Core Responsibilities
Statistical information
Description
Statistics Canada produces objective, high-quality statistical information for all of Canada. The information produced relates to the commercial, industrial, financial, social, economic, environmental and general activities and conditions of the people of Canada.
Results
This past year, the agency continued to address the needs of governments, businesses and individuals with trusted data to help improve the well-being of Canadians. The agency supported the Innovation and Skills Plan, advanced through experimentation, built on the success of the 2016 Census and prepared for the 2021 Census, continued to deliver on key priorities for ongoing programs, acted as the data lead for the Sustainable Development Goals, and addressed Gender-based Analysis Plus gaps.
In 2018–19, Statistics Canada implemented the amended Statistics Act, which strengthens the independence of Statistics Canada. The agency's statistical information allows program results to be tracked and measured. To ensure transparent data stewardship, Statistics Canada created a new website module: Accountability under the Statistics Act.
Government priorities: supporting the Innovation and Skills Plan
In 2018–19, Statistics Canada supported Canada's Innovation and Skills Plan by collaborating with key federal departments and stakeholders to assess the impact of innovation on inclusive growth to broaden the agency's data strategy, increasing data accessibility by launching new tools, developing new data sources to measure the socioeconomic impact that new technologies have on businesses and the labour market, and modernizing to better meet information needs in the digital era. Statistics Canada is also modernizing each step of the statistical process—from initial data collection to final data use—while increasing quality, timeliness and statistical rigour. Finally, the agency adopted a user-centric service delivery approach by consulting extensively with data users to better understand and meet their needs.
In 2018–19, the Clerk of the Privy Council requested that Statistics Canada, the Treasury Board Secretariat and the Privy Council Office co-lead the development of the Data Strategy Roadmap for the Federal Public Service. This report lays the groundwork for a data strategy across the Government of Canada. As Canada's national statistical office, Statistics Canada's role is to ensure the availability and interpretability of high-quality, trusted data in the Roadmap to inform government programs and services while protecting the privacy of Canadians. Statistics Canada is also partnering with federal organizations to ensure data literacy and numeracy are improving across the country. Furthermore, Statistics Canada developed new data sources to measure the socioeconomic impact that new technologies have on businesses and the labour market. In addition, the agency modernized to better meet information needs in the digital era, and collaborated with key federal departments and stakeholders to broaden the data strategy by assessing how innovation affects inclusive growth.
In 2018–19, Statistics Canada increased data accessibility for various programs. For example, the agency released a Data Visualization Hub featuring automotive-related data such as retail and wholesale trade, international trade, manufacturing, employment and gross domestic product (GDP). Furthermore, the agency collaborated with Microsoft's Bing Maps team to release a first version of the Open Database of Buildings (ODB) in November 2018. The ODB is a collection of building footprints based on freely available, existing and open municipal and provincial data—made accessible on a single platform. This new data source was deployed to extract building footprints from satellite imagery. A parallel release of a Microsoft database and an updated version of the ODB occurred in March 2019. This collaboration resulted in the first mapping of virtually all building footprints in Canada. These examples show how the agency is increasing the availability and usability of statistical information for Canadians.
The Weekly Review, launched in May 2018, also increased the accessibility of data released through The Daily (Statistics Canada's official release vehicle) by guiding infrequent users to findings of broad interest every week. The My StatCan feature allows Canadians to sign up to receive The Daily through an email customized with the subjects of their choice.
In February 2019, the agency produced a series of short videos featuring Statistics Canada experts discussing their areas of expertise, programs and services, and current pilot projects and experiments. The agency produced videos and infographics to help the public understand how Statistics Canada acquires administrative data and protects the privacy of Canadians, and how data from these sources are important to Canadian economy and society. Overall, 80% of users indicated that they were satisfied with the statistical information they received from Statistics Canada—nonetheless the agency continues to strive to improve how it addresses the needs of Canadians.
