Why are we conducting this survey?

This survey collects information on the strategic decisions, innovation activities, operational tactics and global value chain activities of businesses in Canada.

The results from this survey will be used by governments to better understand the impact of business strategy and innovation decisions, and operational adaptations on the Canadian economy including business competitiveness, efficiency and productivity. This will enable governments to develop policies intended to improve Canada's industrial productivity and competitiveness.

Your participation in this survey is required under the authority of the Statistics Act.

Other important information

Authorization to collect this information

Data are collected under the authority of the Statistics Act, Revised Statutes of Canada, 1985, Chapter S-19.

Confidentiality

By law, Statistics Canada is prohibited from releasing any information it collects that could identify any person, business or organization, unless consent has been given by the respondent, or as permitted by the Statistics Act. Statistics Canada will use the information from this survey for statistical purposes only.

Record Linkages

To enhance the data from this survey and to reduce the response burden, Statistics Canada may combine the acquired data with information from other surveys or from administrative sources.

Data sharing agreements
To reduce the response burden, Statistics Canada has entered into data sharing agreements with provincial and territorial statistical agencies and other government organizations. These organizations have agreed to keep the data confidential and to use them for statistical purposes only.

Section 11 of the Statistics Act provides for the sharing of information with provincial and territorial statistical agencies that meet certain conditions. These agencies must have the legislative authority to collect the same information, on a mandatory basis, and the legislation must provide substantially the same provisions for confidentiality and penalties for disclosure of confidential information as the Statistics Act. Because these agencies have the legal authority to compel businesses to provide the same information, consent is not requested and businesses may not object to the sharing of the data.

For this survey, there are Section 11 agreements with the provincial and territorial statistical agencies of Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, and the Yukon.

The shared data will be limited to information pertaining to business enterprises located within the jurisdiction of the respective province or territory.

Section 12 of the Statistics Act provides for the sharing of information with federal, provincial or territorial government organizations. For this survey, there are Section 12 agreements with the statistical agencies of Prince Edward Island, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade, as well as with the Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada.

Under Section 12, you may refuse to share your information with any of these organizations by writing a letter of objection to the Chief Statistician, specifying the name of the survey and the organizations with which you do not want Statistics Canada to share your data, and mailing it to the following address:

Chief Statistician of Canada Statistics Canada
Care of the Director, Investment, Science and Technology Division
150 Tunney's Pasture Driveway Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0T6

You may also contact us by email at Statistics Canada ESD Help Desk or by fax at 613-951-6583.

For agreements with provincial and territorial government organizations, the shared data will be limited to information pertaining to business enterprises located within the jurisdiction of the respective province or territory.

Who should complete this questionnaire?

This questionnaire should be completed by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), owner or senior manager who is most familiar with the strategic focus, competitive orientation and international commercial activities of this business.

Business or organization and contact information

1. Verify or provide the business or organization's legal and operating name, and correct information if needed.

Note: Legal name should only be modified to correct a spelling error or typo.

Legal Name

The legal name is one recognized by law, thus it is the name liable for pursuit or for debts incurred by the business or organization. In the case of a corporation, it is the legal name as fixed by its charter or the statute by which the corporation was created.

Modifications to the legal name should only be done to correct a spelling error or typo.

To indicate a legal name of another legal entity you should instead indicate it in question 3 by selecting 'Not currently operational' and then choosing the applicable reason and providing the legal name of this other entity along with any other requested information.

Operating Name

The operating name is a name the business or organization is commonly known as if different from its legal name. The operating name is synonymous with trade name.

  • Legal name
  • Operating name (if applicable)

2. Verify or provide the contact information for the designated contact person for the business or organization, and correct information if needed.

Note: The designated contact person is the person who should receive this questionnaire. The designated contact person may not always be the one who actually completes the questionnaire.

  • First name
  • Last name
  • Title
  • Preferred language of communication
    • English
    • French
  • Mailing address (number and street)
  • City
  • Province, territory or state
  • Postal code or ZIP code
  • Country
  • Email address
  • Telephone number (including area code)
  • Extension number (if applicable)
  • Fax number (including area code)

3. Verify or provide the current operational status of the business or organization identified by the legal and operating name above.

  • Operational
  • Not currently operational
    e.g., temporarily or permanently closed, change of ownership
    Why is this business or organization not currently operational?
    • Seasonal operations
      • When did this business or organization close for the season?
        • Date
      • When does this business or organization expect to resume operations?
        • Date
    • Ceased operations
      • When did this business or organization cease operations?
        • Date
      • Why did this business or organization cease operations?
        • Bankruptcy
        • Liquidation
        • Dissolution
        • Other - Specify the other reasons why the operations ceased
    • Sold operations
      • When was this business or organization sold?
        • Date
      • What is the legal name of the buyer?
    • Amalgamated with other businesses or organizations
      • When did this business or organization amalgamate?
        • Date
      • What is the legal name of the resulting or continuing business or organization?
      • What are the legal names of the other amalgamated businesses or organizations?
    • Temporarily inactive but will re-open
      • When did this business or organization become temporarily inactive?
        • Date
      • When does this business or organization expect to resume operations?
        • Date
      • Why is this business or organization temporarily inactive?
    • No longer operating due to other reasons
      • When did this business or organization cease operations?
        • Date
      • Why did this business or organization cease operations?

4. Verify or provide the current main activity of the business or organization identified by the legal and operating name above.

Note: The described activity was assigned using the North American Industry Classification System.

This question verifies the business or organization's current main activity as classified by the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). The NAICS is an industry classification system developed by the statistical agencies of Canada, Mexico and the United States. Created against the background of the North American Free Trade Agreement, it is designed to provide common definitions of the industrial structure of the three countries and a common statistical framework to facilitate the analysis of the three economies. NAICS is based on supply-side or production-oriented principles, to ensure that industrial data, classified to NAICS, are suitable for the analysis of production-related issues such as industrial performance.

The target entity for which NAICS is designed are businesses and other organizations engaged in the production of goods and services. They include farms, incorporated and unincorporated businesses and government business enterprises. They also include government institutions and agencies engaged in the production of marketed and non-marketed services, as well as organizations such as professional associations and unions and charitable or non-profit organizations and the employees of households.

The associated NAICS should reflect those activities conducted by the business or organizational units targeted by this questionnaire only, as identified in the "Answering this questionnaire" section and which can be identified by the specified legal and operating name. The main activity is the activity which most defines the targeted business or organization's main purpose or reason for existence. For a business or organization that is for-profit, it is normally the activity that generates the majority of the revenue for the entity.

The NAICS classification contains a limited number of activity classes; the associated classification might be applicable for this business or organization even if it is not exactly how you would describe this business or organization's main activity.

Please note that any modifications to the main activity through your response to this question might not necessarily be reflected prior to the transmitting of subsequent questionnaires and as a result they may not contain this updated information.

The following is the detailed description including any applicable examples or exclusions for the classification currently associated with this business or organization.

NAICS description text
Examples and inclusions/exclusion text

Description and examples

  • This is the current main activity
  • This is not the current main activity
    Provide a brief but precise description of this business or organization's main activity
    e.g., breakfast cereal manufacturing, shoe store, software development

Main activity

5. You indicated that (Prefilled Industry Name) is not the current main activity.

Was this business or organization's main activity ever classified as (Prefilled Industry Name)?

  • Yes
    When did the main activity change?
    Date
  • No

6. Search and select the industry classification code that best corresponds to this business or organization's main activity.

Select this business or organization's activity sector (optional)

  • Farming or logging operation
  • Construction company or general contractor
  • Manufacturer
  • Wholesaler
  • Retailer
  • Provider of passenger or freight transportation
  • Provider of investment, savings or insurance products
  • Real estate agency, real estate brokerage or leasing company
  • Provider of professional, scientific or technical services
  • Provider of health care or social services
  • Restaurant, bar, hotel, motel or other lodging establishment
  • Other sector

7. You have indicated that the current main activity of this business or organization is: (Prefilled Industry Name)

Are there any other activities that contribute significantly (at least 10%) to this business or organization's revenue?

  • Yes, there are other activities
    Provide a brief but precise description of this business or organization's secondary activity
    e.g., breakfast cereal manufacturing, shoe store, software development
  • No, that is the only significant activity

8. Approximately what percentage of this business or organization's revenue is generated by each of the following activities?

When precise figures are not available, provide your best estimates.

  • (Prefilled Industry Name) %
  • (Prefilled Industry Name) %
  • All other activities %
  • Total %

Business Strategy

Question 1. What is the end date of this business's fiscal year?

This business's fiscal year end date should fall between January 1, 2022 and December 31, 2022.

Note: Press the help button for additional information, including example fiscal year dates.

  • Day
  • Month
  • Year

Question 2. Over the next five years, 2023 to 2027, which of these long-term strategies is most important to this business?

  • Main focus on good or service positioning
    e.g., good or service leadership, market segmentation, good or service diversification, improving quality
  • Main focus on low-price and cost leadership
    e.g., mass market
  • They are equally important

Question 3. Over the next five years, 2023 to 2027, which of the following statements best describes the strategic focus of this business with respect to its goods or services (products)?

  • Maintain sales of existing goods or services
    Did the long-term strategic focus of the business over the 2023 to 2027 period change due to COVID-19?
    • Yes
    • No
  • Expand the sales of existing goods or services
    Did the long-term strategic focus of the business over the 2023 to 2027 period change due to COVID-19?
    • Yes
    • No
  • Introduce new or improved goods or services regularly
    Did the long-term strategic focus of the business over the 2023 to 2027 period change due to COVID-19?
    • Yes
    • No
  • Reduce the focus to a niche market or reduced set of products
    Did the long-term strategic focus of the business over the 2023 to 2027 period change due to COVID-19?
    • Yes
    • No
  • Don't know

Question 4. Over the next five years, 2023 to 2027, which of the following statements best describes the strategic focus of this business with respect to its business processes (core activities to produce products and all support business activities)?

Core business activities are activities of an enterprise yielding income, the production of final goods or services intended for the market or for third parties. Usually the core business functions make up the primary activity of the enterprise.

Support business activities are ancillary (supporting) activities carried out by the enterprise in order to permit or to facilitate the core business functions of an enterprise, which is the production activity. The outputs are not themselves intended directly for the market or for third parties.

  • Maintain current business processes
    Did the long-term strategic focus of the business over the 2023 to 2027 period change due to COVID-19?
    • Yes
    • No
  • Optimize current business processes
    Did the long-term strategic focus of the business over the 2023 to 2027 period change due to COVID-19?
    • Yes
    • No
  • Introduce new or improved business processes
    Did the long-term strategic focus of the business over the 2023 to 2027 period change due to COVID-19?
    • Yes
    • No
  • Downsize current business processes to focus on areas of advantage
    Did the long-term strategic focus of the business over the 2023 to 2027 period change due to COVID-19?
    • Yes
    • No
  • Don't know

Skills and training

Question 5. In 2022, were skills in any of the following areas required by this business?

"In 2022" refers to the calendar year, January 1 to December 31, 2022.

Select all that apply.

