Statistics Canada
consultations with users:
Results and lessons learned
Art Ridgeway
Director General of the National Accounts
Statistics Canada
December 2009
User Consultation
 Consultations with a few key policy agencies
• Fiscal authority. central bank, social security authority
 Consultations with advisory committees
• National Accounts Advisory Committee
• National Statistics Council
 In December 2008 a wider consultation process began.
Input was sought in three different areas:
• Is the timeliness of indicators adequate?
• Are there any key missing data products?
• Is a different communication strategy required?
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Timeliness Issues
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More timely and higher frequency financial accounts
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Monthly indicators or estimates for supply - use:
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personal expenditure monthly
inventory data - either monthly or earlier quarterly indicator
fixed capital formation – particularly engineering projects?
Don’t go to a Flash estimate of GDP
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In Canada a significant part of the data for the financial sector
comes from Statistics Canada and not the Central Bank
Monthly GDP plus quarterly accounts from production to accumulation
accounts and balance sheets
Monthly cross border securities transactions and quarterly International
Investment Position
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Data Gaps
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Information on labour market transitions such as:
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Time spent on job search after layoff
Transition to a new industry or occupation
Was a pay cut required to transition to a new job?
Was geographical relocation necessary?
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Price index for the sale of existing housing assets
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Leave business and consumer conditions surveys to
the private sector
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stick to quantitative measurement of performance
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Communication
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The metadata and the structure of the financial
accounts and balance sheets are out-of-date and need
to be modernized.
Issues of consistency between the financial accounts
data of the nation accounts and high frequency financial
data published by others
Adding analytic content such as leverage and debt
burden ratios
Improve geographical presentations of employment
insurance claims on a monthly basis
Very difficult to find data on the Statcan Wed site
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Proposed short term data collection
 Proposals to address on a temporary basis the
data on labour market transitions and fixed
capital were prepared
 Funding was not forthcoming and most users
preferred efforts to focus on maintaining and
developing the core statistical infrastructure
 A one time survey of capital expenditure
intentions was funded from internal sources
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Statistics Canada responded
in a number of ways.
 Debt service ratios released, provincial ratios to
follow in new year
• Coordination with the central bank
 MV balance sheets and financial flows expanded
from 4 to 33 sectors this month – an additional
3000 financial series
 Used presentations and workshops to address in
the short term the lack of up-to-date
documentation for financial and wealth accounts
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Statistics Canada responded
in a number of ways.
 Recognizing that the financial crisis has a large impact
on Canadian’s pensions
• Published a Pension Satellite Account
 New Web site design to facilitate better access to data
 Users wanted more information on the special events
affecting the current estimates
• E.g. US and Canadian governments’ equity position in GM
• Using Frequently Asked Questions to inform users on these
types of events and to draw their attention to pertinent concepts
and methods documents for such events
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Looking to the future
 The experience with the financial crises show
that three factors are important in being prepared
for future challenges
• Outreach
• Flexibility
• Communications
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Moving forward
 Outreach:
• Infrastructure to regularly consult with clients and
capacity to quickly consult when needed
• Key factor in maintaining the relevance of products
• Access to micro data
 Issue before crisis but renewed efforts to provide broader
access to researchers to micro business data
 Constitutive processes underway with objective of improving
access to the fullest extent possible under the Statistics Act
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Moving forward
 Flexibility:
• Comprehensive economic data program as a
foundation
• Capacity to quickly move resources from lower to
higher priority programs
This was significant constraint in most recent cycle
Major project underway to improve this situation
• Appropriate governance structure to move resources
as required
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Moving forward.
 Communications:
• Communications strategy for releases based on
evolving data needs
• Importance of a regular communication program with
users:
Insure they are aware of data details and developments
Maintain the metadata associated with these data
• Improved coordination of communication between the
central bank and financial market supervisions
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