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2008-2009
Reports on Plans and Priorities

Statistics Canada

The Honourable Jim Prentice
Minister of Industry

SECTION I: OVERVIEW

Minister’s Portfolio Message

The Government of Canada is committed to creating an environment where all Canadians have every opportunity for continued prosperity.

We laid out our long-term economic plan in Advantage Canada. It identified five Canadian objectives, related to tax reduction, debt reduction, entrepreneurship, knowledge in the workforce and infrastructure, which will help us improve our quality of life and succeed on the world stage. I’m pleased to note the commonality between these advantages and Industry Canada’s mission of fostering a growing, competitive, knowledge-based economy.

Clearly, our government is making strides towards achieving our long-term goals. For example, we have provided $190 billion in broad-based tax relief over this and the next five years, including cuts to corporate, small business and personal taxes. Our debt repayment goals have been accelerated by three years. We’re setting the right conditions for entrepreneurs to thrive, for research and development to flourish, for additional competition and growth in the wireless sector and for our workforce to build on its expertise. Finally, we continue to invest heavily in our physical infrastructure to build the networks needed to carry our people, goods and services across Canada and beyond.

In May 2007 Prime Minister Harper unveiled our Science and Technology Strategy, Mobilizing Science and Technology to Canada’s Advantage. It is a policy framework that has received wide acclaim, both in Canada and internationally. Our government believes that science and technology, and research and development, are more critical than ever to pushing forward the frontiers of knowledge and transforming that knowledge into new products, services and technologies.

Our hard work is paying off. The economic fundamentals are in place to help us realize our goals. We boast strong public finances, an economy that is as healthy as it has been for a generation and low unemployment.

As Minister of Industry, I look forward to implementing our government’s agenda for providing effective economic leadership — an agenda that provides concrete, realistic solutions to the economic challenges our country is facing.

As always, we must build on our success as a nation. In this regard, Industry Canada and its portfolio partners continue to strive towards a fair, efficient and competitive marketplace, an innovative economy, competitive industries and sustainable communities — in short, outcomes that will help Canadians continue to enjoy a quality of life that is second to none.

It gives me great pleasure to present the annual Report on Plans and Priorities for Statistics Canada,outlining in greater detail the Department’s main initiatives, priorities and expected outcomes for the upcoming year.

Jim Prentice
Minister of Industry

Management Representation Statement

I submit, for tabling in Parliament, the 2008-2009 Report on Plans and Priorities (RPP) for:

Statistics Canada

This document has been prepared based on the reporting principles contained in the Guide for the Preparation of Part III of the 2008-2009 Estimates: Report on Plans and Priorities and Departmental Performance Reports.

it adheres to the specific reporting requirements outlined in the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat guidance;
it is based on the department’s strategic outcome and program activities that were approved by the Treasury Board;
it presents consistent, comprehensive, balanced and reliable information;
it provides a basis of accountability for the results achieved with the resources and authorities entrusted to it;
it reports finances based on approved planned spending numbers from the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat.

Ivan P. Fellegi
Chief Statistician of Canada

Raison d'être

The Government of Canada has established Statistics Canada to ensure that Canadians have access to a trusted source of statistics on Canadian society and its economy. This is of fundamental importance to an open, democratic society as it provides objective information to Canadians and their elected representatives to support their decision making and participation in the democratic process, markets and in their personal lives.

The statistics produced by Statistics Canada constitute a pivotal element in informing national policy formulation. A large portion of Statistics Canada's program of activities is devoted to meeting the needs of federal, provincial and territorial government policy departments, and providing on-going measurement of Canadian socio-economic dynamics and emerging trends in support of the Government’s agenda for transparent, accountable and evidence-based program management. Statistics Canada data are also used by businesses, unions and non-profit organizations to make informed decisions. Many of its major releases move markets and are widely monitored by market participants.

Organizational Information

Statistics Canada's mandate derives primarily from the Statistics Act. The Act requires the Department to collect, compile, analyze and publish statistical information on the economic, social and general conditions of the country and its citizens. The Act also requires that Statistics Canada coordinate the national statistical system, specifically to avoid duplication in the information collected by departments of government. To this end, the Chief Statistician may enter into joint collection or data sharing agreements with provincial statistical agencies, provincial or federal government departments, subject to confidentiality guarantees for identifiable statistical information. In the case of provincial statistical agencies, it permits the sharing of such information with those among them who operate under an act comparable to the national Statistics Act in terms of compulsory collection and confidentiality protection.

Statistics Canada can also, by law, access all administrative records. Such records (e.g. tax data, customs declarations, birth and death records) are very important sources of statistical information, which enable Statistics Canada to reduce reporting burden on business and individual respondents. Statistics Canada is in the forefront of reducing reporting burden through the exploitation of such administratively generated information. Partnerships and cost-recovery arrangements with other departments, other jurisdictions and external organizations, play a big role in Statistics Canada’s coordination function. Statistics Canada continues to foster these arrangements as they have proven to serve not only the needs of the stakeholders but also those of the national statistical system and the Canadian research community.

It is through these mechanisms that Statistics Canada strives to achieve the strategic outcome desired by the Government of Canada, that is for Canadians to have access to a trusted source of statistics and statistical products, services and analyses that are relevant, responsive to emerging issues, fulfill legal requirements and are of high quality concerning the Canadian society and its economy.

The Minister of Industry is the Minister responsible to Parliament for Statistics Canada, while the Department is headed by the Chief Statistician of Canada. The Chief Statistician of Canada is supported by seven Assistant Chief Statisticians (ACSs): four ACSs are responsible for program activities and three ACSs are responsible for technical, statistical and management infrastructure and services that support Statistics Canada’s program activities.

Program Activity Architecture (PAA) Crosswalk

In 2007, the Treasury Board approved new program activity titles, descriptions and strategic outcomes for Statistics Canada.

Previous	Revised
Strategic Outcome: Provide Canadians with objective and non-partisan statistics and statistical products, services and analyses on Canada's economy and society which are relevant, responsive to emerging issues, fulfill legal requirements and are of high quality.	Strategic Outcome: Canadians have access to objective, high quality, non-partisan statistics, statistical products, services and analyses on Canada's economy and society which fulfill legal requirements, are relevant to policy formulation and decision makers and are responsive to emerging issues.
Program Activity: Economic Statistics	No change
Program Activity: Social Statistics	No change
Program Activity: Census Statistics	Program Activity: Census, Demography and Aboriginal Statistics

Statistics Canada’s Strategic Outcome was slightly modified to broaden its scope.

The Progam Activity title “Census Statistics” has been changed to “Census, Demography and Aboriginal Statistics” as the former name did not reflect the full range of activities included in that Program Activity.

Voted and Statutory Items displayed in the Main Estimates

Vote or Statutory Item	Truncated Vote or Statutory Wording	2008-2009 Main Estimates	2007-2008 Main Estimates
		($ thousands)
95	Program Expenditures	398,872	388,726
(S)	Contributions to employee benefit plans	63,870	65,387
	Total for the Agency¹	462,742	454,113
1. Main Estimates amounts are presented net of respendable revenue.
Note: Totals may differ within and between tables due to the rounding of amounts.

Planned Spending and Full-time Equivalents

	Forecast Spending 2007-2008¹	Planned Spending 2008-2009	Planned Spending 2009-2010	Planned Spending 2010-2011
	($ thousands)
Economic Statistics	230,651	239,906	232,705	220,040
Social Statistics	222,788	230,904	217,901	211,287
Census, Demography and Aboriginal Statistics	130,674	121,932	105,986	49,542
Budgetary Main Estimates (gross)	584,113	592,742	556,592	480,869
Less: Respendable Revenue	130,000	130,000	100,000	100,000
Total Main Estimates	454,113	462,742	456,592	380,869
Adjustments
Supplementary Estimates
Funding for activities that are essential to the continued implementation of the Public Service Modernization Act	228
Transfer to Public Service Human Resources Management Agency of Canada - To support the National Managers' Community	(51)
Funding to undertake projects related to the development and application of biotechnology (Canadian Biotechnology Strategy)	400
Budget Announcement
Strategic Review Saving³		(10,858)	(16,372)	(10,763)
Other
Incremental Funding for Internal Audit	219
Operating Budget Carry Forward	32,769
Collective Agreements	5,429
Total Adjustments²	38,994	(10,858)	(16,372)	(10,763)
Total Planned Spending	493,107	451,884	440,220	370,106
Less: Non-respendable Revenue	800	800	800	800
Plus: Cost of Services received without charge	56,773	61,743	61,485	58,341
Total Agency Spending	549,080	512,827	500,905	427,647
Full Time Equivalents	5,179	5,196	5,129	4,623
1. Reflects best forecast of total spending to the end of the fiscal year.
2. Adjustments are to accommodate approvals obtained since the Main Estimates and to include Budget initiatives, Supplementary Estimates, etc.
3. The Strategic Review Savings amounts presented in this table are lower than the amounts shown in the Budget 2008 documents as some of the savings come from sunsetting programs, which are shown as future reductions in planned spending.
Note: Totals may differ within and between tables due to the rounding of amounts.