  • Basic digital
    e.g., email, word processing, spreadsheets
    • Does this business anticipate requiring the need to expand basic digital skills over the next 5 years?
      • Yes
      • No
      • Don't know
      • Not applicable
  • Computer science
    e.g., software engineering, artificial intelligence
    • Does this business anticipate requiring the need to expand computer science skills over the next 5 years?
      • Yes
      • No
      • Don't know
      • Not applicable
  • Information technology
    e.g., IT security, database administration
    • Does this business anticipate requiring the need to expand IT skills over the next 5 years?
      • Yes
      • No
      • Don't know
      • Not applicable
  • General data science and analytics
    e.g., data modelling and visualization
    • Does this business anticipate requiring the need to expand general data science and analytics skills over the next 5 years?
      • Yes
      • No
      • Don't know
      • Not applicable
  • Natural sciences and engineering Include hardware engineering.
    • Does this business anticipate requiring the need to expand natural sciences and engineering skills over the next 5 years?
      • Yes
      • No
      • Don't know
      • Not applicable
  • Management
    e.g., the ability to implement management practices, leadership, resource management, decision-making, supervision
    • Does this business anticipate requiring the need to expand management skills over the next 5 years?
      • Yes
      • No
      • Don't know
      • Not applicable
  • Business
    e.g., marketing, accounting
    • Does this business anticipate requiring the need to expand business skills over the next 5 years?
      • Yes
      • No
      • Don't know
      • Not applicable
  • International business
    e.g., market intelligence, support with trade
    • Does this business anticipate requiring the need to expand international business skills over the next 5 years?
      • Yes
      • No
      • Don't know
      • Not applicable
  • Skilled trades
    • Does this business anticipate requiring the need to expand skilled trades skills over the next 5 years?
      • Yes
      • No
      • Don't know
      • Not applicable
  • Design
    e.g., creativity, planning, graphics design, arts and illustration
    • Does this business anticipate requiring the need to expand design skills over the next 5 years?
      • Yes
      • No
      • Don't know
      • Not applicable
  • Coaching and mentoring skills to meet the needs of the business
    • Does this business anticipate requiring the need to expand coaching and mentoring skills over the next 5 years?
      • Yes
      • No
      • Don't know
      • Not applicable
  • E-commerce or digital trade
    e.g., knowledge of logistics, sales proficiency, electronic support, web design
    • Does this business anticipate requiring the need to expand e-commerce or digital trade skills over the next 5 years?
      • Yes
      • No
      • Don't know
      • Not applicable
    OR
  • None

Question 6. In 2022, in which of the following areas did this business encounter any skill shortages?

"In 2022" refers to the calendar year, January 1 to December 31, 2022.

Select all that apply.

  • Basic digital
    e.g., email, word processing, spreadsheets
    • How long has this business been experiencing this skill shortage in basic digital?
      • 0 to 3 months
      • 4 to 6 months
      • 7 to 12 months
      • More than 12 months
      • Don't know
    • Does this business require a degree or certification standard for any of the vacant positions that involve basic digital skills?
      • Yes
        Select all that apply.
      • Which degree or certification standard is required by this business for any vacant positions that involve basic digital skills?
        • Professional certification e.g., academic
        • Accreditation e.g., professional association
        • Licensure provided by an administrative body
        • Testing administered by another organization
        • Other
      • No
      • Don't know
      • Not applicable
  • Computer science
    e.g., software engineering, artificial intelligence
    • How long has this business been experiencing this skill shortage in computer science?
      • 0 to 3 months
      • 4 to 6 months
      • 7 to 12 months
      • More than 12 months
      • Don't know
    • Does this business require a degree or certification standard for any of the vacant positions that involve computer science skills?
      • Yes
        Select all that apply.
        • Which degree or certification standard is required by this business for any vacant positions that involve computer science skills?
          • Professional certification e.g., academic
          • Accreditation e.g., professional association
          • Licensure provided by an administrative body
          • Testing administered by another organization
          • Other
      • No
      • Don't know
      • Not applicable
  • Information technology
    e.g., IT security, database administration
    • How long has this business been experiencing this skill shortage in IT?
      • 0 to 3 months
      • 4 to 6 months
      • 7 to 12 months
      • More than 12 months
      • Don't know
    • Does this business require a degree or certification standard for any of the vacant positions that involve IT skills?
      • Yes
        Select all that apply.
        • Which degree or certification standard is required by this business for any vacant positions that involve IT skills?
          • Professional certification e.g., academic
          • Accreditation e.g., professional association
          • Licensure provided by an administrative body
          • Testing administered by another organization
          • Other
      • No
      • Don't know
      • Not applicable
  • General data science and analytics
    e.g., data modeling and visualization
    • How long has this business been experiencing this skill shortage in general data science and analytics?
      • 0 to 3 months
      • 4 to 6 months
      • 7 to 12 months
      • More than 12 months
      • Don't know
    • Does this business require a degree or certification standard for any of the vacant positions that involve general data science and analytics skills?
      • Yes
        Select all that apply.
        • Which degree or certification standard is required by this business for any vacant positions that involve general data science and analytics skills?
          • Professional certification e.g., academic
          • Accreditation e.g., professional association
          • Licensure provided by an administrative body
          • Testing administered by another organization
          • Other
      • No
      • Don't know
      • Not applicable
  • Natural sciences and engineering
    e.g., data modeling and visualization
    • How long has this business been experiencing this skill shortage in natural sciences and engineering?
      • 0 to 3 months
      • 4 to 6 months
      • 7 to 12 months
      • More than 12 months
      • Don't know
    • Does this business require a degree or certification standard for any of the vacant positions that involve natural sciences and engineering skills?
      • Yes
        Select all that apply.
        • Which degree or certification standard is required by this business for any vacant positions that involve natural sciences and engineering skills?
          • Professional certification e.g., academic
          • Accreditation e.g., professional association
          • Licensure provided by an administrative body
          • Testing administered by another organization
          • Other
      • No
      • Don't know
      • Not applicable
  • Management
    e.g., the ability to implement management practices
    • How long has this business been experiencing this skill shortage in management?
      • 0 to 3 months
      • 4 to 6 months
      • 7 to 12 months
      • More than 12 months
      • Don't know
    • Does this business require a degree or certification standard for any of the vacant positions that involve management skills?
      • Yes
        Select all that apply.
        • Which degree or certification standard is required by this business for any vacant positions that involve management skills?
          • Professional certification e.g., academic
          • Accreditation e.g., professional association
          • Licensure provided by an administrative body
          • Testing administered by another organization
          • Other
      • No
      • Don't know
      • Not applicable
  • Business
    e.g., marketing, accounting
    • How long has this business been experiencing this skill shortage in business?
      • 0 to 3 months
      • 4 to 6 months
      • 7 to 12 months
      • More than 12 months
      • Don't know
    • Does this business require a degree or certification standard for any of the vacant positions that involve business skills?
      • Yes
        Select all that apply.
        • Which degree or certification standard is required by this business for any vacant positions that involve business skills?
          • Professional certification e.g., academic
          • Accreditation e.g., professional association
          • Licensure provided by an administrative body
          • Testing administered by another organization
          • Other
      • No
      • Don't know
      • Not applicable
  • International business
    e.g., market intelligence, support with trade
    • How long has this business been experiencing this skill shortage in international business?
      • 0 to 3 months
      • 4 to 6 months
      • 7 to 12 months
      • More than 12 months
      • Don't know
    • Does this business require a degree or certification standard for any of the vacant positions that involve international business skills?
      • Yes
        Select all that apply.
        • Which degree or certification standard is required by this business for any vacant positions that involve international business skills?
          • Professional certification e.g., academic
          • Accreditation e.g., professional association
          • Licensure provided by an administrative body
          • Testing administered by another organization
          • Other
      • No
      • Don't know
      • Not applicable
  • Skilled trades
    • How long has this business been experiencing this skill shortage in skilled trades?
      • 0 to 3 months
      • 4 to 6 months
      • 7 to 12 months
      • More than 12 months
      • Don't know
    • Does this business require a degree or certification standard for any of the vacant positions that involve skilled trades?
      • Yes
        Select all that apply.
        • Which degree or certification standard is required by this business for any
          • Professional certification e.g., academic
          • Accreditation e.g., professional association
          • Licensure provided by an administrative body
          • Testing administered by another organization
          • Other
      • No
      • Don't know
      • Not applicable
  • Design
    e.g., creativity, planning, graphics design, arts and illustration
    • How long has this business been experiencing this skill shortage in design?
      • 0 to 3 months
      • 4 to 6 months
      • 7 to 12 months
      • More than 12 months
      • Don't know
    • Does this business require a degree or certification standard for any of the vacant positions that involve design skills?
      • Yes
        Select all that apply.
        • Which degree or certification standard is required by this business for any vacant positions that involve design skills?
          • Professional certification e.g., academic
          • Accreditation e.g., professional association
          • Licensure provided by an administrative body
          • Testing administered by another organization
          • Other
      • No
      • Don't know
      • Not applicable
  • Coaching and mentoring skills to meet the needs of the business
    • How long has this business been experiencing this skill shortage in coaching and mentoring?
      • 0 to 3 months
      • 4 to 6 months
      • 7 to 12 months
      • More than 12 months
      • Don't know
    • Does this business require a degree or certification standard for any of the vacant positions that involve coaching and mentoring skills?
      • Yes
        Select all that apply.
        • Which degree or certification standard is required by this business for any vacant positions that involve coaching and mentoring skills?
          • Professional certification e.g., academic
          • Accreditation e.g., professional association
          • Licensure provided by an administrative body
          • Testing administered by another organization
          • Other
      • No
      • Don't know
      • Not applicable
  • E-commerce or digital trade
    • How long has this business been experiencing this skill shortage in e-commerce or digital trade?
      • 0 to 3 months
      • 4 to 6 months
      • 7 to 12 months
      • More than 12 months
      • Don't know
    • Does this business require a degree or certification standard for any of the vacant positions that involve e-commerce or digital trade skills?
      • Yes
        Select all that apply.
        • Which degree or certification standard is required by this business for any vacant positions that involve e-commerce or digital trade skills?
        • Professional certification e.g., academic
        • Accreditation e.g., professional association
        • Licensure provided by an administrative body
        • Testing administered by another organization
        • Other
      • No
      • Don't know
      • Not applicable
    OR
  • None

Question 7. In 2022, which of the following measures were taken to overcome these skills shortages?

"In 2022" refers to the calendar year, January 1 to December 31, 2022.

Select all that apply.

  • Outsourcing work in Canada
    Outsourcing is the business practice of contracting a party outside an enterprise to perform services or create goods that were traditionally performed in-house by the enterprise's own employees
  • Offshoring of labour
    Offshoring is the relocation of a business process from one country to another—typically an operational process, such as manufacturing, or supporting processes, such as accounting.
  • Targeted recruitment process
    • Which of the following incentives were involved in the targeted recruitment process?
      Select all that apply.
      • Additional financial incentives
        e.g., Industry competitive compensation
      • Additional non-financial incentives
        e.g., vacation, flexible work option
        OR
      • Don't know
        OR
      • No additional incentives were involved
  • Student hiring
    Include internships both domestic and international, co-ops
  • Training staff
  • Retention strategy
    • Which of the following incentives were involved in the retention strategy?
      Select all that apply.
      • Additional financial incentives
        e.g., Industry competitive compensation
      • Additional non-financial incentives
        e.g., vacation, flexible work options
        OR
      • Don't know
        OR
      • No additional incentives were involved
  • Acquisition of external businesses
  • Global talent attraction
    • Which of the following programs or strategies were used?
      Select all that apply.
      • Temporary foreign worker program
      • Permanent economic immigration streams
        e.g., Express Entry, provincial nominees
      • International students
        OR
      • Don't know
  • Other government programs
  • Other measures
    OR
  • None

Question 8. In 2022, which of the following training or development activities were arranged or provided by this business to its employees?

"In 2022" refers to the calendar year, January 1 to December 31, 2022.

Select all that apply.

  • Job specific training
  • Managerial training
    e.g., ability to implement management practices
  • Training in new technology
  • Training in new business practices
  • Training in international business
    e.g., market intelligence, support with trade
  • Digital skills training
  • Data literacy skills training
    e.g., training on how to read, understand, create or communicate data as information
  • Coaching and mentoring for employees
  • Other training or development
    OR
  • None

Main market and competitive landscape

Question 9. In 2022, did this business sell goods or services?

"In 2022" refers to the calendar year, January 1 to December 31, 2022.

In 2022, did this business sell goods or services?
Table summary
This table contains no data. It is an example of an empty data table used by respondents to provide data to Statistics Canada.
  Yes No
a. Goods
Include tangible objects and some knowledge-capturing products over which ownership rights can be established and whose ownership can be transferred through market transactions.
   
b. Services
Include intangible activities that are produced and consumed simultaneously and that change the conditions (e.g., physical, psychological) of users. The engagement of users through their time, availability, attention, transmission of information, or effort is often a necessary condition that leads to the co-production of services by users and the enterprise. The attributes or experience of a service can therefore depend on the input of users. Services can also include some knowledge-capturing products.
   