To build statistical capacity among Canadians, the agency increased awareness and understanding of its data products and services using a modern approach. In 2018–19, Statistics Canada interacted with Canadians on social media more than 358,763 times. During this period, the agency's statistical products were cited 74,657 times in the media and 22,716 times in academic journals, surpassing the original targets set for the fiscal year. The agency's relatively high visibility in the media is largely attributable to an increase in coverage of the agency's statistics, which attests to the continued relevance of the agency's data products.
Over the course of 2018–19, the agency modernized its Agriculture Statistics Program by increasing the use of administrative data in the Census of Agriculture. In response to the needs expressed by farmers, the AG-Zero initiative was implemented to obtain information required about the agriculture sector from sources that provide the data quality and details with minimal response burden. This initiative leverages the greater availability of alternative data sources from the digital economy, the increasingly free access to high-quality satellite imagery, and the advances in data modelling and processing techniques to provide objective, high-quality, more granular and frequent statistical information for the agriculture industry and farmers. As a result, survey questionnaires are being reduced in length through the use of alternative data sources.
Furthermore, important progress has been made toward measuring the digital economy. Statistics Canada published economic measures (GDP, output and employment) of the digital economy for the first time. Canada became the first country to produce estimates of employment in the digital economy. Canada also became the first country to produce estimates of the digital economy at the provincial level, and was the only country to produce such a long time series of these data. This is a first step toward measuring the digital economy, and additional work will be done to expand this project.
The agency developed the Innovation Radar, a system that provides a means for transparent and open communication and a way to share innovative activities occurring within Statistics Canada.
In alignment with the Government of Canada's Strategic Plan for Information Management and Information Technology, Statistics Canada has embraced a cloud-first strategy as the basis of a modern, secure, scalable and efficient information technology infrastructure. Statistics Canada collaborated with industry leaders and other government organizations through interdepartmental cloud groups to share knowledge and best practices. The official business case and funding request for the agency's adoption of cloud technologies and migration of existing products to a cloud infrastructure were formalized in 2018–19. The agency will migrate only when it is absolutely certain that the sensitive data it is responsible for are secure.
In line with delivering modern statistical infrastructure, Statistics Canada released Picasso, a one-stop portal that allows employees to search and discover datasets and statistical metadata to support their work and keep up to date on the latest data sources. Picasso is serving as a prototype for a whole-of-government approach to managing data as part of the Data Strategy Roadmap for the Federal Public Service.
Statistics Canada also launched a new major initiative in 2018–19: Data Analytics as a Service. The vision for this initiative is a service that could be used by researchers, policy analysts and data scientists alike to search, contribute, analyze and visualize data—all while collaborating with one another on a common platform. This initiative was presented to and approved by the Government of Canada's Enterprise Architecture Review Board.
In 2018–19, Statistics Canada launched the New Dissemination Model (NDM). The NDM modernized the look and feel of Statistics Canada's website based on comprehensive user consultations, and upgraded the technical infrastructure. The NDM allowed for better data discovery by simplifying the line of data products and improving navigation with a more coherent and consistent layout and functionality, generated through a database-driven approach.
In addition, the agency conducted several transparency and engagement initiatives, such as publishing two new web modules on the Statistics Canada website, consulting more extensively with Canadians and producing a series of eight short videos of the agency's experts talking about their areas of expertise. This allowed the agency to highlight the importance of using new and existing data sources for official statistics, increase Canadians' understanding of the agency's positive impact on their day-to-day lives, and reaffirm the value of statistics in evidence-based decision making. The agency also launched Statistics Canada's Trust Centre to make information on these topics readily available to Canadians.
Pathfinder projects: advancing through experimentation
In 2018–19, the agency progressed on the delivery of four pathfinder projects that were launched last year. This supported the agency's modernization plan and key areas of experimentation. The valuable lessons learned from these projects are helping Statistics Canada to further define and refine the modernization plan. These projects are Towards Measuring Cannabis, the Canadian Housing Statistics Program, Transition to a Low-carbon Economy and Measuring Growth in International Visitors to Canada.
