What We Don’t Know About Canada Might Hurt Us

When Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced plans in 2010 to make the government’s primary source of household data into a voluntary survey, researchers across Canada warned of dire consequences for the survey’s reliability. Those predictions have largely come true: In 2006, nearly 94 percent of Canadian households that received the survey responded to it. In 2011, the response rate fell below 70 percent. As a result, Statistics Canada, the country’s statistical agency, decided not to release detailed data on Snow Lake, Manitoba and more than 1,000 other communities, and researchers have called into question the validity of the data on other areas that was released.

Canada’s experience with a voluntary household survey is now drawing attention in the United States. Republican lawmakers led by Texas Congressman Ted Poe are pushing to make a similar change to the American Community Survey — a similar, annual questionnaire that aims to measure national trends in dozens of areas such as education, housing, fertility and employment by surveying more than 3 million Americans each year. Both Poe and his Canadian counterparts consider the surveys an invasion of privacy, but researchers on both sides of the border say the Canadian experiment is a harsh lesson in what can happen when a country loses its commitment to collecting accurate information about its residents.

More from fivethirtyeight.com

Canada's Action Plan on Open Government

Canada's commitment to open government is part of the federal government's efforts to foster greater openness and accountability, to provide Canadians with more opportunities to learn about and participate in government, to drive innovation and economic opportunities for all Canadians and, at the same time, create a more cost effective, efficient and responsive government.

Historically, Canada has been a world leader in making information available and in being accountable to its citizens. Government of Canada legislation, policies, and practices have consistently advanced transparency and openness.


More from the government of Canada.

Infographic Highlights U.S.-Canada Trade

The Department of Commerce has released a new infographic, International Trade Between U.S. and Canada, which celebrates the world's largest and most comprehensive trading relationship. It illustrates the top U.S. imports from and exports to Canada and presents an annual time series of data on trade between the two neighbors. The time begins shortly after the start of an agreement between the U.S. and Canada in January 1990 to share import data to be used as the other country’s export data.

The Canadian Charities Listings

From the Hill Library:

Questions on companies or industries located outside of the U.S. are always challenging, even in those best-case scenarios where everything is in English. While we are pretty familiar with sources of information in the U.S., we are often starting from scratch when looking into foreign sources.

And so we were happy to find a reliable source for nonprofit filings in Canada. Here in the U.S. we generally look to the GuideStar database or the National Center for Charitable Statistics for access to nonprofits' 990 filings. In Canada it's the Canada Revenue Agency that maintains a list of registered charities, called the Charities Listings. This database allows people to confirm that an organization is a registered charity, and also provides access to the Registered Charity Information Return, which, like the 990 form in the U.S., provides information on a charity's activities and finances.

Charities and nonprofits play a big part in the Canadian economy, with 7.8% of the GDP and 10.5% of the labor force, according to Imagine Canada, and so it's nice to have a resource that provides the official filings of these organizations. The Canada Revenue Agency is now just one more reason why we love Canada.
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In the advanced search section, you can find what charities are registered in Canada that are based in other countries. There are 24 US firms that are registered charities in Canada, according to the database.

Canadian information

For Canadian information, you may want to check out Industry Canada which has a business and consumer section. Under the business section, you'll find all types of information.

Canada Year Book, 2012

Source: Statistics Canada:

This edition marks the Canada Year Book’s final release.

Statistics Canada recognizes that today’s data users need information that is both up-to-date and accessible online. In 2012, we took a major step in that direction by making all of our online information free, enabling users to easily download and manipulate statistical data. In the future, we will be developing new approaches to web-based publications. Our goal, as always, is to keep Canadians informed about our country’s social and economic life.

Census Dotmap

This is a map of every person counted by the 2010 US and 2011 Canadian censuses. The map has 341,817,095 dots - one for each person.

A Profile of Canadian Exporters, 1996 to 2009

This issue [PDF] presents statistics, derived from the Exporter Register Database, on exporting establishments for the years 1996 to 2009. It continues to provide information on the number of Canadian exporters and the value of their domestic exports by industry (North American Industry Classification System–NAICS), exporter size, province of residence, countries of destination, and employment size (2009 only).

