Recreation and Culture

Recreation and Culture Similar to the case with economic development, only two of our chosen recreation and culture statistics have data available, the per capita operating cost figures. In a second parallel with the economic development category, there is a wide range. For recreation costs Pictou County, Cumberland, West Hants, Kings, Colchester, and Annapolis, for example, each spend less than $15 per capita annually. These are all large municipalities – West Hants has a population of 13,881 and the other five are all more than 18,000. At the higher end are Port Hawkesbury at $298 per capita – more than four times the average recorded for the 55 municipalities in the province, Trenton at $243 per capita, the Town of Pictou at $194 per capita, and the Town of Lunenburg at $169 per capita. These towns are relatively small and are about the same size. The largest, Pictou, has a population of 3813 and the smallest, Lunenburg, has a population of 2317. One possible explanation for why these towns are found at the high end of the cost ranking while the rural municipalities are found at the opposite end may be that these towns have facilities such as a rink or a library that are used by citizens from rural municipalities and nearby towns. This hypothesis could be tested if data actually were available for our other measures in this category. For cultural costs, Chester, Bridgetown, Inverness, and Westville all spend less than $5 per capita. These municipalities are medium size to small municipalities; Inverness has a population of 14,896 while Bridgetown has a population of 972. The biggest spenders on culture tend to be towns, with the exception of HRM. Oxford spends the most of $131 per capita, followed by HRM at $38 per capita, Clark’s Harbour at $36 per capita, Mulgrave at $34 per capita, and the Town of Lunenburg at $33 per capita. These towns (not including HRM) all have populations under 2500. Again, it is not surprising that costs are higher in towns and cities and lower in rural municipalities, as the former are more likely to have facilities which residents of the latter would travel to use. Square Metres of Hectares of Rank Rank Rank Recreation Rank (Out Rank (Out Indoor Rank Outdoor (Out of Kilometres (Out of Square Metres of (Out of Operating Costs Per of 55 - Cultural Operating of 55 - Recreation (Out of Recreation 55 - of Trails, 55 - Indoor Cultural 55 - Capita, Average Low-To- Costs Per Capita, Low-To- Space, Average 55 - High- Space, Average High-To- Average High-To- Space, Average High-To- Municipalities 2004-2006 High) Average 2004-2006 High) 2004-2006 To-Low) 2004-2006 Low) 2004-2006 Low) 2004-2006 Low) Amherst $110 46 $10 30 Annapolis Royal $115 48 $12 36 Annapolis $14 6 $9 27 Antigonish (county) $34 18 $5 9 Antigonish (town) $74 35 $6 15 Argyle $26 14 $20 44 Barrington $47 23 $20 45 Berwick $72 34 $7 20 Bridgetown $85 42 $3 2 Bridgewater $118 49 $11 32 Canso $60 29 $22 46 Cape Breton Regional Municipality $51 25 $5 7 Chester $39 20 $3 1 Clare $22 10 $6 17 Clark's Harbour $58 28 $36 53 Colchester $13 5 $6 16 Cumberland $9 2 $5 5 Digby (district) $16 7 $7 21 Digby (town) $60 30 $13 38 East Hants $22 11 $12 37 Guysborough $83 39 $5 13 Halifax Regional Municipality $53 26 $38 54 Hantsport $65 31 $12 35 Inverness $39 22 $4 3 Kentville $113 47 $14 40 Kings $11 4 $5 12 Lockeport $142 50 $24 48 Lunenburg (district) $22 12 $5 14 Lunenburg (town) $169 52 $33 51 Square Metres of Hectares of Rank Rank Rank Recreation Rank (Out Rank (Out Indoor Rank Outdoor (Out of Kilometres (Out of Square Metres of (Out of Operating Costs Per of 55 - Cultural Operating of 55 - Recreation (Out of Recreation 55 - of Trails, 55 - Indoor Cultural 55 - Capita, Average Low-To- Costs Per Capita, Low-To- Space, Average 55 - High- Space, Average High-To- Average High-To- Space, Average High-To- Municipalities 2004-2006 High) Average 2004-2006 High) 2004-2006 To-Low) 2004-2006 Low) 2004-2006 Low) 2004-2006 Low) Mahone Bay $68 32 $5 11 Middleton $69 33 $15 41 Mulgrave $97 44 $34 52 New Glasgow $75 36 $26 49 Oxford $76 37 $131 55 Parrsboro $31 16 $7 22 Pictou (county) $6 1 $6 18 Pictou (town) $194 53 $27 50 Port Hawkesbury $298 55 $11 33 Regional Municipality of Queens County $31 17 $14 39 Richmond $36 19 $5 6 Shelburne (district) $25 13 $7 24 Shelburne (town) $85 41 $23 47 Springhill $88 43 $9 29 St. Mary's $28 15 $7 25 Stellarton $39 21 $11 31 Stewiacke $84 40 $6 19 Trenton $243 54 $5 10 Truro $80 38 $17 42 Victoria $20 8 $9 28 West Hants $10 3 $9 26 Westville $21 9 $4 4 Windsor $152 51 $7 23 Wolfville $99 45 $18 43 Yarmouth (district) $50 24 $5 8 Yarmouth (town) $54 27 $12 34 Average $69 $14 Minimum $6 $3 Maximum $298 $131 .

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