The legislation which applies to provincial public bodies and local public bodies, including departments of the provincial government, is the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.
The legislation which applies to municipal bodies is: Part XX of the Municipal Government Act .
It is important to note that, pursuant to section 502 of the M.G.A., any changes made to the FOIPOP Act also Apply to Part XX of the M.G.A..
You may find a table of concordance (PDF) between the FOIPOP Act and the M.G.A. to be helpful.
Service Nova Scotia and Municipal Relations has prepared a useful document called: Introductory Guide to Part XX: Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy.
The FOIPOP Act and the M.G.A. share a common set of regulations:
Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Regulations
To learn more about accessing Government of Canada records, check the website of the: Information Commissioner of Canada
FOIPOP (web link)
Regulations (web link)
Municipals (pdf)