Question 10. In 2022, did this business produce or manufacture any of the goods that it sold?

Refers to goods sold in the calendar year, January 1 to December 31, 2022.

  • Yes
  • No

Question 11. In 2022, did this business offer the following services to complement the sale of its goods?

"In 2022" refers to the calendar year, January 1 to December 31, 2022.

In 2022, did this business offer the following services to complement the sale of its goods?
Table summary
This table contains no data. It is an example of an empty data table used by respondents to provide data to Statistics Canada.
  Yes No
a. After-sales maintenance or repair
e.g., periodic, ongoing or as-required maintenance or repair of goods produced by this business
   
b. Installation or implementation
e.g., installing goods or implementing processes to ensure goods produced by this business are functional or ready to be used
   
c. Training or technical support
e.g., user training, troubleshooting or other technical services provided 6 months after the purchase of a good produced by this business
   
d. After-sales condition monitoring or quality control
e.g., providing reports on usage or quality of goods produced, or determining if repairs are necessary
   
e. Customization
e.g., working with a client to develop a tailored solution or good that responds to the clients' specific needs
   
f. Distribution or transportation
e.g., distribution or transportation of this business's goods
   
g. Leasing or rental agreements    
h. Other services
e.g., any other services complementing the sale of this business's goods
   

Question 12. During the three years, 2020 to 2022, did this business expand capacity for the following services to complement the sale of its goods?

"During the three years, 2020 to 2022" refers to the calendar years, January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2022.

e.g., increase its workforce, acquire additional machinery and equipment, open new facilities or take other measures

During the three years, 2020 to 2022, did this business expand capacity for the following services to complement the sale of its goods?
Table summary
This table contains no data. It is an example of an empty data table used by respondents to provide data to Statistics Canada.
  Yes No
a. After-sales maintenance or repair
e.g., periodic, ongoing or as-required maintenance or repair of goods produced by this business
   
b. Installation or implementation
e.g., installing goods or implementing processes to ensure goods produced by this business are functional or ready to be used
   
c. Training or technical support
e.g., user training, troubleshooting or other technical services provided 6 months after the purchase of a good produced by this business
   
d. After-sales condition monitoring or quality control
e.g., providing reports on usage or quality of goods produced, or determining if repairs are necessary
   
e. Customization
e.g., working with a client to develop a tailored solution or good that responds to the clients' specific needs
   
f. Distribution or transportation
e.g., distribution or transportation of this business's goods
   
g. Leasing or rental agreements    
h. Other services
e.g., any other services complementing the sale of this business's goods
   

Main market: The geographical region from which this business derived the highest percentage of total sales revenue.

Question 13. In 2022, what was this business's main market?

"In 2022" refers to the calendar year, January 1 to December 31, 2022.

  • Local markets
    Include the region in which this business has its main Canadian operations.
  • Rest of Canada
  • United States of America
  • Mexico
  • Other Latin America and Caribbean markets (LAC)
  • Europe
    Include United Kingdom, European Union, Switzerland, Norway, Russian Federation
  • China Exclude Taiwan and Hong Kong
  • Other Asian markets
    Include Turkey, Israel, India, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Indonesia, South Korea, Saudi Arabia
  • Another market

Question 14. In 2022, how many competitors did this business face in its main market?

"In 2022" refers to the calendar year, January 1 to December 31, 2022.

  • Zero
  • One
  • Two to three
  • Four to five
  • Six to ten
  • Eleven and higher
  • Don't know

Question 15. In 2022, were there any multinational organizations among competitors for this business's main market?

"In 2022" refers to the calendar year, January 1 to December 31, 2022.

  • Yes
  • No
  • Don't know

Question 16. In 2022, did the following occur in this business's main market?

"In 2022" refers to the calendar year, January 1 to December 31, 2022.

In 2022, did the following occur in this business's main market?
Table summary
This table contains no data. It is an example of an empty data table used by respondents to provide data to Statistics Canada.
  Yes No Don't know
a. Entry of new competitors      
b. Exit of competitors      
c. Increase in competitive behaviour from existing competitors
e.g., lowering prices, stronger marketing, new good or service (product) introduction or other
     
d. Decrease in competitive behaviour from existing competitors
e.g., raising prices, weaker marketing or other
     

Question 17. In 2022, in response to the change in competition in this business's main market, did this business implement any of the following changes?

"In 2022" refers to the calendar year, January 1 to December 31, 2022.

In 2022, in response to the change in competition in this business's main market, did this business implement any of the following changes?
Table summary
This table contains no data. It is an example of an empty data table used by respondents to provide data to Statistics Canada.
  Yes No
a. Change the quality of its goods or services (products)    
b. Adopt new technology or a new process    
c. Change its marketing expenditures or marketing strategy    
d. Introduce or accelerate the introduction of new goods or services (products)    
e. Change prices of its goods or services (products)    
f. Take other actions    

Good or service innovation

Good or service innovation is a new or improved good or service that differs significantly from the enterprise's previous goods or services with respect to its characteristics, functions or performance specifications and that has been introduced on the market.

Question 18. During the three years, 2020 to 2022, were new or improved goods or services introduced onto the market or brought into use by this business?

Include new or improved goods or services that:

  • differed significantly from this business's previous goods, services or business process
  • were new to this business and not necessarily new to its business industry or markets
  • were developed by this business or other organizations.

"During the three years, 2020 to 2022" refers to the calendar years, January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2022.

During the three years, 2020 to 2022, were new or improved goods or services introduced onto the market or brought into use by this business?
Table summary
This table contains no data. It is an example of an empty data table used by respondents to provide data to Statistics Canada.
  Yes No
a. New or improved goods
Include:
  • Tangible objects and some knowledge-capturing products over which ownership rights can be established and whose ownership can be transferred through market transactions
  • Significant changes to the design of a good.
Exclude the simple resale of new goods purchased from other businesses and changes of a solely aesthetic nature.
   
b. New or improved services
Services are intangible activities that are produced and consumed simultaneously and that change the conditions (e.g., physical, psychological) of users. The engagement of users through their time, availability, attention, transmission of information, or effort is often a necessary condition that leads to the co-production of services by users and the enterprise. The attributes or experience of a service can therefore depend on the input of users. Services can also include some knowledge-capturing products.
   

Question 19. Were any of these good or service innovations developed to respond to the challenges or opportunities related to the COVID-19 pandemic?

  • Yes, all of these innovations were developed to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic
  • Yes, some of these innovations were developed to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic
  • No, the development of these innovations was not in response to the COVID-19 pandemic

Question 20. Did this business, its parent or an affiliate, file or register to protect the intellectual property related to any of these good or service innovations introduced during the three years, 2020 to 2022, that were developed by this business in Canada?

"During the three years, 2020 to 2022" refers to the calendar years, January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2022.

Select all that apply.

  • Patents
    • Who filed the application?
      Select all that apply.
      • This business
      • Canadian parent or a Canadian affiliate of this business
      • The foreign parent or a foreign affiliate of this business
  • Trademarks
    • Who filed the application?
      Select all that apply.
      • This business
      • Canadian parent or a Canadian affiliate of this business
      • The foreign parent or a foreign affiliate of this business
  • Industrial designs
    • Who filed the application?
      Select all that apply.
      • This business
      • Canadian parent or a Canadian affiliate of this business
      • The foreign parent or a foreign affiliate of this business
  • Copyrights
    • Who filed the application?
      Select all that apply.
      • This business
      • Canadian parent or a Canadian affiliate of this business
      • The foreign parent or a foreign affiliate of this business
  • Trade secrets
  • Non-disclosure agreements
  • Other form of Intellectual property protection
    OR
  • No, this business did not develop any of its good or service innovations during the three years, 2020 to 2022
  • OR
  • No, intellectual property protection was not sought for any of these good or service innovations

Question 21. Who developed these good or service innovations introduced during the three years, 2020 to 2022?

"During the three years, 2020 to 2022" refers to the calendar years, January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2022.

  • Mainly this business, parent, affiliated or subsidiary businesses
  • Collaboratively, this business together with other businesses or organizations
    e.g., colleges, universities and research centres.
    Exclude outsourcing or contracting or granting out work.
    • Who did this business collaborate with?
      Select all that apply.
      • Collaboratively with domestic colleges or universities
      • Collaboratively with domestic research centres
      • Collaboratively with other domestic businesses or organizations
      • Collaboratively with foreign businesses or organizations
  • Mainly other businesses or organizations Include colleges, universities, research centres, outsourcing or contracting or granting out work
    • Who developed these good or service innovations?
      Select all that apply.
      • Mainly other domestic colleges or universities
      • Mainly other domestic research centres
      • Mainly other domestic businesses or organizations
      • Mainly other foreign businesses or organizations

Question 22. During the three years, 2020 to 2022, were any of this business's good or service innovations introduced new to one of its markets or new to this business?

"During the three years, 2020 to 2022" refers to the calendar years, January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2022.

During the three years, 2020 to 2022, were any of this business's good or service innovations introduced new to one of its markets or new to this business?
Table summary
This table contains no data. It is an example of an empty data table used by respondents to provide data to Statistics Canada.
  Yes No
a. New to one of its markets
e.g., introduced a new or improved good or service onto one of this business's markets before its competitors (it may have already been available in other markets)
   
b. New to this business only
e.g., introduced a new or improved good or service that was already available from competitors in this business's markets
   

Question 23. In this business's fiscal year ending in 2022, what percentage of this business's total sales came from the following types of goods or services?

Enter "0" if there is no value to report.

Good or service innovations introduced during the period 2020 to 2022
Percentage of sales in 2022

  1. New to one of its markets
    e.g., introduced a new or improved good or service onto one of this business's markets before its competitors (it may have already been available in other markets)
    Percentage of sales in 2022 %
  2. New to this business only
    e.g., introduced a new or improved good or service that was already available from competitors in this business's markets
    Percentage of sales in 2022 %
    Goods or services unchanged or only marginally modified during the period 2020 to 2022
    Percentage of sales in 2022
  3. Unchanged or marginally modified
    Percentage of sales in 2022 %
    Total
    Percentage of sales in 2022 %

Business process innovation

Business process innovation is a new or improved process for one or more business activities or functions that differs significantly from this business's previous business processes and that has been brought into use by this business in its internal or outward-facing operations.

Core business functions or activities refer to the production of goods or services.

Support business functions or activities include distribution and logistics services, marketing and sales services, information and communication technology (ICT) services, professional services, engineering and research and development (R&D) services, and general management services

Question 24. During the three years, 2020 to 2022, were new or improved business processes introduced onto the market or brought into use by this business?

Include new or improved business processes that:

  • differed significantly from this business's previous business process
  • were new to this business and not necessarily new to its business industry or markets
  • were developed by this business or other organizations.

"During the three years, 2020 to 2022" refers to the calendar years, January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2022.

During the three years, 2020 to 2022, were new or improved business processes introduced onto the market or brought into use by this business?
Table summary
This table contains no data. It is an example of an empty data table used by respondents to provide data to Statistics Canada.
  Yes No
a. New or improved production processes for goods or services
e.g., activities that transform inputs into goods or services, including engineering and related technical testing, analysis and certification activities to support production
   
b. New or improved distribution or logistics processes
e.g., transportation and service delivery, warehousing and order processing
   
c. New or improved marketing or sales methods
e.g., marketing methods including advertising (product promotion and placement, packaging of products), direct marketing (telemarketing), exhibitions and fairs, market research and other activities to develop new markets, pricing strategies and methods, sales and after-sales activities, including help desks, other customer support and customer relationship activities
   
d. New or improved information and communication systems
e.g., hardware and software, data processing and database, maintenance and repair, web-hosting and other computer-related information activities
   
e. New or improved strategic and general business management practices
e.g., cross-functional decision making, organizing work responsibility, corporate governance (legal, planning and public relations), accounting, book-keeping, auditing, payments and other financial or insurance activities, human resources management (training and education, staff recruitment, workplace organization, provision of temporary personnel, payroll management, health and medical support), procurement, managing external relationships with suppliers, and alliances
   
f. New or improved product or business process development
e.g., activities to scope, identify, develop, or adapt products (goods or services) or business processes
   

Question 25. Were any of these business process innovations developed to respond to the challenges or opportunities related to the COVID-19 pandemic?

