Manufacturing and Energy Program - June 2010

Consultation objectives

In recent years, the energy sector has undergone rapid transformation and several key issues and concerns have emerged—price shocks, market instability, security and sustainability of supply, environmental impact and emergency preparedness.

In 2010, the Manufacturing and Energy Division conducted a review of its program content and organized client consultations to assess the division’s responsiveness to data users needs in this challenging and dynamic environment.

Consultation methodology

To evaluate the performance of the division, feedback was gathered from data users and stakeholders through a client satisfaction survey. In addition, the Division conducted face-to-face consultations with federal and provincial partners, stakeholders and key industry associations as well as group discussions at inter-departmental meetings and with advisory groups.

How to get involved

This consultation is now closed.

Individuals who wish to obtain more information or to take part in a consultation should contact Statistics Canada through the Statistical Information Service.

Please note that Statistics Canada selects participants for each consultation to ensure feedback from a representative sample of the target population for the study. Not all applicants are asked to participate in a given consultation.

Results

External client satisfaction was positive with respect to the statistics produced by the division. For energy data users, 88% expressed satisfaction with the statistics. For manufacturing data users, 82% expressed satisfaction. Survey participants were satisfied with the Division’s outputs which, in their opinion, have a high level of accuracy.

Many clients, especially monthly data users, expressed concern regarding the timeliness of data. Clients also noted issues with the level of detail available, data accessibility and data gaps. For example, respondents would like to see more statistics regarding renewable energy, impacts on the environment, the oil sands operations and their impact on other sectors, and the relationship of manufacturing and energy data with other Statistics Canada indicators, such as employment and prices.

The Division has developed and implemented an action plan to follow up on the questions raised in these consultations, primarily in the areas of client relations, relevance of outputs, data gaps, data accuracy and access of data.

Participants frequently reported difficulty finding the information on the StatCan website. Some clients said that they are not always informed about the launch of new products, data updates and revisions, discontinuation of data series, changes to concepts and definitions, or even new data deletions or changes to data deletions. As well, some would like to see more analysis to help users interpret the data and suggested "storytelling" to provide context rather than simply publishing data tables.

Several participants questioned data collection methods, and recommended that data be collected through online questionnaires in the future.

The participants also noted that, in some cases, multiple information sources are available from various organizations across Canada. Users had difficulty determining which data set was the "official" source. They recommended that efforts be made to coordinate and consolidate collection.

Many clients said that they were interested in establishing (or renewing) dialogue with Statistics Canada, and suggested ways to make that dialogue a reality.

Statistics Canada thanks participants for their participation in this consultation. Their insights guide the Agency's web development and ensure that the final products meet users' expectations.