Summary Information

Financial Resources

	2008-2009	2009-2010	2010-2011
($ thousands)	451,884	440,220	370,106

Human Resources

	2008-2009	2009-2010	2010-2011
	5,196	5,129	4,623

Departmental Priorities

Name	Type
1. New Canadian Environmental Sustainability Indicators	Previously committed
2. New Statistics supporting the revised Equalization formula	Previously committed
3. New Services Price Index	Ongoing
4. Strengthening the Consumer Price Index	Previously committed
5. New Health Statistics Program¹	Ongoing
6. New Integrated Correctional Services statistics	Previously committed
7. 2006 & 2011 Census of Population	Previously committed, New
8. 2006 & 2011 Census of Agriculture	Previously committed
9. Archiving Census Records - 1991, 1996 & 2001	Previously committed
10. Aboriginal Peoples Survey¹	Previously committed
11. Collection Modernization Initiative	Previously committed
12. Strengthening the Financial Management Function	Previously committed
13. Official Languages Training Program	Ongoing
1. These initiatives are funded in part through respendable revenue.

Program Activities by Strategic Outcome

	Expected Results	Planned Spending¹			Contribution to the following priorities²
	Expected Results	2008-2009	2009-2010	2010-2011	Contribution to the following priorities²
Strategic Outcome: Canadians have access to objective, high quality, non-partisan statistics, statistical products, services and analyses on Canada's economy which fulfill legal requirements, are relevant to policy formulation and decision makers and are responsive to emerging issues.
Economic Statistics	Economic Statistics produced by Statistics Canada are available through a wide range of easily accessible media formats and venues. Canadians are aware of the availability of these statistics and of their high quality, and of the professionalism and non-partisanship of Statistics Canada.	209,502	206,241	195,424	1, 2, 3 & 4
Strategic Outcome: Canadians have access to objective, high quality, non-partisan statistics, statistical products, services and analyses on Canada's society which fulfill legal requirements, are relevant to policy formulation and decision makers and are responsive to emerging issues.
Social Statistics	Social Statistics produced by Statistics Canada are available through a wide range of easily accessible media formats and venues. Canadians are aware of the availability of these statistics and of their high quality, and of the professionalism and non-partisanship of Statistics Canada.	147,702	145,642	143,119	5 & 6
Strategic Outcome: Canadians have access to objective, high quality, non-partisan statistics, statistical products, services and analyses on Canada's population which fulfill legal requirements, are relevant to policy formulation and decision makers and are responsive to emerging issues.
Census, Demography and Aboriginal Statistics	Census, Demography and Aboriginal Statistics produced by Statistics Canada are available through a wide range of easily accessible media formats and venues. Canadians are aware of the availability of these statistics and of their high quality, and of the professionalism and non-partisanship of Statistics Canada.	94,680	88,337	31,563	7, 8, 9 & 10
Total Planned Spending		451,884	440,220	370,106
1. Planned Spending amounts are presented net of respendable revenue.
2. Priorities 11, 12 & 13 are management priorities in support of the Internal Services program activity and are described in more detail in Section IV.
Note: Totals may differ within and between tables due to the rounding of amounts.

Departmental Plans and Priorities

The statistical program of a country is the sum of all activities carried out by the national statistical institute and its partners in the national statistical system. Given the almost limitless possibilities, and the almost always limited capacity, the main question in statistical program planning is what statistics to produce.

Answering this question involves difficult trade-offs between often competing factors. This is sometimes summarized as a trade-off between quality, cost, respondent burden and timeliness, but there are many more factors that must be taken into account in statistical program planning. The starting point for determining what statistics to produce, however, must be the information needs of the ultimate users of the statistics.

A framework for user needs

Like many national statistical institutes, Statistics Canada has adopted a standard for data quality, the Quality Assurance Framework, based on the concept of fitness for use. We identify six aspects of information quality that are pertinent to the use of information: relevance; accuracy; timeliness; accessibility; interpretability; coherence. The same framework is very effective for identifying user needs and making them actionable through a planning process. In fact, the aim of most statistical program planning is to bring about improvements or other changes in one or more of these dimensions of data quality.

Determining what statistics to produce is first and foremost a question of relevance, which by definition refers to the degree to which the information produced responds to the needs of the user community served by the program. Improving relevance might mean initiating, or discontinuing, entire statistical programs, or it might mean adding, changing or removing content from existing statistical programs. Timeliness is a closely related dimension that relates both to the periodicity of the measurement required to meet user needs and the acceptable time delay between the reference period and the publication of the results. Coherence is another user driven characteristic of the statistical program, which has a major impact on survey design in terms of the ease with which survey content in a program can be related to content in other programs.

As regards accuracy, while a minimum standard can be defined for any output of Statistics Canada, this is also a dimension that is conditioned by user needs. The choice of how much effort to invest in achieving a stated level of accuracy depends on the uses to which the resulting statistics will be applied. This may be further constrained by capacity factors, but trade-offs in survey design regarding coverage, sampling and processes to minimize error must be made in the context of the ultimate use to which the data will be made.

Finally, accessibility and interpretability are dimensions that are largely user defined, determining the modes by which statistical information will be disseminated to different audiences, the availability of catalogues or searching tools that allow users to know what is available and how to obtain it, and the provision of ancillary information to assist users to understand and properly use and analyze information.

It is with this framework in mind that Statistics Canada evaluates the usefulness of its statistical program for data users, which forms the basis for statistical program planning.

In a well established statistical system such as Canada’s, many of these needs have become enshrined in legislation and other statutory instruments, which tends to stabilize the requirements for a large proportion of its program, recently estimated at 75% of its permanent funding. While relevance in these cases is well established, there may be gaps and opportunities in the other dimensions of data quality that are always in scope of the planning process. In addition, information on long standing needs that are not currently served by the statistical system and emerging data needs resulting from new directions and priorities in public policy must somehow be brought into the planning process. Statistics Canada deploys a range of consultation and information gathering mechanisms to keep abreast of evolving users needs.

To gather information on the needs and expectations of users of its statistical programs, Statistics Canada employs a variety of Advisory Committees, bilateral mechanisms, multilateral mechanisms, quadrennial program evaluations and market mechanisms.

A framework for statistical capacity

Answering the fundamental question of what constitutes useful statistical output for data users is a necessary but not sufficient condition for effective statistical program planning. To complete the picture, planning must also address the Department’s capacity to produce this information. This requires consideration of a number of other factors, which can be broadly classified under factors related to the supply of data and factors related to enterprise management, represented as a risk framework in figure 1.

It is appropriate to situate statistical program planning as part of an integrated risk management process, as the object of such planning is to reduce the probability and/or impact of adverse events, defined broadly, on statistical programs.

This framework sets out the issues about which specific action must be taken proactively or reactively to enable statistical programs to achieve their ultimate objectives and deliver on their strategic outcomes. It can be invoked in two ways. First, reactively, any changes desired in statistical output to respond to user needs will have consequential impacts for most or all of these factors. For example, an initiative to improve the timeliness of a statistical program could require adjustments to factors related to the supply of data from respondents or administrative sources as well as to factors related to enterprise management, such as workforce, systems and financial resources. Secondly, proactively, these capacities, or infrastructures, can themselves be the direct object of program planning, not driven by changes in statistical output but rather by efforts to improve efficiency or reduce risk.

Figure 1
Statistics Canada Corporate Risk Framework

Under security of supply are found the policies, procedures and systems used to gain access to respondents, manage their response burden and maintain their trust so as to ensure their continued cooperation as well as the mechanisms for securing and maintaining access to administrative data sources.

Under enterprise management are found the processes for ensuring the sound stewardship of financial resources and physical, software and information assets; for attracting and retaining a workforce of the right size with the right competencies; for establishing a safe and productive workplace; for structuring an effective organization with clear accountability for results; for providing learning and development opportunities that foster innovation and continuous improvement; for nurturing an effective policy and program capacity; and for managing risk as an integral part of enterprise management.

Effective planning in respect of these infrastructures depends on timely and accurate information on their current condition and costs of operation. At Statistics Canada, this information is obtained through the program evaluation process described earlier, through audits, and through a number of management information systems.

The areas responsible for the various infrastructure services, which have been largely centralized in Statistics Canada, are also evaluated on a quadrennial basis, addressing the performance, risks and opportunities for each specialized support service. For example, individual quadrennial program reports cover data collection systems and infrastructures, corporate data dissemination infrastructure, methodology services, business survey frames, human resource management services, and so on.

A program of internal audits as well as external reviews by the Office of the Auditor General, the Official Languages Commissioner, the Public Service Commission and other central agencies provide information on the adequacy and effectiveness of controls and mechanisms to mitigate or otherwise manage risks throughout the corporate risk framework, thus drawing attention and placing priority on required remedial actions.

It is this mix of information on user needs and agency capacity, drawn from all of these sources, that informs the planning process at Statistics Canada.