  • Yes, all of these innovations were developed to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic
  • Yes, some of these innovations were developed to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic
  • No, the development of these innovations was not in response to the COVID-19 pandemic

Question 26. Who developed these business process innovations introduced during the three years, 2020 to 2022?

"During the three years, 2020 to 2022" refers to the calendar years, January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2022.

  • Mainly this business, parent, affiliated or subsidiary businesses
  • Collaboratively, this business together with other businesses or organizations
    e.g., colleges, universities, and research centres.
    Exclude outsourcing or contracting or granting out work.
    • Who did this business collaborate with?
      Select all that apply.
      • Collaboratively with domestic colleges or universities
      • Collaboratively with domestic research centres
      • Collaboratively with other domestic businesses or organizations
      • Collaboratively with foreign businesses or organizations
  • Mainly other businesses or organizations
    Include colleges, universities, research centres, outsourcing or contracting or granting out work
    • Who developed these good or service innovations?
      Select all that apply.
      • Mainly other domestic colleges or universities
      • Mainly other domestic research centres
      • Mainly other domestic businesses or organizations
      • Mainly other foreign businesses or organizations

Question 27. In this business's fiscal year ending in 2022, did any of the business process innovations introduced during the three years, 2020 to 2022, result in savings related to the overall cost of production of goods or services?

  • Yes
    • In this business's fiscal year ending in 2022, what were the savings related to the overall cost of production of goods or services?
      • Less than 5%
      • 5% to 9.9%
      • 10% to 25%
      • More than 25%
      • Don't know
  • No
  • Don't know

Question 28. In this business's fiscal year ending in 2022, did any of the business process innovations introduced during the three years, 2020 to 2022, result in savings related to overall expenditures on support business functions?

e.g., distribution and logistics, marketing and sales services, information and communication technology services

  • Yes
    • In this business's fiscal year ending in 2022, what were the savings related to the overall expenditures on support business functions?
      • Less than 5%
      • 5% to 9.9%
      • 10% to 25%
      • More than 25%
      • Don't know
  • No
  • Don't know

Expenditures on innovation activities

Question 29. In this business's fiscal year ending in 2022, did this business conduct any of the following innovation activities?

Innovation activities include all developmental, financial and commercial activities undertaken by a business that is intended to result in an innovation.

Include activities for good, service or business process innovations.

In this business's fiscal year ending in 2022, did this business conduct any of the following innovation activities?
Table summary
This table contains no data. It is an example of an empty data table used by respondents to provide data to Statistics Canada.
  Yes No
a. Research and experimental development (R&D), both in-house and outsourced (contracted out or granted) to other organizations    
b. Engineering, design and other creative work
Exclude engineering, design and other creative work reported as    R&D.
   
c. Intellectual property activities to realize innovation projects
Exclude intellectual property activities reported as R&D.
Include applications, licensing, litigations, etc.
   
d. Software development and database activities
Exclude development and database activities reported as R&D.
   
e. Acquisition or development of advanced technology including machinery, equipment, facilities and other tangible assets
Exclude acquisition or development of advanced technologies reported as R&D.
   
f. Employee training specifically for innovation projects    
g. Marketing and brand equity activities linked to the introduction of new goods, services or business processes
Include market research and market testing, methods for pricing, product placement and product promotion.
Exclude development and database activities reported as R&D.
   
h. Innovation management
Exclude development and database activities reported as R&D.
   
i. Other innovation activities    

Innovation expenditures include labour costs and investments for activities, previously listed in question 29, that led or contributed to the development and introduction of new or improved goods, services or business processes.

Question 30. In this business's fiscal year ending in 2022, what were this business's expenditures on the following innovation activities?

If exact figures are not available, provide your best estimate.

If expenditure details are not available for each innovation activity, enter the total expenditure for all innovation activities.

Expenditures CAN$'000

  1. Research and experimental development (R&D), both in-house and outsourced (contracted out or granted) to other organizations
  2. Engineering, design and other creative work
    Exclude engineering, design and other creative work reported as R&D.
  3. Intellectual property activities to realize innovation projects
    Exclude intellectual property activities reported as R&D.
    Include applications, licensing, litigations, etc.
  4. Software development and database activities
    Exclude development and database activities reported as R&D.
  5. Acquisition or development of advanced technology including machinery, equipment, facilities and other tangible assets
    Exclude acquisition or development of advanced technologies reported as R&D.
  6. Employee training specifically for innovation projects
  7. Marketing and brand equity activities linked to the introduction of new goods, services or business processes
    Include market research and market testing, methods for pricing, product placement and product promotion.
    Exclude acquisition or development of advanced technologies reported as R&D.
  8. Innovation management
    Exclude acquisition or development of advanced technologies reported as R&D.
  9. Other innovation activities
    Total expenditures for innovation activities

Question 31. Of the total of this business's innovation expenditures, please estimate the percentage attributable to the development or introduction of each type of innovation.

Enter "0" if there is no value to report.

  • Percentage
  • a. New or improved goods or services %
  • b. New or improved business processes %
  • Total %

Co-operation for innovation

Question 32. During the three years, 2020 to 2022, did this business co-operate on any innovation activities with other businesses or organizations?

Co-operation is the active participation with other businesses or organizations in innovation activities. Both partners do not need to commercially benefit.

Exclude outsourcing or contracting or granting out work.

"During the three years, 2020 to 2022" refers to the calendar years, January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2022.

  • Yes
  • No

Question 33. During the three years, 2020 to 2022, please indicate the type of innovation co-operation partner.

Select all that apply.

  • Parent, affiliated or subsidiary businesses
  • Suppliers of equipment, materials, components or software
  • Clients or customers from the private sector
  • Clients or customers from the public sector
  • Competitors or other businesses in the sector
  • Consultants and commercial laboratories
  • Universities, colleges or other higher education institutions
  • Government, public or private research institutes
  • Non-profit organizations
  • Households or individuals
  • Other co-operation partners

Question 34. During the three years, 2020 to 2022, please indicate the location of these co-operation partners.

Parent, affiliated or subsidiary businesses
Select all that apply.

  • Canada
    • Select the location of the innovation co-operation partner
      • Same city or area where the business has its main Canadian operations
      • Different city or area but same province
      • Rest of Canada
  • United States of America
  • Rest of the world

Suppliers of equipment, materials, components or software
Select all that apply.

  • Canada
    • Select the location of the innovation co-operation partner
      • Same city or area where the business has its main Canadian operations
      • Different city or area but same province
      • Rest of Canada
  • United States of America
  • Rest of the world

Clients or customers from the private sector
Select all that apply.

  • Canada
    • Select the location of the innovation co-operation partner
      • Same city or area where the business has its main Canadian operations
      • Different city or area but same province
      • Rest of Canada
  • United States of America
  • Rest of the world

Clients or customers from the public sector
Select all that apply.

  • Canada
    • Select the location of the innovation co-operation partner
      • Same city or area where the business has its main Canadian operations
      • Different city or area but same province
      • Rest of Canada
  • United States of America
  • Rest of the world

Competitors or other businesses in the sector
Select all that apply.

  • Canada
    • Select the location of the innovation co-operation partner
      • Same city or area where the business has its main Canadian operations
      • Different city or area but same province
      • Rest of Canada
  • United States of America
  • Rest of the world

Consultants and commercial laboratories
Select all that apply.

  • Canada
    • Select the location of the innovation co-operation partner
      • Same city or area where the business has its main Canadian operations
      • Different city or area but same province
      • Rest of Canada
  • United States of America
  • Rest of the world

Universities, colleges or other higher education institutions
Select all that apply.

  • Canada
    • Select the location of the innovation co-operation partner
      • Same city or area where the business has its main Canadian operations
      • Different city or area but same province
      • Rest of Canada
  • United States of America
  • Rest of the world

Government, public or private research institutes
Select all that apply.

  • Canada
    • Select the location of the innovation co-operation partner
      • Same city or area where the business has its main Canadian operations
      • Different city or area but same province
      • Rest of Canada
  • United States of America
  • Rest of the world

Non-profit organizations
Select all that apply.

  • Canada
    • Select the location of the innovation co-operation partner
      • Same city or area where the business has its main Canadian operations
      • Different city or area but same province
      • Rest of Canada
  • United States of America
  • Rest of the world

Households or individuals
Select all that apply.

  • Canada
    • Select the location of the innovation co-operation partner
      • Same city or area where the business has its main Canadian operations
      • Different city or area but same province
      • Rest of Canada
  • United States of America
  • Rest of the world

Other co-operation partners
Select all that apply.

  • Canada
    • Select the location of the innovation co-operation partner
      • Same city or area where the business has its main Canadian operations
      • Different city or area but same province
      • Rest of Canada
  • United States of America
  • Rest of the world

Question 35. During the three years, 2020 to 2022, which type of co-operation partner was the most critical to this business's innovation activities?

  • Parent, affiliated or subsidiary businesses
  • Suppliers of equipment, materials, components or software
  • Clients or customers from the private sector
  • Clients or customers from the public sector
  • Competitors or other businesses in the sector
  • Consultants and commercial laboratories
  • Universities, colleges or other higher education institutions
  • Government, public or private research institutes
  • Non-profit organizations
  • Households or individuals
  • Other co-operation partners

Innovation with environmental benefits

Question 36. During the three years, 2020 to 2022, did this business introduce an innovation with any of the following environmental benefits?

Include innovations introduced where environmental benefits were either intentional or incidental.

"During the three years, 2020 to 2022" refers to the calendar years, January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2022.

Benefits from production through efficient use of resources

  1. Improved resource efficiency through reduced material use per unit of output
    • Yes
    • No
  2. Improved resource efficiency through reduced energy use per unit of output
    • Yes
    • No
  3. Improved resource efficiency by replacing material with less greenhouse gas intensive alternatives
    • Yes
    • No
  4. Reduced consumption of resources through recycling (water, waste or material)
    • Yes
    • No
  5. Renewable fuels: ethanol, biodiesel, biogas, biochar, hydrogen
    • Yes
    • No

Benefits related to increased environmental protection activities

  1. Reduced air, water, soil or noise pollution
    • Yes
    • No
  2. Reduced greenhouse gas emissions
    • Yes
    • No

Benefits related to consumer or end user

  1. Reduced energy use or increased energy efficiency for the consumer or end user
    • Yes
    • No
  2. Reduced material use or increased recycling for the consumer or end user
    • Yes
    • No
  3. Reduced air, water, soil or noise pollution for the consumer or end user
    • Yes
    • No
  4. Reduced greenhouse gas emissions for the consumer or end user
    e.g., carbon capture and storage, carbon capture and utilization, carbon removal, clean coal processing
    • Yes
    • No
  5. Other environmental benefits
    • Yes
    • No

Question 37. During the three years, 2020 to 2022, were any of the innovations with environmental benefits new to one of this business's markets?

