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Section 3: Supplementary Information

List of Supplementary Information Tables

All electronic supplementary information tables found in the 2008/09 Performance Report can be found on the Treasury Board of Canada’s website at: http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/dpr-rmr/st-ts-eng.asp .

Sources of Respendable and Non-Respendable Revenue
User Fees/External Fees
Details on Project Spending
Details on Transfer Payment Programs (TPPs)
Response to Parliamentary Committees and External Audits
Internal Audits and Evaluations

Sustainable Development Strategy

The Parks Canada Agency is required to submit a Sustainable Development Strategy (SDS). The Parks Canada Agency 2007/2009 SDS is available on-line at www.pc.gc.ca under Library.

The Parks Canada Agency operates in the sphere of sustainable development. Its mandate, “to protect and present … examples of natural and cultural heritage … for present and future generations,” aligns perfectly with the government commitment to “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.”

The 2008/09 Parks Canada priorities and performance expectations published in the Corporate Plan 2008/09–2012/13 mirror those in the 2007/2009 SDS. As this Performance Report presents the Agency’s performance against the expected results and performance expectations contained in the Corporate Plan 2008/09–2012/13, no separate reporting on SDS commitments will be provided.

National Survey of Canadians

Parks Canada measured its Strategic Outcome (personal connection) and Program Activity 3 performance using the National Survey of Canadians (NSC). The NSC was designed to capture the level of knowledge and awareness of the Canadian public in order to provide information to senior officials and managers of national parks, national historic sites and national marine conservation areas about Canadians’ attitudes towards natural and cultural heritage; their awareness and understanding of the Agency, along with its programs and responsibilities; and their appreciation of the places administered by Parks Canada and general support for the Agency’s mandate and activities.

The NSC is a national telephone survey of a representative sample of Canadians (based on Statistics Canada’s population statistics).6 The survey was composed of 40 questions, which took approximately 20 minutes to administer, and was conducted in the official language of choice of the participant. The survey was administered to 48,436 Canadian residents aged 18 and older between March 2 and March 30, 2009,7 and 3,779 residents completed the survey, resulting in a response rate of eight percent – the industry standard for telephone surveys today. Based on the size of the sample, the results of the survey are considered accurate 19 times out of 20 (95% level of confidence).8

Visitor Information Program (VIP)

The Visitor Information Program (VIP) uses a standard questionnaire to provide information to managers of national parks, national historic sites and national marine conservation areas about their visitors, including their use of products and services, their satisfaction with products and services, and other aspects of their visit. Selection of individual protected places to participate in the VIP each year is aligned, as much as possible, with the timing of management planning and reporting requirements. The results from an individual VIP questionnaire do not apply to all visitors throughout the year at a particular national park, national historic site or national marine conservation area, or to visitors who did not visit the surveyed location, or to other national parks, national historic sites or national marine conservation areas in the system that did not invite visitors to complete the questionnaire. The national parks, national historic sites and national marine conservation areas that participate in the VIP program over a five-year cycle account for 98 percent of the total recorded visits to heritage places administered by Parks Canada.

There were approximately 2.1 million person-visits to the 15 surveyed locations during the peak survey period of June to September 2008. At the four national parks surveyed, 1,919visitors were asked to participate. Of those, 1,528 agreed to participate and 603 questionnaires were completed and returned. At the 11 national historic sites surveyed, 11,133 visitors were asked to participate. Of that number, 8,948 visitors agreed to participate, and 3,988 questionnaires were completed and returned. The response rate (i.e., the percentage of visitors approached to participate in the survey who returned questionnaires) for heritage places surveyed in 2008/09 was 35 percent (overall average). Among the 11 national historic sites, the response rates were between 10 percent and 84 percent With the exception of one very low response rate (10%), the response rates for national historic sites are consistent with previous years. Response rates for the four national parks ranged between 22 percent and 48 percent.