Divided by the 2021 population, the nearest published to this figure.

  • ⚠ The order of the municipalities changes depending on how much of the year seasonal residents are counted as present, which no source states.

Library expenses

2023

$1.57per person-year

Divided by the 2021 population, the nearest published to this figure.

Amortization

2023

$216.73per person-year

Divided by the 2021 population, the nearest published to this figure.

  • ⚠ The order of the municipalities changes depending on how much of the year seasonal residents are counted as present, which no source states.

Salaries, wages and employee benefits

2023

$467.67per person-year

Divided by the 2021 population, the nearest published to this figure.

  • ⚠ The order of the municipalities changes depending on how much of the year seasonal residents are counted as present, which no source states.

Financial position

Tangible capital assets, net book value

2023

$4,273per person-year

Divided by the 2021 population, the nearest published to this figure.

  • ⚠ The order of the municipalities changes depending on how much of the year seasonal residents are counted as present, which no source states.

Net long-term liabilities

2023

$1,095per person-year

Divided by the 2021 population, the nearest published to this figure.

Discretionary reserve funds, end of year

2023

$1.02per person-year

Divided by the 2021 population, the nearest published to this figure.

  • Shown as filed, and not on a common basis with the other municipalities. Whether reserve money is filed as discretionary or as reserves is a filing choice, not a difference in what is held. Compare on finance.reserves.total.

Obligatory reserve funds, end of year

2023

$50.82per person-year

Divided by the 2021 population, the nearest published to this figure.

Reserves, end of year

2023

$1,251per person-year

Divided by the 2021 population, the nearest published to this figure.

  • Shown as filed, and not on a common basis with the other municipalities. Whether reserve money is filed as reserves or as discretionary is a filing choice, not a difference in what is held. Compare on finance.reserves.total.

Total reserves and reserve funds

2023

$1,253per person-year

Divided by the 2021 population, the nearest published to this figure.

  • ⚠ The order of the municipalities changes depending on how much of the year seasonal residents are counted as present, which no source states.

What the money buys

Firefighters

2026

2.4per 1,000 person-years

Divided by the 2021 population, the nearest published to this figure.

Fire stations

2026

0.1per 1,000 person-years

Divided by the 2021 population, the nearest published to this figure.

Bridge and culvert deck area

2023

222 m²per 1,000 dwellings

Divided by the 2021 population, the nearest published to this figure.

Paved road spending per lane kilometre

2023

8310.0

  • Shown as filed, and not on a common basis with the other municipalities. Cost over a denominator the four municipalities do not define the same way. Highlands East files 16 lane kilometres of hot-mix as its paved network where its neighbours count surface treatment, so this reads as $136,392 a lane kilometre and is a filing convention rather than a cost. Compare on the winter lane kilometre, which is defined the same way by all four.

Unpaved road spending per lane kilometre

2023

1169.4

  • Shown as filed, and not on a common basis with the other municipalities. The other side of the same split. What counts as unpaved depends on where each municipality put surface treatment.

Building and development

Complete applications on submission

2023

259

  • Shown as filed, and not on a common basis with the other municipalities. Which instrument an application takes is set by each municipality's official plan and zoning by-law. Highlands East's plan precludes using a minor variance to reduce a shoreline setback, so it records one or two a year where its neighbours record twenty to thirty for the same kind of decision.

Incomplete applications on submission

2021

43

  • Shown as filed, and not on a common basis with the other municipalities. Which instrument an application takes is set by each municipality's official plan and zoning by-law. Highlands East's plan precludes using a minor variance to reduce a shoreline setback, so it records one or two a year where its neighbours record twenty to thirty for the same kind of decision.

Building permit applications received

2023

43.0per 1,000 dwellings

Divided by the 2021 population, the nearest published to this figure.

  • Shown as filed, and not on a common basis with the other municipalities. Which instrument an application takes is set by each municipality's official plan and zoning by-law. Highlands East's plan precludes using a minor variance to reduce a shoreline setback, so it records one or two a year where its neighbours record twenty to thirty for the same kind of decision.

Land division files before council

2026

0.4per 1,000 person-years

Divided by the 2021 population, the nearest published to this figure.

  • ⚠ Counted to 2026-08-13, not to the year end. A part year against a whole one is not a fall in caseload.

Zoning relief files before council

2026

2.4per 1,000 person-years

Divided by the 2021 population, the nearest published to this figure.

  • ⚠ Counted to 2026-08-13, not to the year end. A part year against a whole one is not a fall in caseload.

Road allowance files before council

2026

1.6per 1,000 person-years

Divided by the 2021 population, the nearest published to this figure.

  • ⚠ Counted to 2026-08-13, not to the year end. A part year against a whole one is not a fall in caseload.

Planning files before council

2026

4.5per 1,000 person-years

Divided by the 2021 population, the nearest published to this figure.

  • ⚠ Counted to 2026-08-13, not to the year end. A part year against a whole one is not a fall in caseload.

Total value of construction activity

2023

$5,147per dwelling

Divided by the 2021 population, the nearest published to this figure.

Minor variance applications before the committee of adjustment

2026

1.7per 1,000 dwellings

Divided by the 2021 population, the nearest published to this figure.

  • Shown as filed, and not on a common basis with the other municipalities. Which instrument an application takes is set by each municipality's official plan and zoning by-law. Highlands East's plan precludes using a minor variance to reduce a shoreline setback, so it records one or two a year where its neighbours record twenty to thirty for the same kind of decision.

How council works

Agenda items, median

2026

17

  • Shown as filed, and not on a common basis with the other municipalities. Agenda and minute conventions differ between clerks, and these are counted over harvested packages rather than over every meeting held. The trend within one municipality is meaningful; the level against another is largely a difference in drafting.

Agenda package pages, median

2026

112

  • Shown as filed, and not on a common basis with the other municipalities. Agenda and minute conventions differ between clerks, and these are counted over harvested packages rather than over every meeting held. The trend within one municipality is meaningful; the level against another is largely a difference in drafting.

Delegations per meeting, median

2026

8

  • Shown as filed, and not on a common basis with the other municipalities. Agenda and minute conventions differ between clerks, and these are counted over harvested packages rather than over every meeting held. The trend within one municipality is meaningful; the level against another is largely a difference in drafting.

Council meetings in the harvested corpus

2026

18

  • Shown as filed, and not on a common basis with the other municipalities. Agenda and minute conventions differ between clerks, and these are counted over harvested packages rather than over every meeting held. The trend within one municipality is meaningful; the level against another is largely a difference in drafting.

Motions per meeting, median

2026

23.5

  • Shown as filed, and not on a common basis with the other municipalities. Agenda and minute conventions differ between clerks, and these are counted over harvested packages rather than over every meeting held. The trend within one municipality is meaningful; the level against another is largely a difference in drafting.

Staff reports per meeting, median

2026

7

  • Shown as filed, and not on a common basis with the other municipalities. Agenda and minute conventions differ between clerks, and these are counted over harvested packages rather than over every meeting held. The trend within one municipality is meaningful; the level against another is largely a difference in drafting.