For 2008-09, ten specific initiatives for making improvements to statistical programs have been identified as priorities, while three management priorities address internal services.¹

Most of the program priorities are aimed at improving the relevance of the national statistical program, by producing new statistics needed by policy makers in the areas of environmental policy, health and the administration of justice, all current government priorities, as well as in support of fiscal transfers to provinces under a new Equalization formula. 2008-09 is also the first year of new investment for the 2011 Census of Population and the Census of Agriculture, both fundamental sources of statistical information for a wide variety of users across the country. The relevance of the national statistical program will also be further enhanced by new investments, mostly on a cost-recovery basis, in aboriginal statistics.

Other program priorities address quality issues, an overriding concern for Statistics Canada as the credibility and usefulness of its output depends on the actual and perceived quality of the statistics it produces. To this end, new investments are being made to strengthen the Consumer Price Index, a key indicator of inflation, and also to extend the coverage of producer price indexes in service industries, which is intended to improve the measurement of real output and productivity in the Canadian economy.

In 2007, Statistics Canada conducted an in-depth review of the funding, relevance and performance of all its programs and spending to ensure results and value for money from programs that are a priority for Canadians. As part of this Strategic Review, the department put forward a series of reallocation proposals representing approximately 5% of its direct program spending that could be reinvested more effectively. These reallocations came from its lowest priority spending.

In undertaking this review, the main objective was to continue to improve the relevance and accessibility of statistical programs. As a result of this review, a small number of lower priority statistical programs will be scaled back or discontinued while the department’s capacity for new program development and infrastructure renewal will be maintained, but at a reduced level. The savings realized by these reallocations will be reinvested in new Budget priorities.

¹ These three management priorities are described in section IV, Other Items of Interest.

SECTION II: ANALYSIS OF PROGRAM ACTIVITIES BY STRATEGIC OUTCOME

Economic Statistics (Program Activity 1)

Resource Requirements	2008-2009	2009-2010	2010-2011
($ thousands)	209,502	206,241	195,424
FTE	2,469	2,460	2,388

Strategic Outcome: Canadians have access to objective, high quality, non-partisan statistics, statistical products, services and analyses on Canada's economy which fulfill legal requirements, are relevant to policy formulation and decision makers and are responsive to emerging issues.

Description: The Economic Statistics program provides micro- and macro-economic statistics and analysis on the entire spectrum of Canadian economic activity, both domestic and international. The information includes statistics on: gross domestic product; production, costs, sales, productivity and prices for the full gamut of industrial sectors; the flows and stocks of fixed and financial capital assets; international trade and finance; the extent of foreign ownership in Canada’s economy; federal, provincial and municipal government revenues, expenditures and employment; environmental issues related to pollution, natural assets and activities aimed at reducing environmental damage; consumer and industrial price inflation; science and technology; and research and development (R&D) activity.

The System of National Accounts program provides a conceptually integrated framework of statistics and analysis for studying the evolution of the Canadian economy. The accounts are centered on the measurement of production of goods and services, and the purchase/sale of goods and services in domestic and international markets. Production and consumption are measured in dollar terms. Corresponding price indexes are derived and estimates of economic activity in “real” or “inflation adjusted” terms are prepared. Monetary flows are tracked among the four major sectors of the economy: households, businesses, governments and non-residents. Saving, investment, assets, liabilities and national wealth are measured. The program supports various statutory requirements and its outputs are vital to the policy development and program responsibilities of the Bank of Canada, Finance Canada, Industry Canada, Foreign Affairs and International Trade and several other federal and provincial departments and agencies. Its outputs are also widely used in the private sector.

The Analytical Studies program integrates, analyses and interprets data collected both within the department and elsewhere to describe and draw inferences about the nature of Canada’s economy and society. It develops new and improved techniques for the statistical analysis and interpretation of socio economic data sets. The program produces annual estimates of multifactor productivity and associated analytical reports. These activities are vital for the Bank of Canada, Finance Canada, Industry Canada and the private sector financial community.

The Economic Statistics program activity is comprised of the following sub-sub-activities:

1.1.1 Income & Expenditure Accounts
1.1.2 Environment Accounts & Statistics
1.1.3 Balance of Payments
1.1.4 Public Institutions Statistics
1.1.5 Industry Accounts
1.3.1 Manufacturing, Construction and Energy Statistics
1.3.2 Distributive Trades Statistics
1.3.3 Service Industries Statistics
1.4.1 Prices Statistics
1.4.2 International Trade Statistics
1.4.3 Investment and Capital Stock Statistics
1.4.4 Industrial Organization and Finance Statistics
1.5.1 Agriculture Statistics
1.5.2 Small Business & Special Surveys
1.5.3 Science, Innovation & Electronic Information Statistics
1.5.4 Transportation Statistics

For most of these, the plan is to maintain statistical production at current levels of quality and costs. However, as a result of the Strategic Review, the Business Conditions Survey (part of 1.3.1 Manufacturing, Construction and Energy Statistics) and the Survey of Deposit-accepting Financial Institutions (part of 1.4.4 Industrial Organization and Finance Statistics) will be discontinued. Previously committed plans and priorities have been maintained for three sub-sub activities, Environment Accounts and Statistics, although scaled back somewhat, Public Institutions Statistics and Prices Statistics.

Environment Accounts and Statistics (Program Sub-Sub Activity 1.1.2)

The program integrates environmental and socio-economic information into sets of statistics relevant for the analysis of relationships between human activity and the environment in Canada. The primary outputs for this program are time series estimates of various components of Canada’s environmental wealth (water, clean air, forests, sub-soil minerals), natural resource usage, pollution flows and environmental protection expenditures. A detailed geographically referenced database is maintained that facilitates environmental studies by eco-region or by water basin. The program includes an annual compendium entitled Human Activity and the Environment which is widely used by schools as well as by federal and provincial government policy makers. Program outputs are used by Environment Canada, Natural Resources Canada, provincial government departments, and various private sector organizations and international institutions. This sub-sub activity is comprised of four activity elements:

Core Environment Statistics Program
Environmental Accounts and Surveys
Expansion of Industrial Water Survey to include the Oil and Gas Sector
Canadian Environmental Sustainability Indicators

	Planned Spending
	2008-2009	2009-2010	2010-2011
	($ thousands)
Canadian Environmental Sustainability Indicators	1,462	-	-

The Canadian Environmental Sustainability Indicators program is a joint initiative by Environment Canada, Statistics Canada and Health Canada funded by Cabinet in fiscal year 2004/05 and sun setting in 2009-10. Of the $10 million allocated to the program annually, Statistics Canada receives $2.4 million. The majority of the remainder is allocated to Environment Canada. Under this program Statistics Canada is developing environmental indicators for air quality, water quality and greenhouse gas emission.

Statistics Canada is also developing the following new surveys to provide additional data to aid in the interpretation of the indicators:

- the biennial Industrial Water Survey will collect data on use of water by establishments in the mining, manufacturing and thermal power industries

- the biennial Agricultural Water Survey will collect data on the irrigation and livestock use of water on farms

- the Municipal Drinking Water Treatment Plant Survey will collect data on the quality of ambient Water used as intake sources at the plants

The third annual report of the Canadian Environmental Sustainability Indicators was released in two parts. The national indicator highlights were released in October 2007, while a longer report presenting regional detail plus a discussion of socio-economic linkages was released in December 2007. As in previous reports, the air quality indicators focused on human exposure to ground-level ozone as well as fine particulate matter. Both are key components of smog. The greenhouse gas emissions indicator described changes in emissions from 1990 to 2005 and the water quality indicator focused on the ability of Canada’s surface waters to support aquatic life over the period 2003 to 2005.

Particular attention was paid in the water quality indicator to the effect of phosphorus on water quality. Phosphorus is a pollutant commonly found in water across the country that can increase growth of algae, making water less suitable for fish.

Extensive use was made in the 2007 reports of results from the 2006 Households and Environment Survey to describe the links between socio-economic activity and the indicator trends. Use was also made of results from the 2006 Industrial Water Use Survey.

Planned Activities:
Another report will be prepared in 2008, at which point the program will be reviewed in consideration of continued funding beyond 2008-2009. The 2008 report will cover preliminary results from the Agricultural Water Use Survey and the 2007 Households and the Environment Survey. As a result of the Strategic Review, however, Statistics Canada will no longer author the annual report on the environmental sustainability indicators, leaving this task to its partners in Environment Canada and Health Canada.

Public Institutions Statistics (Program Sub-Sub Activity 1.1.4)

The program produces financial and employment statistics for the Canadian public sector, more specifically revenues, expenditures, assets, liabilities and debt statistics for the federal, provincial and municipal levels of government including government health and education institutions. The source data for these statistics are the audited “public accounts” records published by Canada’s various governments, however the statistics are adjusted to make them inter-governmentally comparable and consistent. The program outputs support the Fiscal Arrangements Act, the Comprehensive Integrated Tax Coordination Agreement and the Special Data Dissemination Standard with the International Monetary Fund, and they are key inputs to the income and expenditure accounts program. This sub-sub activity is comprised of four activity elements:

Quarterly Public Sector Financial Statistics
Annual Public Sector Financial Statistics
Production of Certificates for the Fiscal Arrangement Act (FAA)
Public Sector Employment Statistics

	Planned Spending
	2008-2009	2009-2010	2010-2011
	($ thousands)
New statistics in support of the revised Equalization formula	3,423	3,189	2,886

The federal government transfers funds to the provincial and territorial governments on an annual basis to assist in the provision of programs and services to the public. These transfers allow the provinces to provide comparable levels of public services at comparable levels of taxation. In the March 2007 Federal Budget, the Government of Canada announced the implementation of a series of changes to the Equalization program. Among others, the property tax base will be changed to better reflect current market values in the residential property sector.