Towards Measuring Cannabis: This project was launched in 2017–18 to better measure social and economic changes surrounding the legalization of cannabis. On December 21, 2018, Statistics Canada published its first figures on retail cannabis. Following this, information from four cycles of the National Cannabis Survey was released, providing valuable insights into behaviours associated with cannabis use before (three cycles) and after (one cycle) legalization.This has allowed the agency to effectively monitor how cannabis legalization is affecting cannabis consumption in the Canadian population. It has also allowed for the measurement of shifts from illegal market to legal market purchasing patterns, as well as unsafe behaviours related to cannabis use, such as driving after cannabis consumption. In addition, the agency built and delivered a social statistics framework for cannabis, entitled "Preparing the social statistics system for the legalization of cannabis." The goal of this framework is to optimize the collection of cannabis-related information on health and health care, law enforcement, the justice system, community safety and well-being, education, and labour before and after legalization. Finally, Statistics Canada also conducted an innovative pilot project in 2018–19 that used the emerging science of wastewater-based epidemiology. This approach involved measuring wastewater in the sewers for trace concentrations of a cannabis metabolite. Results from this pilot were released in The Daily in November 2018 and provided even more effective means to measure the consumption of cannabis.
The Canadian Housing Statistics Program (CHSP): Important progress was made in 2018–19, including setting up a database containing property and owner characteristics for residential properties in Canada. The agency published information on various property and owner characteristics for all residential properties in British Columbia, Nova Scotia and Ontario. The CHSP generated new insights on immigrant-owned housing in Vancouver and Toronto, including factors that are driving price escalation in the high-end housing market.
Transition to a Low-carbon Economy: In 2018–19, the Transition to a Low-carbon Economy pathfinder project extended beyond research and development activities to initiatives that expand and improve statistics related to environmental protection and clean technology. The Environmental and Clean Technology Products Economic Account provides information on environmental and clean technology activities in Canada, including estimates of GDP, international trade and employment. Detailed information was published on international trade in environmental and clean technology products by origin and destination. Work began to develop a detailed human resources module on environmental and clean technologies that provides detailed statistics on variables such as gender, age, occupation, education, and full-time and part-time employment. The account will be further expanded in 2019–20 to include some provincial detail. In addition, to fulfill a data gap on the adoption of environmental and clean technologies, the Environmental Protection Expenditures Survey was redesigned: core content was updated to reflect the current United Nations System of Environmental-Economic Accounting classification and questions were added to collect more detail on the purchase and use of environmental and clean technology commodities and services by industry. Finally, work began to develop a hub for information and indicators for four pillars of the low-carbon economy: energy, economy, society and environment.
Measuring Growth in International Visitors to Canada: This project was launched to fill important data gaps to support the Government of Canada's Tourism Vision and expand international tourism in Canada. To ensure better geographic coverage and to improve how the characteristics and economic impacts of tourism activities by Canadian residents are measured, a new National Travel Survey was developed in 2017–18 and implemented successfully in 2018. To fill some key data gaps, Statistics Canada collaborated with the Canada Border Services Agency to introduce integrated primary inspection kiosk data, which were also piloted in 2017–18. The agency also partnered with Destination Canada to provide tourism spending estimates by country of origin and expenditure category, first released in February 2019. In addition, the agency worked with territorial tourism ministries to develop data strategies for measuring tourism in the territories for the first time. Pilot tests were conducted in 2018–19, and the collection period should start in January 2020.
Building on the success of the 2016 Census and preparing for the 2021 Census
The census is an important source of information about Canada's population, and its results are used across all sectors of Canadian society to help people make informed decisions. Statistics Canada has been conducting a series of tests to continue improving the census and to ensure efficiency and cost-effectiveness objectives will be met.
New methods were developed for the 2021 Census to improve efficiency and cost-effectiveness, reduce respondent burden and deliver high-quality data. From September 2017 to May 2018, the agency conducted online consultations, receiving a record high volume of feedback. Online consultations were conducted with interested members of the public, and face-to-face discussions were held with federal departments; provincial, territorial and local government departments; academia; special interest groups; and the private sector. Discussions were also held with First Nations, Métis and Inuit stakeholders. The feedback from these consultations is being used to update and improve the 2021 Census of Population questionnaire. The report "2021 Census of Population Consultation Results: What we heard from Canadians," published in April 2019, outlines the findings.