Benefits from production through efficient use of resources

  1. Improved resource efficiency through reduced material use per unit of output
    • Yes
    • No
  2. Improved resource efficiency through reduced energy use per unit of output
    • Yes
    • No
  3. Improved resource efficiency by replacing material with less greenhouse gas intensive alternatives
    • Yes
    • No
  4. Reduced consumption of resources through recycling (water, waste or material)
    • Yes
    • No
  5. Renewable fuels: ethanol, biodiesel, biogas, biochar, hydrogen
    • Yes
    • No

Benefits related to increased environmental protection activities

  1. Reduced air, water, soil or noise pollution
    • Yes
    • No
  2. Reduced greenhouse gas emissions
    • Yes
    • No

Benefits related to consumer or end user

  1. Reduced energy use or increased energy efficiency for the consumer or end user
    • Yes
    • No
  2. Reduced material use or increased recycling for the consumer or end user
    • Yes
    • No
  3. Reduced air, water, soil or noise pollution for the consumer or end user
    • Yes
    • No
  4. Reduced greenhouse gas emissions for the consumer or end user
    e.g., carbon capture and storage, carbon capture and utilization, carbon removal, clean coal processing
    • Yes
    • No
  5. Other environmental benefits
    • Yes
    • No

Use of government support programs for innovation-related activities

Question 38. During the three years, 2020 to 2022, did this business use any of the following types of government programs (federal, provincial, territorial, municipal or Indigenous) to aid innovation-related activities?

"During the three years, 2020 to 2022" refers to the calendar years, January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2022.

During the three years, 2020 to 2022, did this business use any of the following types of government programs (federal, provincial, territorial, municipal or Indigenous) to aid innovation-related activities?
Table summary
This table contains no data. It is an example of an empty data table used by respondents to provide data to Statistics Canada.
  Yes No
a. Government tax incentive or tax credit programs
Include programs intended to support innovation activities such as research and development or capital expenditures.
   
b. Government grants and contributions programs
Include programs intended to support innovation activities such as research and development, business development or commercialization of intellectual property.
   
c. Government training and hiring programs
Include programs intended to support innovation activities such as hiring and training of researchers, interns, immigrants or upskilling workers to support the needs of the business.
Upskilling is the process of providing employees with more advanced skills through additional education and training.
   
d. Government procurement
Include programs intended to support innovation activities such as the procurement of new or improved goods, services or business processes.
   
e. Government advisory services
Include networking, introduction to potential partners, clarification on accessing programs and services from innovation network.
   
f. Other government programs
Include programs and activities not included elsewhere such as access to facilities or export incentives.
   

Question 39. During the three years, 2020 to 2022, which type of government program did this business find was the most critical for its innovation activities?

Note: Refers to activities undertaken to develop or implement innovations during the three years 2020 to 2022.

  • Government tax incentive or tax credit programs
  • Government grants and contributions programs
  • Government training and hiring programs
  • Government procurement
  • Government advisory services
  • Other government programs

Obstacles

Question 40. In 2022, did this business face any obstacles to innovation resulting from any of the following elements?

"In 2022" refers to the calendar year, January 1 to December 31, 2022.

In 2022, did this business face any obstacles to innovation resulting from any of the following elements?
Table summary
This table contains no data. It is an example of an empty data table used by respondents to provide data to Statistics Canada.
  Yes No
a. Market size    
b. External financing
e.g., banks, government, venture capital, investors
   
c. Internal financing
e.g., funding from parents, affiliates
   
d. Lack of skills    
e. Finding and reaching agreements with external collaborators    
f. Uncertainty and risk    
g. Regulatory or government competition policy    
h. Difficulties obtaining or enforcing IP rights    
i. Impacts caused by COVID-19    
j. Other obstacles to innovation
e.g., gender-specific issues, innovation ecosystem support, etc.
   

Question 41. In 2022, were measures taken to overcome these obstacles to innovation?

"In 2022" refers to the calendar year, January 1 to December 31, 2022.

In 2022, were measures taken to overcome these obstacles to innovation?
Table summary
This table contains no data. It is an example of an empty data table used by respondents to provide data to Statistics Canada.
  Yes No
a. Market size    
b. External financing
e.g., banks, government, venture capital, investors
   
c. Internal financing
e.g., funding from parents, affiliates
   
d. Lack of skills    
e. Finding and reaching agreements with external collaborators    
f. Uncertainty and risk    
g. Regulatory or government competition policy    
h. Difficulties obtaining or enforcing IP rights    
i. Impacts caused by COVID-19    
j. Other obstacles to innovation
e.g., gender-specific issues, innovation ecosystem support, etc.
   

Question 42. In 2022, were these measures successful in mitigating obstacles to innovation?

"In 2022" refers to the calendar year, January 1 to December 31, 2022.

In 2022, were these measures successful in mitigating obstacles to innovation?
Table summary
This table contains no data. It is an example of an empty data table used by respondents to provide data to Statistics Canada.
  Yes No
a. Market size    
b. External financing
e.g., banks, government, venture capital, investors
   
c. Internal financing
e.g., funding from parents, affiliates
   
d. Lack of skills    
e. Finding and reaching agreements with external collaborators    
f. Uncertainty and risk    
g. Regulatory or government competition policy    
h. Difficulties obtaining or enforcing IP rights    
i. Impacts caused by COVID-19    
j. Other obstacles to innovation
e.g., gender-specific issues, innovation ecosystem support, etc.
   

Question 43. In 2022, were any government programs used to overcome obstacles to innovation?

"In 2022" refers to the calendar year, January 1 to December 31, 2022.

In 2022, were any government programs used to overcome obstacles to innovation?
Table summary
This table contains no data. It is an example of an empty data table used by respondents to provide data to Statistics Canada.
  Yes No
a. Market size    
b. External financing
e.g., banks, government, venture capital, investors
   
c. Internal financing
e.g., funding from parents, affiliates
   
d. Lack of skills    
e. Finding and reaching agreements with external collaborators    
f. Uncertainty and risk    
g. Regulatory or government competition policy    
h. Difficulties obtaining or enforcing IP rights    
i. Impacts caused by COVID-19    
j. Other obstacles to innovation
e.g., gender-specific issues, innovation ecosystem support, etc.
   

Advanced technology use

Technology is broadly defined to include the technical means and know-how required for the production of goods or services. It takes the form of equipment, materials, processes, blueprints and knowledge.

Advanced technologies are technologies (equipment and software) that perform a new function or improve some function significantly better than commonly used technologies in the industry or by competitors.

Question 44. In 2022, did this business use any of the following types of advanced technologies?

"In 2022" refers to the calendar year, January 1 to December 31, 2022.

  1. Material handling, supply chain or logistics technologies
    • Yes
    • No
  2. Design or information control technologies
    • Yes
    • No
  3. Processing or fabrication technologies (excluding additive manufacturing)
    • Yes
    • No
  4. Clean technologies
    Note: Clean technology refers to:
      • any good or service designed with the primary purpose of contributing to remediating or preventing any type of environmental damage
      • any good or service that is less polluting or more resource-efficient than equivalent normal products which furnish a similar utility. Their primary use, however, is not one of environmental protection.
    • Yes
    • No
  5. Security or advanced authentication systems
    • Yes
    • No
  6. Business intelligence technologies
    e.g., cloud-based computing systems and big data analytic tools
    • Yes
    • No
  7. Nanotechnology
    e.g., the manufacturing of devices and products from molecular or nano-scale components with extraordinary properties
    • Yes
    • No
  8. Biotechnology
    • Yes
    • No
  9. Geomatics or geospatial technologies
    • Yes
    • No
  10. Artificial intelligence (AI)
    • Yes
    • No
  11. Virtual, mixed and augmented reality
    e.g., virtual reality, augmented reality
    • Yes
    • No
  12. Integrated Internet of Things (IoT) systems
    Include systems where devices and objects have the networking capability that allow for information to be sent and received using the Internet e.g., fixtures and kitchen appliances
    • Yes
    • No
  13. Blockchain technologies
    e.g., crypto-currency, distributed ledgers, secure value exchange protocols, smart contracts
    • Yes
    • No
  14. Additive manufacturing
    e.g., 3D printing
    • Yes
    • No
  15. Robotics
    Include: robots with image recognition systems, robots with AI technologies enabling physical movement, robots with other AI systems, AI technologies for automation of processing and fabrication processes.
    Exclude: robots without AI systems
    • Yes
    • No
  16. Quantum technology
    • Yes
    • No
  17. Other types of advanced technologies
    • Yes
    • No

Question 45. In 2022, why did this business not adopt or use advanced technologies?

"In 2022" refers to the calendar year, January 1 to December 31, 2022.

Select all that apply.

  • Not convinced of economic benefit
  • Difficulty in obtaining financing
  • High cost of advanced technologies
  • Investment not necessary for continuing operations
  • Lack of technical skills required to support this type of investment
  • Organizational culture too inflexible
  • Decisions made by parent, affiliates or subsidiary businesses
  • Lack of technical support or services (from consultants or vendors)
  • Lack of information regarding advanced technologies
  • Difficulty in integrating new technologies with exisiting systems, standards and processes
  • Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
  • Not convinced of the environmental benefits
  • Other reasons for not adopting or using advanced technologies e.g., regulatory aspects
    OR
  • Not applicable to this business's activities

Clean technologies

Question 46. In 2022, were any of these clean technologies used by this business related to the following?

"In 2022" refers to the calendar year, January 1 to December 31, 2022.

Environmental protection
Select all that apply.

  • Air and environment protection or remediation
  • Waste management, reduction or recycling
  • Water or wastewater treatment

Sustainable resource management
Select all that apply.

  • Renewable fuels
  • Renewable energy e.g., solar, wind, hydro, nuclear
  • Bio-products
  • Smart grid
  • Energy storage
  • Energy management and efficiency improvements
  • Water management or recycling
  • Agriculture, aquaculture, forestry or biodiversity improvements
  • Sustainable mining

Adapted goods and services
Select all that apply.

  • Energy efficient transportation
  • Energy efficient equipment or appliances
  • Advanced or lightweight materials

Business practices

Question 47. In 2022, which of the following business practices did this business regularly use?

"In 2022" refers to the calendar year, January 1 to December 31, 2022.

Product development and control management practices
Select all that apply.

  • Concurrent engineering (simultaneous design)
  • Cross-functional design teams
  • Electronic work order management
  • Distribution resource planning (DRP)
  • Practices related to user or customer engagement and intelligence
  • Product data management (PDM)
    OR
  • None of the above

Quality management practices
Select all that apply.

  • Continuous improvement (including total quality management (TQM))
  • Business certification or certification renewals
  • Quality management system (QMS)
    OR
  • None of the above

Other business practices
Select all that apply.

  • Competitive technological intelligence (CTI) or benchmarking
  • Sustainable development strategy or environmental stewardship plan (ESP)
  • Life cycle management (LCM)
  • Intellectual property management
    OR
  • None of the above

Imports and exports

Question 48. In 2022, did this business make payments to suppliers outside Canada for the purchase of goods or services?

Include the purchase of goods or services from both foreign affiliates and foreign unaffiliated businesses. Foreign affiliates are foreign entities in which the Canadian reporting enterprise owns or controls 10% or more of the voting power.

"In 2022" refers to the calendar year, January 1 to December 31, 2022.

  • Yes
    • In 2022, how were these purchases from suppliers outside Canada used by this business?
      Select all that apply.
      • Used in production of other goods or services in Canada (intermediary goods or services)
      • Resold "as-is" in Canada
      • Resold "as-is" in foreign markets (including the U.S.), without altering the goods, and without the goods entering Canada before the sale
        Include goods that were simply repackaged, relabelled, or cleaned without any change in physical form.
        Exclude goods made or processed based on the specifications or personalized requirements provided by this business or on behalf of its clients.
      • Resold "as-is" in foreign markets (including the U.S.) without altering the goods, and with the goods entering Canada before the sale
      • Used to support business activities related to services in Canada
        Support business functions or activities include distribution and logistics services, marketing and sales services, ICT services, professional services, engineering and R&D services, or general management services.
        OR
      • Don't know
  • No

Question 49. In 2022, did this business receive revenue from clients outside Canada for the sale of goods or services?

  • Yes
    • In 2022, did this business attempt to sell any additional goods or services outside of Canada, but was not successful?
      • Yes
      • No
    • In 2022, did this business attempt to sell goods or services to any additional market outside of Canada, but was not successful?
      • Yes
      • No
  • No
    • In 2022, did this business attempt to sell goods or services to any market outside of Canada?
      • Yes
      • No

Question 50. In 2022, did this business sell goods or services to another business operating in Canada that were then exported "as-is"?

