Data quality, concepts and methodology: Product description

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This section provides general information about the purpose, formats, structure, content and data sources for the Energy Statistics Handbook.

Purpose

The purpose of the Handbook is to provide energy analysts, economists, environmentalists, researchers and the general public, a single source of consistent energy-related data. The Handbook is a compilation of data otherwise available in numerous Statistics Canada publications and several energy industry publications.

Publication formats

The Energy Statistics Handbook is available in three formats:

1. a dynamic Internet publication accessible through the Statistics Canada Website;
2. CD-ROM;
3. in print product available through a Print-on-Demand service.

The dynamic Internet publication and CD-ROM provides subscribers the option of viewing the publication in two formats:

1. HTML (hypertext mark-up language);
2. PDF (portable document format).

The Print-on-Demand product is a printed version of the PDF format.

Structure of the Handbook

The Energy Statistics Handbook is organised into 12 sections. Sections 1 through 9 contain 110 data tables presenting economic or energy-related statistical information. Information is also provided on data quality, concepts and methodology. Appendices include energy conversion factors, data sources, footnotes and definitions.

Data tables in Sections 1 through 9 are organised under the following section headings:

Structure of data tables

Each data section in the Handbook contains a series of tables displaying economic or energy-related statistical data. Each table contains several columns of related energy data observations displayed in monthly, quarterly or annual time series formats.

Monthly tables display the current and previous year's data in rows by month, as well as 10 years or more of annual totals or averages.

Quarterly tables display the current and the previous year's quarterly data and 10 years or more of annual totals or averages. Most monthly and quarterly tables include a cumulative or average-to-date comparison of the current month or quarter with the same period for the previous year.

Several data series in the publication are only available as annual series. Tables containing annual series display up to 10 years of data.

Data sources

Data in the Energy Statistics Handbook has been extracted from Statistics Canada's CANSIM database. CANSIM, the Canadian Socio–Economic Information Management System, is a time series database containing business, economic and social data and is maintained by the Dissemination Division of Statistics Canada. CANSIM statistical data is generally produced by surveying Canadian businesses, but can also be compiled from government administrative records, or obtained from other departments and organizations. To obtain additional energy series or historical data not available in the Handbook, the CANSIM database can be accessed via Statistics Canada's Internet Website.

A unique identifier number identifies CANSIM time series. The CANSIM identifier number for each series included in a table is displayed at the bottom of the table. In most cases, the CANSIM series will go back further in time than the series shown in this publication.

Publication sources

Canadian energy data, and data in the Economic Indicators section of the Handbook is available in numerous Statistics Canada (STC) publications. In some instances the data used is not in a publication, but has been obtained from associated CANSIM data files. Source publications are listed in the Appendix B.

Data quality and methodology

For information on data quality, concepts and the methodologies used to collect data displayed in the Handbook, reference should be made to the source publications. Most printed Statistics Canada publications include a brief description of the data quality and methodologies used to produce statistical series. In addition standardized descriptive information for all Statistics Canada surveys and programs are contained in the departments Integrated Meta Database (IMDB). An IMDB document for each survey and/or survey program is accessible electronically through Statistics Canada's Internet Website via hyperlinks located in the Products and Services web page and CANSIM. Data quality information can also be obtained from the "Concepts, Definitions and Methods" web page.

Units of measurement

Canadian "volume" numbers are in metric units (i.e. cubic metres, tonnes, kilowatts etc.) Metric data is presented using a "character space" (e.g. 000 000.0) to separate thousands of units. Non-metric volume data in barrels and dollar values use comas (e.g. 000,000.0) to indicate thousands of units or dollars. Except for money market, prices and financial statistics, data values are presented as whole numbers or have been rounded to a single decimal point. Because of rounding, totals may not add to that of the individual components.

Metric units of measure

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