Statistics Canada also conducted qualitative testing on modified census questions in preparation for the 2019 Census Test that was conducted in May and June 2019. Extensive preparations were made this year to prepare for the census test. This test will allow the agency to evaluate the census questionnaire, including new and modified questions, as well as collection procedures and tools for the upcoming 2021 Census of Population and 2021 Census of Agriculture.
The Census of Population Program continues to conduct research on how the 2021 Census could use other available data sources to supplement or replace some of the census field operations while maintaining the relevance of the results and increasing the efficiency of the program.
Key priorities for ongoing programs
Statistics Canada continues to deliver ongoing economic and social indicators that allow policy makers, businesses and all other Canadians to make informed, evidence-based decisions.
After the 2017 federal budget announced funding of the Canadian Centre on Transportation Data, three key products were launched during 2018–19:
- With Transport Canada, Statistics Canada created the Transportation Data and Information Hub. It features performance metrics, dashboards and interactive maps displaying the latest traffic information at ports, airports and border crossings. The agencies have begun planning to add key elements from the Transportation Modernization Act, including weekly railway and airline passenger performance metrics.
- The agency identified how transportation activity contributes to the Canadian economy by including information within the GDP.
- To support infrastructure funding and other programs, the Canadian Freight Analysis Framework began producing estimates of freight flows by geography, commodity, weight, value and mode. The database can be used in a variety of analyses, including assessing highway capacity and forecasting traffic, evaluating investments in infrastructure, examining trade flows, and analyzing policies such as road pricing and multimodal freight programs.
Statistics Canada has also responded to emerging social topics with various data strategies, such as the current opioid crisis, medical assistance in dying, poverty measurement, quality of work and pathways through the postsecondary education system.
In Budget 2018, Statistics Canada received funding to revise the Canadian Coroner and Medical Examiner Database to help provide a more comprehensive understanding of the deaths associated with the opioid crisis. The agency worked with various levels of government to undertake the Surrey Opioid Data Collection and Community Response Project. This initiative provides decision makers with information to develop responses for reducing opioid-related overdoses and deaths in British Columbia communities.
In 2018–19, Statistics Canada started producing more timely information on births, stillbirths and deaths in Canada. In the spring of 2019, the agency released information on changes in life expectancy by cause of death, age and sex at lower levels of geography. This data showcased, for the first time, how various health conditions affect the life expectancy of Canadians. More specifically, life expectancy in Canada has now stopped increasing for the first time in 40 years, which is largely attributable to the opioid crisis. Jointly, Statistics Canada and Health Canada developed a secure data acquisition and holding strategy and collected information on medical assistance in dying, as required by the new Regulations for the Monitoring of Medical Assistance in Dying.
Statistics Canada, in partnership with Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC), led an interdepartmental working group to support the Canadian Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS). This working group discussed projects related to monitoring programs, providing data indicators, better understanding populations of interest to inform new policies, conducting surveys and reviewing low-income measures such as the market basket measure (MBM). The MBM is a measure of low income based on the cost of a basket of goods and services that individuals and families require to meet their basic needs and achieve a modest standard of living. Statistics Canada worked on the development of the Dimensions of Poverty Hub and PRS dashboard.
In 2018–19, Statistics Canada launched several pilot projects to expand the University and College Academic Staff System (UCASS). The four institutions in the pilot exercise were provided with an expanded list of data elements not currently included in the UCASS annual survey. The key objectives of this exercise are to collect data that are relevant and that support the development of strategies to measure part-time staff, equity and career pathways in the postsecondary education sector. The results of this pilot will directly inform how the survey is expanded and collection methods are redeveloped. The agency also finished collecting the National Graduates Survey, which was updated to include work-integrated learning measures to understand how work-integrated learning affects the labour outcomes and earning trajectories of individuals. Statistics Canada also carried out a horizontal skills review in collaboration with the Treasury Board Secretariat, Privy Council Office and Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada to integrate administrative data from federally sponsored skills programs and tax data to assess the impact of skills training.