This renewal of the property tax base of the Equalization program has entailed significant modifications to the data required by Finance Canada. The new data requirements are defined as annual data at the provincial and municipal level, broken down into residential and non-residential properties for the three major components of the property tax base: property values at market prices, property tax revenues and population estimates. The new data will not only serve to improve the fiscal capacity measures within the Equalization program, but statistical outputs will be made available to the public and within government. The planning, development and implementation of the Property Tax Base Project is scheduled to take place over three fiscal years (2007-2008 to 2009-2010). The project will become an on-going program in fiscal year 2010-2011.

Planned Activities:
In 2008-2009, Statistics Canada will complete Phase I of the Property Tax Base project dedicated to detailed planning, development and implementation of collection concepts, methods and tools. The collection of data on property values and property tax revenues from provincial / territorial centralized administrative sources is well underway. Discussions continue to take place with each province and territory to determine to what extent existing sources of data are meeting the new requirements from Finance Canada for the renewal of the property tax base and to find new sources where existing data are not sufficient or available. Discussions are also addressing inter-provincial comparability issues related to the definitions and classifications of residential and non-residential properties. During Phase I, Statistics Canada has also worked on the model to be used for producing population estimates by municipality. Furthermore, the update of the municipal structures in place in each province and territory is well underway.

In 2008-2009, Statistics Canada will also undertake Phase II of the project dedicated to the planning, development and implementation of processing automated applications for editing and validating data collected on property values and property tax revenues. Moreover, the model for producing population estimates by municipality is planned to be implemented and tested. Finally, the update of the municipal structures in place in each province and territory will be completed.

Prices Statistics (Program Sub-Sub Activity 1.4.1)

This program provides information on consumer prices and industrial products, raw materials, farm input prices and construction price indexes, as well as a number of indexes relating to capital expenditures and services. This sub-sub activity is comprised of 4 activity elements:

Consumer Price Index (CPI)
Industrial Product Price Index
Services Producer Price Indexes
Capital Expenditures Price Indexes

	Planned Spending
	2008-2009	2009-2010	2010-2011
	($ thousands)
New Services Price Index	4,953	5,934	5,934

Services industries comprise approximately two-thirds of the Canadian economy. Business services represent almost 40% of gross domestic product compared to about 17% for government services and 11% for personal services. Despite their importance, price indexes for the business services sector are a significant gap in the Canadian economic statistical system. This gap seriously affects the quality of real output and productivity change estimates for this sector.

Starting in 2006-07 and over a five year period, the Department, through internal reallocation, will develop services price index for approximately 30 broad business services categories which account for approximately 80% of value added of the business services sector. Preliminary data collection has been ongoing for wholesaling, truck transportation, non-residential rents and machinery and equipment rents since the 2006/2007 fiscal year. Preliminary price collection began for property/casualty insurance and retailing services in 2007. Research and development of price index methods was also carried out for banking services, brokerage and wealth management financial services, telephone and other telecommunications services, other professional, scientific and technical services, and rail transportation and freight services.

Planned Activities:
In 2008-2009, initial development will be completed for eight major services categories. This will result in the initial release of regular quarterly national price indexes by the end of the 2008-2009 fiscal year. Research, development and testing is expected to be initiated for additional business services categories including other administrative and support services, real estate commissions, management fees, rental of automobiles and trucks, water transport and air transport.

	Planned Spending
	2008-2009	2009-2010	2010-2011
	($ thousands)
Strengthening the Consumer Price Index	1,483	957	957

To protect and enhance the credibility of the Consumer Price Index in the eyes of the Canadian public and to mitigate risks regarding the quality of the output, a plan to strengthen quality management has been put in place, focusing on 4 specific measures: 1) improving quality assurance processes; 2) enhancing the sample; 3) additional training for interviewers; 4) developing better analytical tools. This plan, funded through internal reallocation, will not eliminate all risks, but will minimize the probability adverse events in the monthly production of the CPI.

Planned Activities:
In 2008-2009, a permanent team will be put in place to ensure that methods, concepts and data sources follow best practice in the field and to develop an effective analytical program aimed at monitoring and bolstering the quality of the CPI.

Social Statistics (Program Activity 2)

Resource Requirements	2008-2009	2009-2010	2010-2011
($ thousands)	147,702	145,642	143,119
FTE	1,689	1,710	1,703

Strategic outcome: Canadians have access to objective, high quality, non-partisan statistics, statistical products, services and analyses on Canada's society which fulfill legal requirements, are relevant to policy formulation and decision makers and are responsive to emerging issues.

Description: The Social Statistics program provides information on the economic and social characteristics of individuals, families and households in Canada, and on the factors that contribute to their well-being. The information includes statistics on education and labour, income and wealth, criminality, culture, tourism and the health of Canadians. The statistics are generally organized around frameworks that measure the characteristics of Canadians along these dimensions, their interaction with institutions that deliver services in these domains and the outcomes of these interactions. To this end, the program produces statistics on educational, health, justice and cultural institutions as well as on all organizations in their role as employers.

Many of the outputs of these programs are integrated in the System of National Accounts, in particular labour input to economic production, income and expenditures of the household sector and the contribution to GDP of the institutional education and health sectors. Other socio-economic frameworks include the Tourism satellite account and similar analyses for the culture sector.

The Labour and Household Surveys Analysis program and the Socio-economic and Business Analysis program integrate, analyze and interpret data collected both within the department and elsewhere to describe and draw inferences about Canadian society. They develop new and improved techniques for the statistical analysis and interpretation of socio economic data sets. They produce widely read analytical reports and publications such as Perspectives on Labour and Income, Education and Health Reports.

The Social Statistics program activity is comprised of the following sub-sub-activities:

2.1.1 Justice Statistics
2.1.2 Culture Statistics
2.1.3 Tourism Statistics
2.1.4 Education Statistics
2.4.1 Special Surveys
2.4.2 Income Statistics
2.4.3 Labour and Household Surveys Analysis
2.4.4 Labour Statistics

For most of these, the plan is to maintain statistical production at current levels of quality and costs. However, as a result of the Strategic Review, the Civil Court Survey and the Survey of Maintenance Enforcement (part of 2.1.1 Justice Statistics) and the Radio Listening and Television Viewing Databank (part of 2.1.2 Culture Statistics) will be discontinued, while the in depth investigation of five specific topics by the Canadian Community Health Survey would be surveyed every 3 years instead of every 2 years as is the current situation. Previously committed and ongoing plans and priorities have been maintained for two sub-sub activities, Health Statistics and the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics.

Health Statistics (Program Sub Activity 2.2)

	Planned Spending
	2008-2009	2009-2010	2010-2011
	($ thousands)
Health Statistics Program	28,302	17,513	16,939

Three major activities dominate the Health Statistics Program in the coming year. One is the Canadian Health Measures Survey (CHMS), a new and highly innovative ‘direct measures’ health survey. The second is the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) which provides sub-provincial data at the health region level. A third initiative relates to the use of provincial health care administrative data for an innovative range of new statistical information.

First, to address longstanding limitations within Canada’s health information system, Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada have supported Statistics Canada in obtaining funding for the new CHMS. This support was announced in the 2003 Federal Budget as part of an extension of the Health Information Roadmap Initiative.

The Canadian Health Measures Survey (CHMS) is collecting key information relevant to the health of Canadians by means of direct physical measurements such as blood pressure, height, weight, lung function and physical fitness. In addition, the survey will collect blood and urine samples to test for infectious diseases, chronic diseases, and nutrition and environment markers. The survey will also measure physical activity directly with an electronic activity monitor respondents will wear over a one week period, and thus provide a key point of information with regard to the growing prevalence of obesity.

Information from the CHMS will provide much more reliable estimates of the extent of such major health problems as diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, lung disease, physical inactivity, exposure to infectious diseases and exposure to environmental contaminants.

The CHMS will collect information from 5,000 Canadians aged 6 to 79, located in 15 sites across Canada. This sample size will provide national level estimates only. Work was ongoing during 2006-2007 to finalize the collection applications, construct the mobile examination clinics, hire and train collection staff, negotiate locations and legal arrangements with the provinces and communities where sites are located and conduct a dress rehearsal of the entire survey. Collection has started in March 2007 and will continue until April 2009. Initial data release should occur in late 2009 or early 2010.