Noteworthy: "The number of Canadian establishments exporting to countries other than the United States rose," and "the value of exports to the United States fell to
$246.0 billion, a 29.1% decrease from its peak level in 2008 and its lowest value in more than a decade."

'No major issues' with 2011 census, Statscan declares

Interesting article on how our neighbors up north are doing with their census:

The agency says it received the mandatory short form from 98.1 per cent of Canadian households, up a full percentage point from the last census in 2006.

Another victory for Statistics Canada is how many Canadians filled out their census form online – 54.4 per cent. The agency was aiming for 40 per cent. Mr. Hamel said that puts Canada at the international forefront of digital census collection.

Canada 2009 Data Tables Now Available on the TINET Website

The U.S. Department of Commerce, Office of Travel and Tourism Industries (OTTI) announces the posting of data tables containing travel characteristics of Canadian travelers visiting the United States in 2009. Tables show visitor volume for each characteristic across U.S. regions and states and are available for the following items:

Visitors and visitor-nights
Trip purpose
Spending Activities
Province of residence
Age and gender
Mode of transportation
Nights spent in each state
Accommodations
Quarter of visit

The data tables are made available through OTTI's annual purchase of the data from Statistics Canada, the statistical agency of the Canadian government. The tables are in PDF format, and add to the series trend beginning with 2004. Tables containing the 2010 travel year should be posted to the TINET website in November 2011. Additionally, annual reports in PDF format will be available in January 2011 for the travel years 2005 through 2009. These reports provide additional insights into this important market through graphics and narrative.

The data tables may be found HERE.

Largest Companies Operating in Canada

The Globe and Mail ranks the top 1000 public companies in Canada, as well as the top 350 private companies.

MessageLabs Intelligence Special Reports

What are the most spammed cities and least spammed cities across the US and Canada? You might be surprised to find out that the top spammed cities are Idaho and New Brunswick. In 2008, Idaho actually fell into the top ten least spammed states.
Download the one page report highlighting the Top 10 Most Spammed Cities in the US and Canada.

The September 2009 MessageLabs Intelligence Special Reports provides greater detail on all of the trends and figures noted above, as well as more detailed geographical and industry sector trends.

O Canada Business

Haven't stolen borrowed from the Hill Library lately:

A couple great resources to find statistics and resources on industry and business in Canada.

Industry Canada is the place to go if you're looking for information on the state of Canada's industry. It includes business tools for start-ups, as well as information on electronic commerce. Use the company directories to research companies, or search for information on statistics, financing, innovation, research, science and technology, regulations and standards, and more for Canada.

Canadian businesses and start-up entrepreneurs can use Canada Business to reduce "the complexity and burden of dealing with various levels of government" when attempting to start or run a business. Canada Business covers a range of relevant topics, from starting a business to taxes to selling to government. You can access Canada Business services via Web, email, or phone.

National Energy Board of Canada

The Canadian electricity system is part of an integrated North American electricity grid, but Canada's electricity markets have primarily developed along provincial or regional boundaries.

North American Transportation Statistics Database

From Hill Library

If you're looking for information on transportation and transportation-related activities in North America, check out the North American Transportation Statistics Database.

The database, which is available in English, French, and Spanish, provides transportation data for Canada, Mexico, and the United States. Data is provided on transportation activities within each country and between the three countries as far back as 1990.

The North American Transportation Statistics Database provides information in table and time series formats, and "covers twelve thematic areas, including transportation and the economy, transportation safety, transportation's impact on energy and the environment, passenger and freight activity, and transportation and trade."

Census of Canada, 1891

The 1891 Census offers a rich source of information about Canada and Canadians. Through this research tool, you can access digitized images of original census returns which list the name, age, country or province of birth, nationality, religion, and occupation of Canada's residents at the time of the 1891 Census.

The champagne was Canadian

Since yesterday was Canada Day, I thought I'd show the characteristics of international travellers to and from Canada, especially because NYS ranks highly on both lists.