In a joint initiative with ESDC and the postsecondary ministries in the provinces and territories, Statistics Canada looked into the potential of using existing administrative datasets to proactively identify data gaps related to the education and labour market behaviours of Canadians.
Furthermore, Statistics Canada partnered with Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation to launch the Canadian Housing Survey (CHS), a new survey that supports the National Housing Strategy. The CHS produces statistics on social and affordable housing, and measures key principles of inclusion, participation and community. Other initiatives include building the National Social and Affordable Housing Register (NSAHR) and integrating data from the CHS with various administrative data files to create a comprehensive picture of housing in Canada. Important advancements on the CHS were achieved in 2018–19, including developing the survey application and methodology, collecting the CHS from November 2018 to March 2019, and acquiring administrative data on social housing from selected provinces to update the NSAHR.
Statistics Canada is working collaboratively with Indigenous organizations and communities and other partners to foster culturally based approaches to identifying and addressing the statistical needs of Indigenous communities, organizations and leadership, as well as supporting these groups in building their own data and research capacities. In 2018–19, the agency began five capacity-building pilot projects. Statistics Canada also engaged with over 100 Indigenous communities and organizations to discuss their statistical capacity needs. Finally, detailed statistics on Indigenous farm operators were published for the first time.
As part of the Action Plan for Official Languages 2018–2023, Statistics Canada stabilized funding to produce statistics to support the official languages action plan and official language communities. In 2018–19, consultations were held with multiple partners, and the Advisory Committee on Language Statistics was created in January 2018. The program released multiple reports, such as "Results from the 2016 Census: Earnings of immigrants and children of immigrants in official language minority populations", which was conducted in partnership with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). This study examines the economic integration of immigrants and their children in minority language contexts. Additionally, Statistics Canada developed historical data and analytical products that highlight the issues and challenges faced by Canadians in terms of official languages and multilingualism.
Data lead for the Sustainable Development Goals
In collaboration with Environment and Climate Change Canada's Sustainable Development Unit, Statistics Canada launched the Sustainable Development Goals Data Hub. This online resource reports on and monitors Canada's progress toward the United Nations' 17 Sustainable Development Goals, part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Gender-based Analysis Plus
In 2018–19, Statistics Canada launched the Centre for Gender, Diversity and Inclusion Statistics to address gaps in the availability of data on gender and other intersecting identities.
The centre is home to the Gender, Diversity and Inclusion Statistics Hub, which tracks the Government of Canada's progress on the Gender Results Framework indicators. This is to reflect how Canada is changing—there is greater demand for more data to ensure decision makers can better understand and respond to policy needs.
In 2018–19, 15 indicators and 5 Gender-based Analysis Plus (GBA+) analytical papers were released, including "The economic well-being of women in Canada." In 2018–19, a working group of experts on Canada's Black population was created to provide guidance and advice to Statistics Canada on producing analytical documents on the Black population in Canada. During Black History Month in February 2019, the centre published an infographic and the booklet "Diversity of the Black population in Canada: An overview."
Statistics Canada also initiated a number of studies with a focus on GBA+, including employment among women and youth, workers engaged in the "gig" economy, labour market outcomes in male-dominated apprenticeships, and health differences and inequalities for vulnerable populations. The agency also developed data on women-owned businesses to support the evaluation of government initiatives aimed at encouraging women's economic participation.
Statistics Canada's 100th anniversary
For a century, Canadians have relied on Statistics Canada to provide high-quality statistical information to make important decisions. The dedication, expertise and commitment of so many employees have positioned the agency as a world leader in statistics that continues to aim higher, with an ambitious modernization agenda that responds to a data-driven economy and society.
Statistics Canada celebrated its 100th anniversary with the following:
- blog articles that tell the stories of leaders and change makers who have contributed to the world of statistics, including Jean Talon, Robert H. Coats, Agatha Chapman and more
- articles that highlight 100 years of the Statistics Act, the history of the Vital Statistics Program, the evolution of statistical paradigms and the evolution of the census
- a special 100th anniversary edition of The Daily, published on December 3, 2018, which included eight articles highlighting the agency's role in Canada's history, along with its achievements over the past 100 years and plans for the future
- a video highlighting Statistics Canada's 100th anniversary
- a weekly #ThrowbackThursday series on Facebook and Twitter.