Second, the CCHS has been in place since 2001, and has been critical in benefiting Canadians by providing data on their health not only to provinces, but also to municipalities and communities. It is primarily an interview survey, the main exception being direct measures of height and weight in order to track the prevalence of obesity for a sub-sample. The main challenge for the coming year will be to release data from the survey for the first time following its redesign from a biennial format (i.e. a large sample every other year) to a continuous data collection format. This will represent a significant improvement in the timeliness of CCHS data. In order to maximize the use of the data by decision-makers and researchers, significant emphasis will be placed on efforts to improve the technical capacity of users, including the ability to interpret data from a variety of reference periods. As a result of the Strategic Review, the in depth investigation of mental health, nutrition, physical health measures, healthy ageing and children’s health will be scheduled every three years instead of every two years.

Third the Health Person Oriented Information initiative (HPOI), created under the Health Roadmap, is currently being enhanced as Statistics Canada is negotiating partnerships with Provincial, Territorial and Federal Ministries responsible for Health Care and Public Health, to obtain ongoing access to administrative data routinely collected through the health care system. These data can be combined with survey data to look at risk factors, health services utilization and health outcomes.

Planned Activities:
In 2008-2009, data collection for the CHMS continue and should be completed in April 2009. An evaluation of the change to continuous data collection for the CCHS, implemented in 2007-08, will be undertaken and the in depth investigation of five specific topics will be surveyed every 3 years instead of every 2 years. Memoranda of Understanding will be negotiated with those jurisdictions interested in participating in the partnership for HPOI and an inaugural record linkage research agenda setting conference will be held.

Justice Statistics (Program Sub-Sub Activity 2.1.1)

The Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics (CCJS) is the operational arm of a federal-provincial-territorial partnership for the collection of information to support the administration of justice and to ensure that accurate information on the nature and extent of criminal and civil justice in Canada is available. Programs are guided by the Justice Information Council (JIC) – a committee of some 28 federal and provincial Deputy Ministers responsible for the administration of justice, and the Chief Statistician of Canada. This partnership also known as the National Justice Statistics Initiative (NJSI), strives to develop, implement and manage an effective national justice statistics program. The programs cover the civil and criminal justice systems, including law enforcement, prosecutions, legal aid, courts, and correctional services. The CCJS provides information about each sector of the justice system, measures and describes caseloads, and quantifies revenues, expenditures and personnel employed. The CCJS also provides services designed to improve the manner in which managers and policy makers develop and use information on the justice system and assists jurisdictions to introduce and use modern information technology. The rationale for this program stems from a Memorandum of Understanding with Justice Canada and Cabinet decisions where Statistics Canada was named a partner in the National Justice Statistics Initiative. The program also administers the Family Violence Statistical Program funded by the Family Violence Initiative.

The Justice Statistics program has four components:

Policing services
Courts
Corrections
Research and Analysis

	Planned Spending
	2008-2009	2009-2010	2010-2011
	($ thousands)
Integrated Correctional Services	372	-	-

Considerable investment has been made to date in the development of the Integrated Correctional Services Survey (ICSS). This includes significant progress developing the ICSS production system including tools for data quality checks, database management, statistical reporting processes and the development of methodologies to facilitate the transition between this new micro-data survey and the older aggregate surveys and to derive daily snapshot counts from the ICSS data.

Without a fully developed and implemented micro-data corrections survey it is not possible to adequately examine offender recidivism and explore offender outcome trajectories across the justice sectors or beyond the criminal justice system. Offender outcomes were identified as a strategic priority of the National Justice Statistics Initiative during consultations in 2005. In addition, in 2003, the National Statistics Council highlighted the importance of focusing attention on the factors and contexts that contribute to crime and to successful interventions and outcomes. Investments in micro-data collection in our courts and policing programs have created tremendous analytical potential within these areas; however, alone they are insufficient to address the issue of recidivism and offender outcomes.

To date, development and implementation of the ICSS has benefited greatly and relied on cost-recovery funds from Justice Canada through the Youth Justice Renewal Initiative (YJRI). The YJRI fund was designed to assist stakeholders in youth justice with the development of programs in support of the new Youth Criminal Justice Act. This special funding came to an end in fiscal year 2005/06 leaving the ICSS in mid-development. Jurisdictions implementing the survey have been very supportive, providing equivalent services in kind.

This project will produce the following benefits for Canadians:

The current base budget for the Corrections program allows for the management and statistical reporting for 4 aggregate surveys. Funding has provided the necessary resources to manage the transition from several aggregate surveys to the ICSS. Once complete, the Corrections program expects to manage its survey program without any additional staff complement while at the same time greatly improving the quality, utility and comprehensiveness of the corrections data.
The ICSS is a response to a review of the existing aggregate corrections surveys that highlighted data quality and data utility issues. As such, ensuring data quality in the ICSS is a priority.

Planned Activities:
In 2008-2009, the project will complete development of the ICSS data processing system, a set of comprehensive reporting tools to assess ICSS data quality on an ongoing basis as well as any necessary changes to the survey specifications.

Census, Demography and Aboriginal Statistics (Program Activity 3)

Resource Requirements	2008-2009	2009-2010	2010-2011
($ thousands)	94,680	88,337	31,563
FTE	1,038	958	532

Strategic outcome: Canadians have access to objective, high quality, non-partisan statistics, statistical products, services and analyses on Canada's population which fulfill legal requirements, are relevant to policy formulation and decision makers and are responsive to emerging issues.

Description: The Census, Demography and Aboriginal Statistics program provides statistical information on the Canadian population, its demographic characteristics and conditions, and their changes over time. It also provides in depth information on special populations such as operators of agricultural holdings and aboriginal peoples.

Population counts and estimates are fundamental to the basic governance of Canada and its political sub-divisions, providing the basis for representation by population, for all per capita measures used in fiscal policies and arrangements and other economic analysis and for program and service planning by all levels of government.

Data produced by the Census, Demography and Aboriginal Statistics program activity are used by a vast number of users in every sphere of Canadian society, for a wide array of purposes. They are particularly used by students as an introduction to the demographic size and composition of the communities in which they live and of the country overall.

The Census, Demography and Aboriginal Statistics program activity is comprised of the following sub-sub-activities:

3.1 Census of Agriculture
3.2 Demography
3.3 Aboriginal Statistics
3.4 Census of Population

New plans and priorities have been identified for three of these sub-sub activities, Census of Population, Census of Agriculture and Aboriginal Statistics. For the Demography sub-sub-activity, the plan is to maintain statistical production at current levels of quality and costs.

Census of Population (Program Sub Activity 3.4)

	Planned Spending
	2008-2009	2009-2010	2010-2011
	($ thousands)
2006 Census of Population	18,997	9,332	-
2011 Census of Population	44,509	50,749	-
Total	63,506	60,081	-

Censuses have been held in Canada since 1871, with one every five years since 1956. The Constitution Act requires that a Census be conducted in 2011.

The results of a Census are used in the development, monitoring and refinement of a number of major government programs and policies. The Census is essential in anchoring population estimates that govern the annual allocation of billions of dollars in health and social transfers and equalization payments to provinces and territories (approximately $67 billion in fiscal year 2007-08), as well as in determining electoral boundaries for democratic representation and reform.

The Census collects basic demographic data from one hundred percent (100%) of households in Canada, and, since the advent of self-enumeration in the early seventies and advances in sampling methodology, more comprehensive socioeconomic data from only twenty percent (20%) of households. The “basic” portion of the Census provides information on population and dwelling counts, and a breakdown of the population by age, sex, relationship, marital status and the first language learned in childhood. The “comprehensive” portion of the Census provides information on mobility, ethnicity, labour, education, income, citizenship, immigration, transportation, and dwelling characteristics.

The Census is the only source of coherent and detailed information for small geographic areas, based on the same statistical concepts for the entire country. This information is vital to all levels of government, the private sector, academic and not-for-profit entities in the decision-making process, and in the formulation and monitoring of programs and policies. Census data are used extensively by the private sector in pursuing market opportunities including expanding or locating new businesses.

For the 2006 Census, the collection and processing phases were conducted in 2006-07. The 2007-08 activities focused on edit and imputation, certification, tabulation, dissemination and coverage measurement studies in support of data and analytical releases. In 2007-08, five of the seven major releases were disseminated. In 2008-09, the major activities will constitute the completion of the data quality studies and the dissemination of two remaining major releases. Final estimates of the net under coverage are planned for release in September 2008.

For the 2011 Census, Statistics Canada plans to leverage heavily on the approaches and processes developed for the 2006 Census. These include an option for Canadians to respond to the Census on-line, automated editing and data capture technologies and greater centralization of operational activities. A strategy that maximizes the re-use of successful 2006 approaches and systems will be pursued.

The interim funding allocation for fiscal years 2008-09 and 2009-10 is required to plan, design, develop and test systems and processes in advance of the 2011 Census, as well as to maintain essential infrastructure. Statistics Canada must test key census processes, systems, and planning assumptions in an integrated end-to-end Census Test which will be conducted in 2009.

