Municipality Climate Adaptation Case Study Report

income ($20,167) was slightly lower. Fewer West Hants families (7.6 percent) had low income
status in 2006 than did families in the province as a whole (10.3 percent). 17
Place of Work
According to the 2006 Census, approximately 12 percent (745 people) of the West Hants
employed labour force worked within the municipality itself (see Table 5). Another 420 people
(7 percent) said they worked at home. About 36 percent (2,285) worked elsewhere in Hants
County, and 31 percent (1,990) commuted to a different county for work, probably the
neighbouring Halifax or Kings Counties.
Table 5
Place of Work Status, 2006
(West Hants Employed Labour Force 15 years and over)
Total %
Worked at home 420 7
Worked outside Canada 10 0
No fixed workplace address 935 15
Worked in census subdivision (municipality) of residence 745 12
Worked in a different census subdivision (municipality) 2,285 36
within the census division (county) of residence
Worked in a different census division (county) 1,990 31
Worked in a different province 35 1
Total 6,415 100
Source: Statistics Canada, Census of Canada, 2006.
Most rely on a vehicle to get to
work. In 2006, 96 percent used a
car, truck or van, three percent
walked and less than one percent
said they used public transit. No
formal public transit existed in
West Hants prior to the fall of
2007, when Kings Transit began
operating a bus service in the
municipality. Currently, the
service runs every two hours from
Monday to Saturday, and covers a
route extending from Brooklyn to
Wolfville.
2.5 Environment
Natural Landscapes
The Protected Areas Branch of Nova Scotia Department of Environment and Labour lists 80
distinct landscape types in Nova Scotia in Natural Landscapes of Nova Scotia. Landscapes
are described as being “a mosaic of different but interacting ecosystems that are repeated in a
similar pattern to form a distinct and definable land unit or area”. 18 The main natural landscapes
found in West Hants are the South Mountain Rolling Plain, Shubenacadie River Rolling Hills and
Walton River Clay Plain (see Table 6).
17 Nova Scotia Department of Finance, Community Counts Web page.
18 NS Dept. of Environment and Labour, Natural Landscapes of Nova Scotia: Summary Descriptions, p. 2.
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