In addition, Statistics Canada partnered with the Association for Canadian Studies, the Canadian Institute for Identities and Migration, Environics Analytics, and the Vanier Institute of the Family to host a conference, Statistics Canada: 100 Years and Counting. This event focused on how Canada's population has evolved over the past 100 years, and how Statistics Canada measures this evolution. It included more than 25 sessions featuring leading academics, researchers, policy makers, representatives from non-governmental organizations and governments, and many others across Canada.
As part of the 100th anniversary activities, the agency also produced a comprehensive overview of the history of Statistics Canada. Standing on the Shoulders of Giants: History of Statistics Canada, 1970 to 2008 is available online and in print. It commemorates the agency's contributions to Canada and its people.
Results achieved
Across the agency, employees are working to improve results and to ensure targets are both relevant and ambitious. The agency made significant progress towards its performance indicator targets for 2018-19, and has improved its results relative to previous years. As the Results Framework matures, the agency is integrating performance indicator results into its decision making processes to ensure value for Canadians and alignment of resources with government priorities.
| Departmental results | Performance indicators | Target | Date to achieve target | 2018–19 Actual results | 2017–18 Actual results | 2016–17 Actual results |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Statistical information is of high quality | Number of post-release corrections due to accuracy | 0 | March 31, 2019 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| Number of international forums of which Statistics Canada is a member | 175 | March 31, 2019 | 184 | 168 | 165 | |
| Percentage of international standards with which Statistics Canada conforms | 90%Footnote 1 | March 31, 2019 | 88%Footnote 2 | 89% | 85% | |
| Statistical information is available and accessed | Number of visits to Statistics Canada website | 24,000,000 | March 31, 2019 | 19,752,776Footnote 3 | 26,461,926 | 27,501,818 |
| Percentage of website visitors that found what they were looking for | 77% | March 31, 2019 | 79% | 76% | 77% | |
| Number of interactions on social media | 600,000 | March 31, 2019 | 358,673Footnote 4 | 559,709 | 2,318,835Footnote 5 | |
| Number of statistical products available on the website | 34,000 | March 31, 2019 | 35,920 | 33,642 | 31,312 | |
| Number of Statistics Canada data tables available on the Open Data Portal | 6,400 | March 31, 2019 | 6,944 | 7,162 | 6,200 | |
| Statistical information is relevant | Number of media citations on Statistics Canada data | 56,000 | March 31, 2019 | 74,657Footnote 6 | 67,539 | 63,510 |
| Number of journal citations | 20,500 | March 31, 2019 | 22,716 | 23,903 | 20,032 | |
| Percentage of users satisfied with statistical information | TBDFootnote 7 | March 31, 2019 | 80% | 79% | Not availableFootnote 8 | |
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| 2018–19 Main Estimates | 2018–19 Planned spending | 2018–19 Total authorities available for use | 2018–19 Actual spending (authorities used) | 2018–19 Difference (Actual spending minus Planned spending) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gross expenditures | 489,924,625 | 489,924,625 | 587,888,560 | 559,559,344 | 69,634,719 |
| Respendable revenue | -120,000,000 | -120,000,000 | -124,200,719 | -124,200,719 | -4,200,719 |
| Net expenditures | 369,924,625 | 369,924,625 | 463,687,841 | 435,358,625 | 65,434,000 |
| 2018–19 Planned full-time equivalents | 2018–19 Actual full-time equivalents | 2018–19 Difference (Actual full-time equivalents minus Planned full-time equivalents) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross expenditures | 4,666 | 5,498 | 832 |
| Respendable revenue | -1,001 | -1,380 | -379 |
| Net expenditures | 3,665 | 4,118 | 453 |
The difference between planned spending and actual spending is mainly the result of an increase in resources since funding for the 2021 Census of Population and 2021 Census of Agriculture was approved in 2018–19. As a result of the cyclical nature of the Census Program, its budget and spending profile may vary between years.
