List of municipalities in New Brunswick
In 1785, Saint John became the first community in what would eventually become Canada to incorporate as a city. Moncton is New Brunswick's largest municipality by population with 71,889 residents and Saint John is the largest urban municipality by land area at . Approximately one-third of the residents of New Brunswick do not live in municipalities but reside in local service districts, which are unincorporated communities administered by the Minister of Environment and Local Government and have no local government of their own.
Economic history of Canada
Saint John was cut off by the Confederation promise of an Intercolonial Railway. E B Chandler, of New Brunswick's north shore, saw to it that the rail line went from ice-bound Montreal along the St. Lawrence and down the North Shore of New Brunswick bringing New Brunswick no benefit except at Moncton. From there the distance to Halifax and Saint John were about equal. So even though Saint John was half as far from Montreal as Halifax, the new federal policy helped Halifax outpace Saint John as the winter port for Canada. When the St. Lawrence opened in the 1950s, yet another Federal government policy killed the port of Saint John. Eventually a rail line was built from Saint John through Maine USA to Montreal. However, Montreal businessmen preferred Portland USA even though the Saint John River Valley, with no rail line, was a shorter route from Quebec. So Canadian Prairie wheat was shipped four months of the year through the port of Portland, Maine, USA. Saint John has dwindled from being the fifth-largest city in Canada at Confederation to the fourth largest city in Atlantic Canada now and 32nd largest city in Canada.