The size and scope of the 2011 Census will be presented to Cabinet for approval in the fall of 2009. Development and testing activities have been designed to allow the presentation of basic or comprehensive content options. Should the decision be to conduct a comprehensive census in 2011, funds are expected to be sourced from both the fiscal framework and other federal departments, as has been the case since the 1986 Census.

Planned Activities:
In fiscal year 2008-2009, the 2006 Census results will continue to be communicated to Canadians. Data will be produced for use by community groups, businesses, governments and Canadians at large. Central to the Census dissemination strategy is to provide information, analysis and data products that showcase the strength of Census data and meet a wide range of users’ data needs.

The following 2 major data releases will occur during 2008-2009:

April 2, 2008: Ethnic Origin and Visible Minorities
May 1, 2008: Income, Earnings and Shelter Costs

In addition, Census staff will be planning, designing, developing and testing systems and processes in advance of the 2011 Census, these activities include:

Increase the completeness of roads and address ranges in the digital road network, and increase the universe of civic style addresses in Address Register (AR) in order to increase the mail-out from 70% in the 2006 Census to 80-85%;
Leveraging from the 2006 technology, upgrade and enhance the administrative, operational and processing systems for the 2009 Census Test;
Develop communication, collection and processing procedures and materials for the 2009 Census Test;
Conduct listing operations for the 2009 Census Test (field checking Address Register coverage); and
Consult users and conduct content testing in preparation of the Memorandum to Cabinet, in fall 2009, for approval of the size, scope and content of the 2011 Census.

Archiving Census Records

	Planned Spending
	2008-2009	2009-2010	2010-2011
	($ thousands)
Archiving Census Records - 1991, 1996 & 2001	1,021	-	-

Statistics Canada is tasked with preserving copies of historical census records in its possession and, in consultation with Library and Archives Canada (LAC), converted the 1991 to 2001 census questionnaires to microfilm. In response to the deterioration of the quality of existing census microfilm for previous censuses, a review of the condition of the microfilms for census years 1956 -1986 is currently underway in partnership with LAC.

Planned activities:
The work is expected to continue until 2008/09. The project will be completed on schedule and on budget in 2008-09 as planned.

Census of Agriculture (Program Sub Activity 3.1)

	Planned Spending
	2008-2009	2009-2010	2010-2011
	($ thousands)
2006 Census of Agriculture	2,000	-	-
2011 Census of Agriculture*	TBD	TBD	TBD
*Planned spending for the 2011 Census of Agriculture has yet to be determined.

The 2006 Census of Agriculture will be releasing additional key statistical tables and analytical products in 2008-2009. The Agriculture-Population linkage database will provide a profile of socio-economic characteristics for farm operators and their families, based on data collected through the Census of Agriculture and the long Census of Population questionnaire.

Analytical articles from the 2006 Census of Agriculture will continue to be released electronically on the Statistics Canada website. The compendium of the entire series of articles will be published in book form in 2008-2009.

Through consultations with data users and stakeholders, a number of new or modified questions have been proposed for the 2011 Census of Agriculture to address evolving policy and monitoring requirements. Testing of this content, which began in 2007-2008, will be continued in 2008-2009 with farm operators across Canada in order to evaluate their ability and willingness to answer the questions. Questionnaire design activities will be initiated during this time period.

Building on successes and lessons learned in the 2006 Census, the Census of Agriculture will increase the target for mail-out (as opposed to direct delivery by field Census staff) to farms from the 6% achieved in 2006 to 90% in 2011. In order to achieve this, it will be necessary to enhance the Census of Agriculture Farm Register and develop its compatibility with the Census of Population Address Register. This enhancement and compatibility work will begin in 2008-2009.

The system architecture for the 2011 processing systems will be created in 2008-2009. Specifications for the collection and early processing systems will be finalized and development will be undertaken in preparation for the Census Test to be conducted with the Census of Population in May of 2009.

Planned Activities:
In 2008-2009, Census of Agriculture will release all remaining products from the 2006 Census. For the 2011 Census of Agriculture, content testing will be completed and systems specifications and development will be undertaken leading towards the Census Test in May of 2009. In addition, activities designed to enhance the Farm Register will begin in preparation for an expanded mail-out to farm operators in 2011.

Aboriginal Statistics (Program Sub Activity 3.3)

	Planned Spending
	2008-2009	2009-2010	2010-2011
	($ thousands)
Aboriginal Peoples Survey	6,550	6,550	6,250

The Aboriginal Peoples Survey (APS) is funded through a cost-recovery arrangement with a consortium of policy departments, led by Indian and Northern Affairs Canada. The 2006 APS will complement the Census data, providing a snapshot of the socio-economic, cultural, and health conditions of Métis, Inuit and First Nations people living off-reserve. The survey will provide governments and Aboriginal organizations with indicators to monitor change in educational outcomes, health status, employment and Aboriginal language proficiency. More importantly, it will provide statistical information on the determinants of these changes. Initial results from the survey will be released in the fall of 2008.

In addition to the off-reserve survey, planning of an on-reserve component to the APS is underway. The consortium of funding departments is evaluating different options for conducting the on-reserve survey in order to better meet the federal policy needs. The coming year (2008-09) will be spent determining the design and content of the on-reserve survey, and testing various survey collection modes. As part of the Aboriginal statistical program, Statistics Canada will be providing ongoing technical support and assistance to the newly established First Nations Statistical Institute (FNSI).

Planned Activities:
In 2008-2009, an on-reserve component of the Aboriginal Peoples Survey will be developed and tested and technical support will be provided to FNSI. Data collected from the off-reserve survey will be released in the fall of 2008.

SECTION III: SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

Table 1 - Departmental Link to the Government of Canada Outcomes

Strategic Outcome: Canadians have access to objective, high quality, non-partisan statistics, statistical products, services and analyses on Canada’s economy and society which fulfill legal requirements, are relevant to policy formulation and decision makers and are responsive to emerging issues.
	Planned Spending¹			Alignment to Government of Canada Outcome Area
	2008-2009	2009-2010	2010-2011	Alignment to Government of Canada Outcome Area
Economic Statistics	209,502	206,241	195,424	All Statistics Canada Program Activities are linked to the Government Affairs Government of Canada Outcome Area.
Social Statistics	147,702	145,642	143,119
Census, Demography and Aboriginal Statistics	94,680	88,337	31,563
Total Planned Spending	451,884	440,220	370,106
1. Planned Spending amounts are presented net of respendable revenue.
Note: Totals may differ within and between tables due to the rounding of amounts.

The following tables (tables – 3,4,5,6) can be found on the Secretariat’s website at http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/rpp/2008-2009/info/info-eng.asp or at Statistic Canada’s website (table 2) at www.statcan.ca.

Table 2 – STC’s Schedule of Quadrennial Program Review (QPR) and Biennial Program Report (BPR)

Table 3 - Internal Audits

Table 4 - Services Received Without Charge

Table 5 - Sources of Respendable and Non-respendable Revenue

Table 6 - Summary of Capital Spending by Program Activity

Program Evaluations

The ongoing evaluation of the quality and credibility of the statistical information produced by Statistics Canada is essential to the fulfillment of its mandate and achievement of its strategic outcome. For this purpose, each statistical program is subject to a detailed review and report on program performance every four years, with a briefer update report in the second year of this four year cycle. Departmental managers use the results of these evaluations to make enlightened decisions on priorities, adjustments in programs to meet users’ needs, reallocations of resources and other program adjustments.

Through this process, program managers conduct a thorough and rigorous self-assessment of their program’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and vulnerabilities, assess the risks and provide a strategic plan to the Chief Statistician.

1. The Quadrennial Program Review (QPR)

The QPR is a comprehensive risk based review of each program conducted every four years, resulting in all departmental programs being subject to an evaluation over a four year cycle. The QPR involves a thorough consultation with key constituents, particularly on their satisfaction with program outputs. Feedback is obtained through satisfaction surveys, on-going or ad hoc meetings, participation in advisory committees and other consultation mechanisms. This provides in-depth qualitative and quantitative information regarding program performance. For completeness and consistency, all performance indicators are reported on the basis of the Department’s Quality Assurance Framework. The results of this evaluation are used by Program Manager to articulate a strategic direction for the next four years, which is presented to the joint Planning/Evaluation Committee, chaired by the deputy head, for guidance and approval, and is fed into the long-term planning process.

2. The Biennial Program Report (BPR)

The BPR is a mid-cycle progress report on the implementation of the approved strategic plan. Like the QPR, it is structured according to the Quality Assurance Framework but performance reporting is conducted as required, where there is materiality in the trends. This mid-cycle report also highlights emerging changes and issues and how they are addressed.

Internal Audits

There were two internal audits and one by the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) completed this past year. As 2006 was a Census year, one of the internal audits and the OAG audit covered different aspects of the Census of Population.