An increase in resources for several new initiatives from Budget 2018 also contributes to the variance. These initiatives include enhancing Canada's international trade and economic globalization statistics, placing evidence at the centre of program evaluation and design, implementing the Action Plan for Official Languages 2018–2023,xiii implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and addressing the opioid crisis.
The difference is also attributable to retroactive pay from the ratification of new collective agreements and budget carried forward from 2017–18 to 2018–19, allowing the agency to meet the needs of its cyclical programs and to invest in its integrated strategic planning process.
Furthermore, full-time equivalents vary slightly as a result of differences between the average salary rates paid and the estimated average salary rates used in the integrated strategic planning process.
Financial, human resources and performance information for Statistics Canada's Program Inventory is available in the GC InfoBase.
Internal Services
Description
Internal Services are groups of related activities and resources that the federal government considers to be services that support programs and/or are required to meet corporate obligations of an organization. Internal Services refer to the activities and resources of the 10 distinct service categories that support program delivery in the organization, regardless of the Internal Services delivery model in a department. The 10 service categories are Acquisition Management Services, Communications Services, Financial Management Services, Human Resources Management Services, Information Management Services, Information Technology Services, Legal Services, Materiel Management Services, Management and Oversight Services, and Real Property Management Services.
Results
To support the continual improvement of internal service delivery, Statistics Canada is committed to the efficient delivery of its Internal Services in a way that supports the delivery of statistical programs.
To reorganize for success and optimize its services, Statistics Canada developed a new vision, reinforced its governance structure and launched a new culture framework. The new vision stems from the need to change in response to feedback from data users, society's constant evolution and the essential role of data. The new governance structure started with an organizational shift to be more agile and more flexible. A cloud infrastructure implementation process was started and technologies that encourage mobility were deployed for all Statistics Canada offices to meet rapidly changing business needs and to achieve ambitious objectives. The new culture framework was developed following consultation with employees nationwide.
In 2018–19, Statistics Canada continued to introduce a modern and flexible workplace that fosters a culture of innovation and connectivity, improving how the agency leverages digital technology and encouraging government-wide collaboration, flexibility and efficiency. The agency aims to improve the overall health and well-being of employees, ensure inclusivity for all, attract and retain good talent, and empower employees and make them accountable. This transformation is bringing about a cultural shift in line with the government-wide vision because it focuses on building a networked and open workplace; takes a whole-of-government approach; creates a capable, efficient, high-performing workforce; and fosters new ideas and processes to support the modernization plan. Furthermore, Statistics Canada is one of the first agencies or departments to adopt activity-based workplace principles, a design concept that recognizes that throughout the course of a day, employees engage in many different activities and that effectiveness and collaboration can be increased when employees can choose a work setting that best coordinates with the type of work they are doing. This new concept was well received by employees and will be expanded across the organization as resources allow. In addition, Statistics Canada deployed WiFi and mobile devices for all its offices providing greater flexibility for employees. Finally, Statistics Canada has ensured the continued momentum and full integration of the modern and flexible workplace and workforce by extensively engaging with staff to raise awareness.
| 2018–19 Main Estimates | 2018–19 Planned spending | 2018–19 Total authorities available for use | 2018–19 Actual spending (authorities used) | 2018–19 Difference (Actual spending minus Planned spending) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 66,104,652 | 66,104,652 | 71,969,503 | 72,385,465 | 6,280,813 |
| 2018–19 Planned full-time equivalents | 2018–19 Actual full-time equivalents | 2018–19 Difference (Actual full-time equivalents minus Planned full-time equivalents) |
|---|---|---|
| 594 | 645 | 51 |
The difference between planned spending and actual spending is mainly because of an increase in resources for a new initiative, approved in 2018-19, to migrate the infrastructure to the cloud, as well as because of additional spending related to internal information technology support and pressures related to the Government of Canada pay system.
Although additional expenditures were prioritized under Internal Services, the agency's overall spending did not exceed its total authorities.
Financial, human resources and performance information for Statistics Canada's Program Inventory is available in the GC InfoBase.