Independent municipality (Canada)

In the Canadian Republic, municipalities form the lowest level of government, each representing a specific geographical area, and divided according to the ownership of the land (public, private or state-owned). An independent municipality (like Toronto or Ottawa) is a unit of local government which is not part of any upper-tier municipality such as a county, consists of no lower-tier municipalities, and which maintains its own relationship with the provincial level of government. The mayor of an independent municipality typically maintains closer contact to the premier, his aides and the rest of the provincial government, than mayors of lower-tier municipalities and their staff.