"In 2022" refers to the calendar year, January 1 to December 31, 2022.

  • Yes
  • No
  • Don't know

Question 51. In 2022, did this business sell goods or services to another business operating in Canada that used the goods as intermediate inputs in a final good that was then sold to clients outside Canada?

"In 2022" refers to the calendar year, January 1 to December 31, 2022

  • Yes
  • No
  • Don't know

Obstacles to exports

Question 52. In 2022, how difficult were the following obstacles to exporting or attempting to export goods or services?

"In 2022" refers to the calendar year, January 1 to December 31, 2022.

Administrative obstacles and resource limitations

  1. Canadian legal or administrative obstacles
    • Very difficult
    • Difficult
    • Somewhat difficult
    • Not at all difficult
    • Not applicable
  2. Foreign legal or administrative obstacles
    • Very difficult
    • Difficult
    • Somewhat difficult
    • Not at all difficult
    • Not applicable
  3. Foreign tariffs
    • Very difficult
    • Difficult
    • Somewhat difficult
    • Not at all difficult
    • Not applicable
  4. Trade barriers
    • Very difficult
    • Difficult
    • Somewhat difficult
    • Not at all difficult
    • Not applicable
  5. Difficulties obtaining or enforcing IP rights
    • Very difficult
    • Difficult
    • Somewhat difficult
    • Not at all difficult
    • Not applicable
  6. Access to financing
    • Very difficult
    • Difficult
    • Somewhat difficult
    • Not at all difficult
    • Not applicable
  7. Lack of skills e.g., sales, marketing and technical talent
    • Very difficult
    • Difficult
    • Somewhat difficult
    • Not at all difficult
    • Not applicable
  8. Lack of funds e.g., funds or capital
    • Very difficult
    • Difficult
    • Somewhat difficult
    • Not at all difficult
    • Not applicable
  9. Lack of management know-how
    • Very difficult
    • Difficult
    • Somewhat difficult
    • Not at all difficult
    • Not applicable

External barriers

  1. Efficiency, capacity or reliability of transportation infrastructures
    • Very difficult
    • Difficult
    • Somewhat difficult
    • Not at all difficult
    • Not applicable
  2. Shipping costs
    • Very difficult
    • Difficult
    • Somewhat difficult
    • Not at all difficult
    • Not applicable

Market obstacles

  1. Identifying foreign customers
    • Very difficult
    • Difficult
    • Somewhat difficult
    • Not at all difficult
    • Not applicable
  2. Obtaining knowledge on markets of interest
    • Very difficult
    • Difficult
    • Somewhat difficult
    • Not at all difficult
    • Not applicable
  3. Identifying foreign partners, suppliers or distributors
    • Very difficult
    • Difficult
    • Somewhat difficult
    • Not at all difficult
    • Not applicable
  4. Uncertainty of foreign or international standards
    • Very difficult
    • Difficult
    • Somewhat difficult
    • Not at all difficult
    • Not applicable
  5. Receiving payments from foreign customers
    • Very difficult
    • Difficult
    • Somewhat difficult
    • Not at all difficult
    • Not applicable
  6. Requirements for product adaptation e.g., market needs, customer preferences, etc.
    • Very difficult
    • Difficult
    • Somewhat difficult
    • Not at all difficult
    • Not applicable
  7. Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic e.g., supply chain disruptions
    • Very difficult
    • Difficult
    • Somewhat difficult
    • Not at all difficult
    • Not applicable

Other obstacles

  1. All other obstacles to exporting or attempting to export
    • Very difficult
    • Difficult
    • Somewhat difficult
    • Not at all difficult
    • Not applicable

Business structure and ownership

Question 53. In 2022, was this business an affiliate of a foreign parent?

A foreign parent is a foreign entity capable of exercising control of the reporting entity by owning or controlling more than 50% of this business's voting power on an ultimate basis.

An investor is considered to be the ultimate control investor if it is at the head of a chain of companies and directly or indirectly controls all the enterprises in the chain without itself being controlled by another investor.

"In 2022" refers to the calendar year, January 1 to December 31, 2022.

  • Yes
    • In 2022, where was this business's ultimate parent company located?
      • United States of America
      • Mexico
      • Other Latin America and Caribbean markets (LAC)
      • Europe
        Include United Kingdom, European Union, Switzerland, Norway, Russian Federation
      • China
        Exclude Taiwan and Hong Kong
      • Other Asian countries
        Include Turkey, Israel, India, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Indonesia, South Korea, Saudi Arabia
      • All other countries
  • No

Question 54. In 2022, did this business have affiliates located outside of Canada?

Foreign affiliates are foreign entities in which the Canadian reporting enterprise owns or controls 10% or more of the voting power.

  • Yes
    • Did this business have at least one majority-owned foreign affiliate in 2022?
      • Yes, this business had at least one majority-owned foreign affiliate in 2022 e.g., more than 50% of the voting power
      • No, this business did not have a majority-owned foreign affiliate in 2022
      • Don't know
  • No

Purchased goods or services

Question 55. In this business's fiscal year ending in 2022, did this business purchase any of the following goods or services?

Include both Canadian and foreign sources.

Goods

  1. Goods for use as intermediate input for domestic production
    • Yes
    • No
    • Not applicable
  2. Goods for resale "as-is"
    • Yes
      • Where were the goods resold "as-is"?
        Select all that apply.
        • Resold "as-is" in Canada
        • Resold "as-is" in foreign markets (including the U.S.) without altering the goods, and without the goods entering Canada before the sale
        • Resold "as-is" in foreign markets (including the U.S.) without altering the goods, and with the goods entering Canada before the sale
          OR
        • Don't know
    • No
    • Not applicable

Services

  1. Distribution and logistics services
    • Yes
    • No
    • Not applicable
  2. Call and help center services
    • Yes
    • No
    • Not applicable
  3. Marketing and sales services
    • Yes
    • No
    • Not applicable
  4. ICT services
    Include software development, data processing or other.
    • Yes
    • No
    • Not applicable
  5. Professional services
    Include finance, accounting, human resources, legal or other.
    • Yes
    • No
    • Not applicable
  6. Engineering and R&D services
    • Yes
    • No
    • Not applicable

Other goods or services

  1. Other types of goods or services purchased
    • Yes
    • No
    • Not applicable

Question 56. In this business's fiscal year ending in 2022, what was the total value of the goods or services purchased from Canadian and foreign sources?

Total value of goods or services purchased in CAN$ '000

Goods

  1. Goods for use as intermediate input for domestic production

Goods for resale "as-is"

  1. Resold "as-is" in Canada
  2. Resold "as-is" in foreign markets (including the U.S.), without altering the goods, and without the goods entering Canada before the sale
  3. Resold "as-is" in foreign markets (including the U.S.), without altering the goods, and with the goods entering Canada before the sale

Total goods for resale "as-is"

Services

  1. Distribution and logistics services
  2. Call and help center services
  3. Marketing and sales services
  4. ICT services Include software development, data processing or other.
  5. Professional services Include finance, accounting, human resources, legal or other.
  6. Engineering and R&D services

Other goods or services

  1. Other types of goods or services purchased

Total

Question 57. In this business's fiscal year ending in 2022, what proportions of goods or services were purchased from Canadian and foreign sources?

Foreign affiliated parties include both foreign affiliates and foreign parents and their subsidiaries.

Foreign affiliates are foreign entities in which the Canadian reporting enterprise owns or controls 10% or more of the voting power.

This reporting business could also be owned or controlled by a foreign parent. A foreign parent is a foreign entity capable of exercising control of the reporting entity by owning or controlling more than 50% of this business's voting power.

In this business's fiscal year ending in 2022, what proportions of goods or services were purchased from Canadian and foreign sources?
Table summary
This table contains no data. It is an example of an empty data table used by respondents to provide data to Statistics Canada.
  Canadian sources in percentage Foreign affiliated parties in percentage Foreign unaffiliated parties in percentage Total in percentage
Goods
a. Goods for use as intermediate input for domestic production
       
Goods for resale "as-is"
b. Resold "as-is" in Canada
       
c. Resold "as-is" in foreign markets (including the U.S.), without altering the goods, and without the goods entering Canada before the sale        
d. Resold "as-is" in foreign markets (including the U.S.), without altering the goods, and with the goods entering Canada before the sale        
Total goods for resale "as-is"        
Services
e. Distribution and logistics services
       
f. Call and help center services        
g. Marketing and sales services        
h. ICT services
Include software development, data processing or other.
       
i. Professional services
Include finance, accounting, human resources, legal or other.
       
j. Engineering and R&D services        
Other goods or services
k. Other types of goods or services purchased
       

Purchased goods or services - unaffiliated foreign businesses

Question 58. In this business's fiscal year ending in 2022, how important were the following reasons for purchasing goods or services from an unaffiliated (other foreign) business outside of Canada?

In this business's fiscal year ending in 2022, how important were the following reasons for purchasing goods or services from an unaffiliated (other foreign) business outside of Canada?
Table summary
This table contains no data. It is an example of an empty data table used by respondents to provide data to Statistics Canada.
  Very important Important Somewhat important Not at all important Not applicable
a. Reduce labour costs          
b. Reduce costs other than labour costs          
c. Better quality goods or services          
d. No suppliers available in Canada          
e. Reduce delivery times          
f. Increase access to supply chains or regional trade networks          
g. Access to specialized knowledge or technologies          
h. Tax or other financial incentives          
i. Lack of available labour in Canada          
j. Requirements for product inputs as a result of Free Trade Agreements and the rules of origin          
k. Other reasons for purchasing goods or services from an unaffiliated business outside of Canada          

Employment in Canada and abroad

Question 59. In this business's fiscal year ending in 2022, what was the approximate number of full-time equivalent personnel employed by this business in Canada and abroad?

Full-time equivalent (FTE) is the ratio of total hours worked within calendar year on an activity by all employees divided by the total hours conventionally worked in the calendar year by a full-time employee.

Include personnel that are employed by majority-owned foreign affiliates.

Exclude personnel that are employed by a foreign parent company.

Number of FTE personnel

  1. Canada
  2. United States of America
  3. Mexico
  4. Other Latin America and Caribbean countries (LAC)
  5. Europe Include United Kingdom, European Union, Switzerland, Norway, Russian Federation
  6. China Exclude Taiwan and Hong Kong
  7. Other Asian countries Include Turkey, Israel, India, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Indonesia, South Korea, Saudi Arabia
  8. All other countries

Total

Question 60. In this business's fiscal year ending in 2022, what was the approximate number of full-time equivalent personnel employed by this business in the following activities in Canada and outside Canada?

Full-time equivalent (FTE) is the ratio of total hours worked within calendar year on an activity by all employees divided by the total hours conventionally worked in the calendar year by a full-time employee.

Exclude personnel that are employed by a foreign parent company. Please only report for personnel that are employed by the Canadian business or its majority-owned foreign affiliates, in which the Canadian reporting enterprise owns or controls greater than 50% of the voting power.

In this business's fiscal year ending in 2022, what was the approximate number of full-time equivalent personnel employed by this business in the following activities in Canada and outside Canada?
Table summary
This table contains no data. It is an example of an empty data table used by respondents to provide data to Statistics Canada.
  In Canada number of FTE personnel Outside of Canada number of FTE personnel Total
a. Production of goods
Include manufacturing, assembly, resource extraction and all positions related to maintaining production equipment.
     
b. Distribution and logistics services      
c. Call and help centers services      
d. Marketing and sales services      
e. ICT services
Include software development, data processing or other.
     
f. Professional services
Include finance, accounting, human resources, legal or other.
     
g. Engineering and R&D services      
h. General management services      
i. All other business activities      
Total      

Question 61. In this business's fiscal year ending in 2022, what was the approximate number of full-time equivalent personnel employed by this business in the following activities outside of Canada?

Core business activities are activities of an enterprise yielding income: the production of final goods or services intended for the market or for third parties. Usually the core business functions make up the primary activity of the enterprise.