Chapter 6 of the OAG report tabled in November 2007 covered the 2006 Census and found that Statistics Canada satisfactorily managed the 2006 Census of Population in accordance with its quality assurance systems and practices but that the department did not prepare an integrated and comprehensive document describing the overall approach. Statistics Canada took a proactive approach to identifying risks to the 2006 Census. However, it did not fully comply with the requirements of the government’s policy on risk management. In particular, despite the numbers of temporary field staff it needed and the challenges it faced in hiring and retaining them, it did not develop formal and detailed contingency plans to respond in the event that it could not meet those challenges. The department managed risks related to the privacy of respondent information with significant and successful efforts to ensure that the privacy of Census data was protected. The agency will continue to search for ways to improve its processes and practices and will work on the areas that were identified as requiring adjustments for the 2011 Census.

The internal audit entitled “Audit of 2006 Census Related to Selected Security, Administrative and Quality Practices” found that pay was processed in an accurate way, mainly in accordance with established legislation, policies and procedures. However, payments to employees were not always timely as streamlining and adjustment of some controls is necessary to show evidence of due diligence. Personnel screening for new census Statistics Act employees met most of the requirements of the Government Security Policy (2002) and Personnel Security Standard (1994). Reliability checks were done before employees began work, although improvements to some tools and procedures are required for 2011 Census field operations. Employees swear the oath of office under the Statistics Act and have a reliability status before accessing a computing device connected to any Statistics Canada network. Overall, management controls were in place related to monitoring of Census Help Line telephone operators either responding to the Canadian public or contacting them for information as part of failed edit follow-up, although their effectiveness should be improved. Work as already begun on improving these areas for the next Census.

The second internal audit completed during this period was the second part of the “Audit of Central Regional Office (Toronto) Administrative Processes”. In this part it was found that the regional office was mainly compliant with staffing under the Public Service Employment Act. Regarding staffing for Statistical Survey Operations (SSO), it was found that the staffing files had been centralized. There was evidence of competitive processes and that merit was applied. However, a list of key documents to be found in the staffing files was not available. A working committee has been tasked with developing and identifying the key staffing documents that will be required when conducting each SSO staffing process.

The department is currently developing a multi-year risk-based audit plan that will respond to the requirements of the Policy on Internal Audit. The plan is expected to be presented to the Internal Audit Committee at the beginning of 2008. The plan will also cover the implementation of the 2006 Policy on Internal Audit as outlined by the Office of the Comptroller General, including the selection of a Chief Audit Executive. It is expected that the new CAE will start in early 2008-2009. The Department expects to have established a new Audit Committee in conformity with the 2006 Policy on Internal Audit by the end of 2008-2009.

The Internal Audit and Evaluation table listing can be found on the Secretariat’s website at http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/rpp/2008-2009/info/info-eng.asp.

SECTION IV: OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST

The long run effectiveness of national statistical offices depends on their ability to respond flexibly to changes in their environment. To this end, they must support analysis, innovation and experimentation, maintain a strong professional capacity, keep their operational infrastructure in a good state of repair, and remain responsive to client sponsored surveys. Organizational flexibility and responsiveness is greatly facilitated by the presence of effective internal services and infrastructure. The Internal Services program activity is comprised of management and technical sub-activities that support the department’s other program activities. These sub-activities are also subject to regular evaluation and renewal so as to maintain the department’s operational capacity in a high state of readiness.

Three priorities have been identified this year for this program activity, all funded through internal reallocation of resources generated by efficiency gains.² They are the Collection Modernization Initiative, Strengthening the Financial Management Function and the Official Languages Training Program.

² As a result of the Strategic Review, this capacity to reinvest efficiency gains to renew operational infrastructure will be maintained but at a reduced level over the next three years.

Internal Services (Program Activity 4)

Collection Modernization Initiative

	Planned Spending
	2008-2009	2009-2010	2010-2011
	($ thousands)
Collection Modernization-Phase 1	1,500	25	25

Collection modernization consists of several key components which together, would provide collection operations with a robust infrastructure, along with new tools to facilitate the planning and management of a multi-mode, integrated collection platform for all bureau surveys. The above funding allows the development of Phase 1 and includes the creation of the following tools;

a) A single repository of both current and historical operational data, accessible by all partners, that serves as the data source for collection management, analysis and reporting.

b) A master controller that would manage the survey samples across collection modes and locations according to a predefined collection plan, as well as monitor progress. It would also provide the interface to allow operational managers to dynamically reallocate work in response to evolving operational situations.

c) Hardware and software bridges that would permit the existing collection modes and systems to remain independent. At the same time, this approach will provide a “plug and play” capability to allow for replacement of individual collection components and functionality. This new layer of infrastructure would avoid the “big bang” approach to replacing aging functionality.

The functionality that would be available at the end of Phase 1 would significantly improve the operation effectiveness of collection, and should be considered independent of Phase 2 in terms of costs and benefits.

Planned activities:
In 2008-2009 the project will provide benefits to collection operations for Departmental surveys by providing more information and tools for survey managers in the Regional Operations programs and client programs to actively manage collection in a more integrated approach:

A multi-mode, multi-site collection infrastructure will be available to social survey clients, without requiring a major re-investment in existing survey instruments.
Workloads will be more actively managed in real time, with up to date information, thereby improving planning, scheduling and workload balancing of surveys. Survey managers will have a single interface designed to provide operational reports that reflect a survey wide view across all collection efforts. As well, operational managers will have a view across collection locations in addition to a modal view.
A business continuity solution will be implemented in order to respond to an outage in any collection site. The transfer of workload to other locations could occur in a timely manner without loss of operational data.
The standardization and re-use of modular collection components will be significantly enhanced, as well as help simplify and make more generic, various operational processes within collection.

Financial Management Function (Program Sub Activity 4.4)

	Planned Spending
	2008-2009	2009-2010	2010-2011
	($ thousands)
Strengthening the Financial Management Function	1,642	285	285

This initiative has four main components:

Increase in Common Departmental Financial System (CDFS) Costs
Treasury Board Policy Suite of initiatives
Treasury Board Submissions and External Reporting
Audited Financial statements Readiness

1) The Common Departmental Financial System (CDFS)

The CDFS is a comprehensive financial management and reporting system designed specifically for the use of federal government departments and agencies. It is a Web based user interface available on the Federal Common Intranet Network “GENet”. CDFS interfaces with internal departmental administrative systems and with the mandatory government wide suite of Central Systems.

Functional and technical experts at Public Works and Government Services (PWGSC) manage and maintain CDFS on behalf of their clients by providing comprehensive client support, including a Help Desk service for problem resolution. PWGSC charges yearly user fees to its Cluster of clients to offset the cost of this service. The interface with CDFS is a pivotal component of our new Corporate Administrative Systems. Maintaining both CDFS as our external financial system, as well as our relationship with PWGSC, will allow the organization to continue to benefit from its investment in its new integrated corporate systems.

The costs for this service have increased by $285K since 2005-06 and are expected to increase significantly as PWGSC, the largest current user of the system, moves from CDFS to SAP. In 2008-09 Statistics Canada will become the largest user of the CDFS application and PWGSC will be moving to a full cost recovery model to offset the costs of maintaining their services.

2) Treasury Board Policy Suite Renewal Initiative

This is in response to the Office of the Comptroller General’s (OCG) Initiative for improved financial management and the Treasury Board Secretariat’s (TBS) Policy Suite Renewal Initiative. To address key OCG priorities for financial management and analysis to rigorously oversee all aspects of government spending, Statistics Canada will strengthen its financial management function so as to provide appropriate financial management frameworks, develop policies and make available guidance on financial controls. At the same time, TBS will review 52 financial policies and directives, which will require additional policy interpretation and implementation in Statistics Canada and the provision of clear internal procedures to ensure compliance.

3) Treasury Board Submissions and External Reporting Scope Increase

The government's transformational agenda, which seeks strengthened accountability and oversight, has resulted in a significant increase in the scope of the work for the Finance Branch. The work associated with preparing, negotiating and supporting Statistics Canada’s Treasury Board Submissions and External Reports such as the Annual Reference Level Update, as well as, the Main, and Supplementary Estimates has increased considerably over the last five years. In addition, new and emerging issues including Horizontal Reviews and the Management Accountability Framework have expanded the complexity of the Department’s external reporting requirements.

4) Audited Financial Statements Readiness

In March 2004, the Government announced its intention to make it mandatory that all Departments and Agencies produce Audited Financial Statements, in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) within 5 years (2008/2009). To this end, Statistics Canada needs to ensure that appropriate financial management frameworks are in place and that policies, processes and other controls are established so as to support for the ongoing annual audit of financial statements. In addition, the Federal Accountability Act identifies key measures for reform, such as the expanded role of the Auditor General to “follow the money”, strengthening auditing and accountability within departments and the creation of a Parliamentary Budget Officer to provide independent financial analysis about the nation’s finances. These innovations will create additional analysis and reporting requirements.

The project will provide assurance to the Chief Statistician that the all necessary measures have been taken to ensure Ministerial accountability and that sign-off of departmental Financial Statements is supported by solid processes and controls.

Planned activities:
In 2008-2009, Statistics Canada will continue to move forward on all four activities listed above by increasing capacity in the Finance Branch to meet the challenges ahead.

