Canadian Postal Codes - Urbanization

Urbanization is the name Canada Post uses to refer to the process where it replaces a rural postal code (i.e., a code with a zero as its second character) with urban postal codes. The vacated rural postal code can then be assigned to another community or retired. Canada Post decides when to urbanize a certain community when its population reaches a certain level, though different factors may also be involved. For example, in early 2008, the postal code G0N 3M0 (covering Sainte-Catherine-de-la-Jacques-Cartier, Fossambault-sur-le-Lac and Lac-Saint-Joseph, Quebec) was urbanized to postal codes beginning with G3N to remove ambiguities and confusions caused by similar street names. Unique among province-wide districts, New Brunswick (postal district E) is completely urbanized, its rural codes having been phased out.