Support business activities are ancillary (supporting) activities carried out by the enterprise in order to permit or to facilitate the core business functions of an enterprise, which is the production activity. The outputs are not themselves intended directly for the market or for third parties.

Exclude personnel that are employed by a foreign parent company. Please only report for personnel that are employed by the Canadian business or its majority-owned foreign affiliates, in which the Canadian reporting enterprise owns or controls greater than 50% of the voting power.

In this business's fiscal year ending in 2022, what was the approximate number of full-time equivalent personnel employed by this business in the following activities outside of Canada?
Table summary
This table contains no data. It is an example of an empty data table used by respondents to provide data to Statistics Canada.
  Core activities number of FTE personnel outside of Canada Support activities number of FTE personnel outside of Canada
a. Production of goods
Include manufacturing, assembly, resource extraction and all positions related to maintaining production equipment.
   
b. Distribution and logistics services    
c. Call and help centers services    
d. Marketing and sales services    
e. ICT services
Include software development, data processing or other.
   
f. Professional services
Include finance, accounting, human resources, legal or other.
   
g. Engineering and R&D services    
h. General management services    
i. All other business activities    
Total    

Question 62. In this business's fiscal year ending in 2022, how important were the following reasons for this business to employ personnel outside of Canada?

Exclude personnel that are employed by a foreign parent company. Please only report for personnel that are employed by the Canadian business or its majority-owned foreign affiliates, in which the Canadian reporting enterprise owns or controls greater than 50% of the voting power.

In this business's fiscal year ending in 2022, how important were the following reasons for this business to employ personnel outside of Canada?
Table summary
This table contains no data. It is an example of an empty data table used by respondents to provide data to Statistics Canada.
  Very important Important Somewhat important Not at all important Not applicable
a. Reduce labour costs          
b. Reduce costs other than labour costs          
c. Access to new markets          
d. Increase access to supply chains or regional trade networks          
e. Increase sales          
f. Proximity to important customers          
g. Access to specialized knowledge or technologies          
h. Tax or other financial incentives          
i. Improve logistics          
j. Lack of available labour in Canada          
k. Other reasons for employing personnel outside of Canada          

Locating activities into Canada

Question 63. During the three years, 2020 to 2022, did this business move activities from outside of Canada into Canada?

Include activities brought into Canada by switching from a foreign supplier to a Canadian supplier, by switching from foreign manufacturing or services providers to Canadian manufacturing or services providers or other.

"During the three years 2020 to 2022" refers to the calendar years, January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2022.

  • Yes
  • No

Question 64. During the three years, 2020 to 2022, were any of the following activities moved to Canada?

"During the three years 2020 to 2022" refers to the calendar years, January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2022.

During the three years, 2020 to 2022, were any of the following activities moved to Canada?
Table summary
This table contains no data. It is an example of an empty data table used by respondents to provide data to Statistics Canada.
  Yes No
a. Production of goods
Include manufacturing, assembly, resource extraction and all positions related to maintaining production equipment.
   
b. Distribution and logistics services    
c. Call and help center services    
d. Marketing and sales services    
e. ICT services
Include software development, data processing or other.
   
f. Professional services
Include finance, accounting, human resources, legal or other.
   
g. Engineering and R&D services    
h. General management services    
i. All other business activities    

Question 65. During the three years, 2020 to 2022, how important were the following reasons for bringing the previous activities to Canada?

Note: Refers to activities moved to Canada during the three years, 2020 to 2022.

Production of goods
Level of importance

  1. Cost savings from locating abroad did not materialize (lower operating costs)
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  2. Labour costs abroad have risen (lower labour costs in Canada)
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  3. Better quality of labour or resources in Canada
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  4. Lower Canadian dollar
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  5. Consolidating number of suppliers
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  6. Tax or other financial incentives
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  7. Difficulties obtaining or enforcing IP rights Include patents, trademarks, copyrights or other intellectual property.
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  8. Proximity to customers or other logistical issues
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  9. Other reasons related to production of goods
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable

Distribution and logistics services

  1. Cost savings from locating abroad did not materialize (lower operating costs)
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  2. Labour costs abroad have risen (lower labour costs in Canada)
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  3. Better quality of labour or resources in Canada
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  4. Lower Canadian dollar
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  5. Consolidating number of suppliers
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  6. Tax or other financial incentives
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  7. Difficulties obtaining or enforcing IP rights Include patents, trademarks, copyrights or other intellectual property.
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  8. Proximity to customers or other logistical issues
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  9. Other reasons related to distribution and logistics services
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable

Call and help center services

  1. Cost savings from locating abroad did not materialize (lower operating costs)
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  2. Labour costs abroad have risen (lower labour costs in Canada)
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  3. Better quality of labour or resources in Canada
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  4. Lower Canadian dollar
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  5. Consolidating number of suppliers
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  6. Tax or other financial incentives
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  7. Sub-question y. Difficulties obtaining or enforcing IP rights Include patents, trademarks, copyrights or other intellectual property.
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  8. Proximity to customers or other logistical issues
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  9. Other reasons related to call and help center services
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable

Marketing and sales services

  1. Cost savings from locating abroad did not materialize (lower operating costs)
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  2. Labour costs abroad have risen (lower labour costs in Canada)
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  3. Better quality of labour or resources in Canada
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  4. Lower Canadian dollar
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  5. Consolidating number of suppliers
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  6. Tax or other financial incentives
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  7. Difficulties obtaining or enforcing IP rights Include patents, trademarks, copyrights or other intellectual property
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  8. Proximity to customers or other logistical issues
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  9. Other reasons related to marketing and sales services
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable

ICT services

  1. Cost savings from locating abroad did not materialize (lower operating costs)
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  2. Labour costs abroad have risen (lower labour costs in Canada)
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  3. Better quality of labour or resources in Canada
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  4. Lower Canadian dollar
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  5. Consolidating number of suppliers
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  6. Tax or other financial incentives
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  7. Difficulties obtaining or enforcing IP rights Include patents, trademarks, copyrights or other intellectual property
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  8. Proximity to customers or other logistical issues
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  9. Other reasons related to ICT services
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable

Professional services

  1. Cost savings from locating abroad did not materialize (lower operating costs)
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  2. Labour costs abroad have risen (lower labour costs in Canada)
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  3. Better quality of labour or resources in Canada
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  4. Lower Canadian dollar
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  5. Consolidating number of suppliers
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  6. Tax or other financial incentives
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  7. Difficulties obtaining or enforcing IP rights Include patents, trademarks, copyrights or other intellectual property
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  8. Proximity to customers or other logistical issues
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  9. Other reasons related to professional services
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable

Engineering and R&D services

  1. Cost savings from locating abroad did not materialize (lower operating costs)
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  2. Labour costs abroad have risen (lower labour costs in Canada)
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  3. Better quality of labour or resources in Canada
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  4. Lower Canadian dollar
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  5. Consolidating number of suppliers
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  6. Tax or other financial incentives
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  7. Difficulties obtaining or enforcing IP rights Include patents, trademarks, copyrights or other intellectual property
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  8. Proximity to customers or other logistical issues
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  9. Other reasons related to engineering and research and development (R&D) services
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable

General management services

  1. Cost savings from locating abroad did not materialize (lower operating costs)
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  2. Labour costs abroad have risen (lower labour costs in Canada)
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable]
  3. Better quality of labour or resources in Canada
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  4. Lower Canadian dollar
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  5. Consolidating number of suppliers
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  6. Tax or other financial incentives
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  7. Difficulties obtaining or enforcing IP rights Include patents, trademarks, copyrights or other intellectual property
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  8. Proximity to customers or other logistical issues
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  9. Other reasons related to general management services
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable

All other business activities

  1. Cost savings from locating abroad did not materialize (lower operating costs)
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  2. Labour costs abroad have risen (lower labour costs in Canada)
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  3. Better quality of labour or resources in Canada
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  4. Lower Canadian dollar
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  5. Consolidating number of suppliers
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  6. Tax or other financial incentives
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  7. Difficulties obtaining or enforcing IP rights Include patents, trademarks, copyrights or other intellectual property
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  8. Proximity to customers or other logistical issues
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable
  9. Other reasons related to all other business activities
    • Very important
    • Important
    • Somewhat important
    • Not at all important
    • Not applicable

Sales

Question 66. In this business's fiscal year ending in 2022, what was the value of total sales of goods or services of this business and its majority-owned foreign affiliates in Canada and abroad?

Include domestic sales of goods or services, sales made to other countries, and sales made by this business's majority-owned foreign affiliates, in which the Canadian reporting enterprise owns or controls greater than 50% of the voting power.

Exclude sales made by a foreign parent company.

If exact figures are not available, provide your best estimate.

Total sales, 2022
CAN$ '000

Question 67. In this business's fiscal year ending in 2022, what percentage of this business and its majority owned affiliates' total sales of goods or services was made to the following markets?

Include domestic sales of goods or services, sales made to other countries, and sales made by this business's majority-owned foreign affiliates, in which the Canadian reporting enterprise owns or controls greater than 50% of the voting power.

Exclude sales made by a foreign parent company.

If exact figures are not available, provide your best estimate.

Enter "0" if there is no value to report.

Percentage of sales

  1. Canada
  2. United States of America
  3. Mexico
  4. Other Latin America and Caribbean countries (LAC)
  5. Europe
    Include United Kingdom, European Union, Switzerland, Norway, Russian Federation
  6. China
    Exclude Taiwan and Hong Kong
  7. Other Asian countries
    Include Turkey, Israel, India, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Indonesia, South Korea, Saudi Arabia
  8. All other countries
    Total in percentage

Question 68. In this business fiscal year ending in 2022, what percentage of the value of this business and its foreign-owned affiliates' total sales of goods or services was made over the Internet?

Include domestic sales of goods or services, sales made to other countries, and sales made by this business's majority-owned foreign affiliates, in which the Canadian reporting enterprise owns or controls greater than 50% of the voting power.

Exclude sales made by a foreign parent company.

Enter "0" if there is no value to report.

Sales conducted over the Internet with or without online payment:

Include all sales of this business's goods or services where the order is received, and the commitment to purchase is made over the Internet, although payment can be made by other means. Include orders made in web pages, extranet or Electronic Data Interchange (EDI). Exclude orders made by telephone calls, facsimile, or e-mail.

Include sales made on enterprise and third party websites and apps.

Exclude the delivery of a digital good for which the order was not made online.

If precise figures are not available, please provide your best estimate.

  • Yes, sales of goods or services over the Internet
    • Percentage of total sales of goods or services over the Internet %
    • Percentage of sales of goods or services over the Internet to clients in Canada %
    • Percentage of sales of goods or services over the Internet to clients outside of Canada %
  • No

Question 69. In this business's fiscal year ending in 2022, what percentage of this business and its majority-owned foreign affiliates' total sales to each market was for goods or services, respectively?

Include domestic sales of goods or services, sales made to other countries, and sales made by this business's majority-owned foreign affiliates, in which the Canadian reporting enterprise owns or controls greater than 50% of the voting power.

Exclude sales made by a foreign parent company.

Enter "0" if there is no value to report.

In this business's fiscal year ending in 2022, what percentage of this business and its majority-owned foreign affiliates' total sales to each market was for goods or services, respectively?
Table summary
This table contains no data. It is an example of an empty data table used by respondents to provide data to Statistics Canada.
  Sales of goods (percentage) Sales of services (percentage) Total sales of goods or services (percentage)
a. Canada      
b. United States of America      
c. Mexico      
d. Other Latin America and Caribbean countries (LAC)      
e. Europe
Include United Kingdom, European Union, Switzerland, Norway, Russian Federation
     
f. China
Exclude Taiwan and Hong Kong
     
g. Other Asian countries
Include Turkey, Israel, India, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Indonesia, South Korea, Saudi Arabia
     
h. All other countries      

Question 70. In this business's fiscal year ending in 2022, what percentage of this business's sales of goods or services, for each country of destination, was made by this Canadian business and by this business's majority-owned foreign affiliates?