Official Languages Training Program (Program Sub Activity 4.3)

	Planned Spending
	2008-2009	2009-2010	2010-2011
	($ thousands)
Official Languages Training Program	2,618	2,618	2,618

As of April 2007, departments are fully accountable for language training delivery and the associated costs. The Canada School of Public Service (CSPS) will only provide specialized language training for employees with learning disabilities (on a cost-recovery basis after March 2007). Statistics Canada must have a strategy to create and maintain an effective bilingual capacity and address the need for:

A significant level of statutory training as a result of non-imperative selection processes, both full-time and part time
Part-time career development training to help create future bilingual capacity
Language training to employees with learning disabilities
Language testing capacity to support staffing, training and planning future capability for bilingual service delivery.

Projections for Departmental statutory training needs for the next four years indicate that Statistics Canada will have 119, 109, 56 and 56 employees to train, respectively, between FY 2007 – 2011. The first group of 119 represents existing statutory employees that must be trained to meet the language requirements of their position. The remaining groups are future projections based on analysis conducted by Statistics Canada’s Business and Labour Analysts. It is expected that the need for statutory training will continue well beyond 2011, for example, employees (56) that will have been appointed in 2010/2011 will not have completed their training until at least the following year.

Under this plan, participation in the full-time training program would be limited to 60 statutory employees per year. This will enable the Department to respect the exemption period for the total number of statutory employees to be trained (e.g. 119 in 2007-2008) when adding the 2 year extension allowed under the Official Languages Exclusion Order.

Statistics Canada’s part-time program has contributed considerably to language training for statutory purposes. Since April 2004, more than 30 employees have reached the linguistic level of their position through part-time training only. Others, who had initially been enrolled in and completed a significant number of hours as part of a full-time training plan but who were unable to finish their training in this manner, have been able to achieve the level required by enrolling in part-time training. Part-time training has also been integrated into longer term training plans that include a mix of part-time and full-time.

Planned Activities:
In 2008-2009, all employees requiring statutory training would undertake part-time language training as soon as possible following their appointment, as per our current procedures. This helps ensure a maximum number of training hours can be subtracted from the full-time training required. It also enables employees with much shorter training plans to achieve the level required without having to undertake full-time training. It is anticipated that 150 employees per year could take advantage of statutory part-time training.

Statistics Canada – Organizational Structure and Program Activities, 2008-2009 Budgets

		Minister of Industry
		Chief Statistician
Program Activities		ACS* Social, Institutions and Labour Statistics	ACS Business and Trade Statistics	ACS National Accounts and Analytical Studies	ACS Analysis and Development	ACS Com-munications and Operations	ACS Informatics and Methodology	ACS Management Services	Sub-Total	Vote-Netted Revenues	Total
Economic Statistics	($ thousands)	1,302	96,436	34,161	-	44,271	40,615	18,188	234,973	25,471	209,502
Social Statistics	($ thousands)	66,614	509	404	37,486	72,107	32,715	15,408	225,243	77,541	147,702
Census, Demography and Aboriginal Statistics	($ thousands)	54,502	2,568	-	-	23,139	33,788	7,671	121,668	26,988	94,680
Total Planned Spending	($ thousands)	122,418	99,513	34,565	37,486	139,517	107,118	41,267	581,884	130,000	451,884
Notes: * ACS - Assistant Chief Statistician Totals may differ within and between tables due to the rounding of amounts.

Table 3 - Internal Audits
The following table lists the upcoming audits that pertain to Statistic Canada.
Name of Internal Audit	Internal Audit Type	Status	Expected Completion Date
Asset Protection and Lifecycle Management	Internal Audit	Ongoing	Spring 2008
Office of the Auditor General – Management of Personal Identity	OAG Audit	Ongoing	Fall 2008
Confidentiality of Sensitive Statistical Information	Internal Audit	Ongoing	Fall 2008
* The electronic link to reports and plans will be available on Statistics Canada’s website: www.statcan.ca

Table 4 - Services Received Without Charge
($ thousands)	2008-2009
Net Planned Spending (Total Main Estimates plus Adjustments as per the Planned Spending table)	462,742
Plus: Services Received without Charge
Accommodation provided by Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC) Contributions covering employers' share of employees' insurance premiums and expenditures paid by Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) (excluding revolving funds) Worker's compensation coverage provided by Human Resources Development Canada Salary and associated expenditures of legal services provided by the Department of Justice Canada	32,367
	29,198
	157
	21
Sub-total Services Received Without Charge Less: Non-respendable Revenue	61,743
	800
2008-2009 Net Cost of the Department	523,685
Notes: Totals may differ within and between tables due to the rounding of amounts.

Table 5 - Sources of Respendable and Non-respendable Revenue
Respendable Revenue
($ thousands)	Forecast Revenue 2007-2008	Planned Revenue 2008-2009	Planned Revenue 2009-2010	Planned Revenue 2010-2011
Statistical Services and Products
External Internal ¹	12,283	10,388	10,622	9,506
External Internal ¹	10,305	8,715	8,912	7,976
Economics Statistics	30,420	25,727	26,308	23,544
Statistical Services and Products
External Internal ¹	25,209	25,309	19,469	19,469
External Internal ¹	41,193	52,232	43,815	43,815
Social Statistics	66,402	77,541	63,283	63,283
Statistical Services and Products
External Internal ¹	3,767	5,436	4,181	4,181
External Internal ¹	31,303	21,552	12,944	12,944
Census, Demography and Aboriginal Statistics	35,070	26,988	17,125	17,125
Total External	33,154	33,506	25,774	25,774
Total Internal ¹	96,846	96,494	74,226	74,226
Total Respendable Revenue	130,000	130,000	100,000	100,000
Non-respendable Revenue
($ thousands)	Forecast Revenue 2007-2008	Planned Revenue 2008-2009	Planned Revenue 2009-2010	Planned Revenue 2010-2011
Economics Statistics
Statistical Services and Products
Social Statistics
Statistical Services and Products	800	800	800	800
Census, Demography and Aboriginal Statistics
Statistical Services and Products
Total Non-respendable Revenue	800	800	800	800
Total Respendable and Non-respendable Revenue	130,800	130,800	100,800	100,800
Notes: 1. Internal represents Other government departments (OGD). Totals may differ within and between tables due to the rounding of amounts.

Table 6 - Summary of Capital Spending by Program Activity
($ thousands)	Forecast Spending 2007-2008	Planned Spending 2008-2009	Planned Spending 2009-2010	Planned Spending 2010-2011
Economics Statistics	7,832	6,624	6,774	6,062
Social Statistics	12,283	10,388	10,622	9,506
Census, Demography and Aboriginal Statistics	10,305	8,715	8,912	7,976
Census, Demography and Aboriginal Statistics	30,420	25,727	26,308	23,544
Notes: Totals may differ within and between tables due to the rounding of amounts.

ARCHIVED - Statistics Canada

Archived Content

2008-2009 Reports on Plans and Priorities

Statistics Canada

Table of Contents

SECTION I: OVERVIEW

SECTION II: ANALYSIS OF PROGRAM ACTIVITIES BY STRATEGIC OUTCOME

SECTION III: SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

SECTION IV: OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST

SECTION I: OVERVIEW

Minister’s Portfolio Message

Management Representation Statement

Statistics Canada

Raison d'être

Organizational Information

Program Activity Architecture (PAA) Crosswalk

Voted and Statutory Items displayed in the Main Estimates

Planned Spending and Full-time Equivalents

Summary Information

Financial Resources

Human Resources

Departmental Priorities

Program Activities by Strategic Outcome

Departmental Plans and Priorities

A framework for user needs

A framework for statistical capacity

SECTION II: ANALYSIS OF PROGRAM ACTIVITIES BY STRATEGIC OUTCOME

Economic Statistics (Program Activity 1)

Environment Accounts and Statistics (Program Sub-Sub Activity 1.1.2)

Public Institutions Statistics (Program Sub-Sub Activity 1.1.4)

Prices Statistics (Program Sub-Sub Activity 1.4.1)

Social Statistics (Program Activity 2)

Health Statistics (Program Sub Activity 2.2)

Justice Statistics (Program Sub-Sub Activity 2.1.1)

Census, Demography and Aboriginal Statistics (Program Activity 3)

Census of Population (Program Sub Activity 3.4)

Archiving Census Records

Census of Agriculture (Program Sub Activity 3.1)

Aboriginal Statistics (Program Sub Activity 3.3)

SECTION III: SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

Table 1 - Departmental Link to the Government of Canada Outcomes

Program Evaluations

Internal Audits

SECTION IV: OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST

Internal Services (Program Activity 4)

Collection Modernization Initiative

Financial Management Function (Program Sub Activity 4.4)

Official Languages Training Program (Program Sub Activity 4.3)

Statistics Canada – Organizational Structure and Program Activities, 2008-2009 Budgets

Table 3 - Internal Audits

Table 4 - Services Received Without Charge

Table 5 - Sources of Respendable and Non-respendable Revenue

Table 6 - Summary of Capital Spending by Program Activity

2008-2009
Reports on Plans and Priorities