Include sales made by this Canadian business and its majority-owned foreign affiliates in which the Canadian reporting enterprise owns or controls greater than 50% of the voting power.

Include sales made by majority-owned foreign affiliates that are destined to the Canadian market or to international markets other than their own.

Exclude sales made by a foreign parent company.

Enter "0" if there is no value to report.

In this business's fiscal year ending in 2022, what percentage of this business's sales of goods or services, for each country of destination, was made by this Canadian business and by this business's majority-owned foreign affiliates?
Table summary
This table contains no data. It is an example of an empty data table used by respondents to provide data to Statistics Canada.
  Sales of goods or services by this Canadian business, percentage (%) Sales of goods or services by majority-owned foreign affiliates, percentage (%) Total sales of goods and services (%)
a. Canada      
b. United States of America      
c. Mexico      
d. Other Latin America and Caribbean countries (LAC)      
e. Europe
Include United Kingdom, European Union, Switzerland, Norway, Russian Federation
     
f. China
Exclude Taiwan and Hong Kong
     
g. Other Asian countries
Include Turkey, Israel, India, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Indonesia, South Korea, Saudi Arabia
     
h. All other countries      

Question 71. It was indicated that this business purchased an amount of goods outside of Canada and sold them "as-is" in foreign markets (including the U.S.), without altering the goods, and without the goods entering Canada before the sale.

What were the revenues associated from the sale of these goods?

Include goods that were simply repackaged, labelled, or cleaned without any change in physical form.

Exclude goods made or processed based on the specifications or personalized requirements provided by this business or on behalf of its clients.

Report all amounts in thousands of Canadian dollars ('000). If the amount is less than one thousand dollars, enter "0".
When precise figures are not available, please provide your best estimate.

It was indicated that this business purchased an amount of goods outside of Canada and sold them "as-is" in foreign markets (including the U.S.), without altering the goods, and without the goods entering Canada before the sale.
Table summary
This table contains no data. It is an example of an empty data table used by respondents to provide data to Statistics Canada.
  Sales (CAN$ '000) Cost of goods sold (CAN$ '000)
Sales and cost of goods sold
Total value
   

Contracting

Question 72. In this business's fiscal year ending in 2022, did this business have arrangements with other business entities outside Canada for them to perform manufacturing, processing, or assembly work according to the specifications provided by this business or on behalf of its clients?

Note: This may be referred to as custom work, custom manufacturing, or consignment.

Clients may include any routine or occasional clients and affiliated or non-affiliated companies for whom this business did work based on the clients' specifications or personalized requirements.

  • Yes
  • No
  • Don't know

Question 73. In this business's fiscal year ending in 2022, did this business perform manufacturing, processing, or assembly work according to the specifications provided by non-Canadian clients?

Note: This may be referred to as custom work, custom manufacturing, or consignment.
Clients may include any routine or occasional clients and affiliated or non-affiliated companies for whom this business did work based on the clients' specifications or personalized requirements.

  • Yes
  • No
  • Don't know

Majority-owned foreign affiliate statistics

Question 74. This business indicated that it owns or controls greater than 50% of the voting equity of a foreign affiliate.

Please report economic activities for the top 3 (in terms of total sales) majority-owned affiliates abroad.

  • MOFA 1
  • Name of the MOFA
  • Country of operation
  • Industry of the MOFA

The total full-time equivalent personnel employed by the MOFA Include full and part-time employees but exclude temporary or contract workers.

  • Yes have FTE personnel
    Total full-time personnel

    The total of full-time equivalent personnel engaged in research and development who work on R&D or who provide direct support to R&D
    Include all employees who work on R&D or who provide direct support to R&D, such as researchers, R&D managers, technicians, clerical staff, and others assigned to R&D groups.

    • Researchers include R&D scientists, engineers, and their managers.
    • R&D technicians and equivalent staff are persons whose main tasks require technical knowledge and experience in one or more field of science or engineering, but who contribute to R&D by performing technical tasks under the supervision of researchers.
    • R&D support staff is not directly involved with the conduct of a research project, but support the researchers and technicians. These employees might include clerical staff, report writers, regulatory experts, quality assurance, safety trainers, and other related employees.

    Exclude employees who provide only indirect support to R&D, such as corporate personnel, security guards, and cafeteria workers.

    Total full-time personnel engaged in R&D

    Employee compensation expenditure
    Report, for all employees in (previous question), the sum of wages and salaries and employee benefit plans.
    Report employee compensation expenditures, the base compensation data on payroll records, made by an employer in connection with the employment of workers, including cash payments, payments-in-kind, and employer expenditures for employee benefit plans including those required by statute. Total employee compensation consists of wages and salaries of employees and employer expenditures for all employee benefit plans. Report compensation that relates to activities that occurred during the reporting period regardless of whether the activities were charged as an expense on the income statement, charged to inventories, or capitalized.

    Exclude data related to activities of a prior period, such as those capitalized or charged to inventories in prior periods.

    Exclude compensation of contract workers not carried on the payroll of the Canadian reporting enterprise.

    Employee compensation expenditure

    $,000

    In-house R&D expenditures paid by the MOFA
    Inline with the user's guide developed by the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, R&D expenditures cover all expenditures for activities undertaken for the purpose of discovering or developing new products (goods and services) including improved versions of existing products or discovering or developing new or more efficient processes of products. Three types of R&D may be distinguished: basic research, applied research and experimental development.

    Basic research is experimental or theoretical work undertaken primarily to acquire new knowledge of the underlying foundations of phenomena and observable facts, without any particular application or use in view.

    Applied research is original investigation undertaken in order to acquire new knowledge. It is, however, directed primarily towards a specific, practical aim or objective.

    Experimental development is systematic work, drawing on knowledge gained from research and practical experience and producing additional knowle.g., which is directed to producing new products or processes or to improving existing products or processes.

    Intramural R&D expenditures are all current expenditures plus gross fixed capital expenditures for R&D performed within a statistical unit during a specific reference period, whatever the source of funds. Intramural R&D expenditure is synonymous with the performance of R&D within a statistical unit. Funding for, or expenditure on, extramural R&D (that is, R&D performed outside the statistical unit) is not included in intramural R&D performance totals.

    In-house R&D expenditure
    $,000

  • No

Operating expenses incurred by the MOFA

  • Yes
    Operating expenses
    $,000
    • Purchases of goods and services
      • Yes
        Purchases of goods and services:
        • $,000
        Please provide a breakdown of the total purchases of goods and services
        • Purchases in the country where the MOFA operates
          $,000
          Imports from Canadian parents and affiliated parties in Canada
          $,000
          Imports from non-affiliated parties in Canada
          $,000
          Imports from all other countries
          $,000
      • Did not purchase goods or services
    • All other expenses
      • Yes
        All other expenses
        $,000
      • No other expenses
    • Gross fixed capital formation

      Include new and existing tangible and intangible capital goods, whether bought from third parties or produced for own use, having a useful life of more than one year. Capital formation includes investments in non-residential construction, machinery and equipment, and intellectual property products.

      Also include all additions, alterations, improvements and renovations which prolong the service life or increase the productive capacity of capital goods.

      Current maintenance costs are excluded as is the value and current expenditure on capital goods used under rental and lease contracts.

      Exclude investments in financial assets

      Gross fixed capital formation

      $,000

  • No

Intellectual property assets

Question 75. Does this business own any of the following IP assets in Canada or outside of Canada?

Select all that apply.

  • Patents
  • Trademarks
  • Industrial design
  • Trade secrets
  • Copyrights
  • Non-disclosure agreements
  • Other types of intellectual property
    OR
  • Does not own any IP assets in Canada or outside of Canada

Year of establishment

Question 76. In what year was this business first established?

If precise figures are not available, provide your best estimate.

First established refers to the date when this business was first registered.

Year

Executive demographics

Question 77. What are the characteristics of the primary decision maker for this business?

Your responses in question 77 are voluntary.

The primary decision maker is the person primarily responsible for making decisions about this business.

This could be the majority owner, chairman of the board of directors, or general manager of this business.

In the case of equal partnership, select one partner and report for that individual.

Note: To the best of your knowle.g., please fill out the information below.

Gender
Gender refers to current gender which may be different from sex assigned at birth and may be different from what is indicated on legal documents.

  • Male
  • Female
  • Another gender
  • Don't know

Sexual and gender diversity

  • Does the primary decision maker of this business identify as LGBTQ2+?
    • Yes
    • No
    • Don't know

Indigenous peoples

  • Does the primary decision maker of this business identify as a First Nations person, Métis or Inuk (Inuit)?
    • Yes
      Select all that apply.
      • First Nations
        First Nations include Status and Non-Status Indians.
      • Métis
      • Inuk (Inuit)
        OR
      • Don't know
    • No
    • Don't know

Visible minority
Exclude First Nations, Métis or Inuk (Inuit)

  • Is the primary decision maker of this business a member of a visible minority?
    • Yes
    • No
    • Don't know

Disability

  • Is the primary decision maker of this business a person with a disability?
    • Yes
    • No
    • Don't know

New Canadian
Note: A new Canadian refers to new arrivals within the past 5 years.

  • Is the primary decision maker of this business a new Canadian?
    • Yes
    • No
    • Don't know

Question 78. Does the senior management of this business include members from the following groups?

Include Chair and vice-chair of the board of directors, president, chief executive officer, chief financial officer, vice-president in charge of a principal business unit or function, other individual performing policy-making function in respect of the corporation.

Note: To the best of your knowle.g., please fill out the information below.
Select all that apply.

Gender
Gender refers to current gender which may be different from sex assigned at birth and may be different from what is indicated on legal documents.

Percentage

  1. % of senior management who identify as male gender
  2. % of senior management who identify as female gender
  3. % of senior management who identify as another gender

Total

Question 79. What are the characteristics of the senior management for this business?

Sexual and gender diversity (LGBTQ2+ representation)

  • Does this business have an LGBTQ2+ person within its senior management?
    • Yes
    • No
    • Don't know

Indigenous peoples

  • Does this business have an Indigenous person within its senior management?
    • Yes
      Select all that apply.
      • First Nations
        First Nations include Status and Non-Status Indians.
      • Métis
      • Inuk (Inuit)
        OR
      • Don't know
    • No
    • Don't know

Visible minority
Exclude First Nations, Métis or Inuk (Inuit)

  • Does this business have someone who is a member of a visible minority within its senior management?
    • Yes
    • No
    • Don't know

Disability

  • Does this business have a person with a disability within its senior management?
    • Yes
    • No
    • Don't know

New Canadian
Note: A new Canadian refers to new arrivals within the past 5 years.

  • Does this business have a new Canadian within its senior management?
    • Yes
    • No
    • Don't know

Question 80. Does this business have a corporate diversity strategy?

e.g., strategy that could include diversity hiring practices, quotas, training programs, other policies that promote increasing diversity in the business

  • Yes, this business has an official corporate diversity strategy
  • Yes, this business has an unofficial corporate diversity strategy
    i.e., unwritten understanding
  • No, this business does not have a corporate diversity strategy

Notification of intent to extract web data

Question 81. Does this business have a website?

  • Yes
    • Specify the business website address 1
      e.g., www.example.ca
    • Specify the business website address 2
      e.g., www.example.ca
    • Specify the business website address 3
      e.g., www.example.ca
  • No

Notification of intent to extract web data

Statistics Canada engages in web-data extraction, also known as web scraping, which is a process by which information is gathered and copied from the Web using automated scripts or robots, for retrieval and analysis. As a result, we may visit the website for this organization to search for and compile additional information. The use of web scraping is part of a broader effort to reduce the response burden on organizations, as well as produce additional statistical indicators to ensure that our data remain accurate and relevant.

We will strive to ensure that the data collection does not interfere with the functionality of the website. Any data collected will be used by Statistics Canada for statistical and research purposes only, in accordance with the agency's privacy and confidentiality mandate. All information collected by Statistics Canada is strictly protected.

More information regarding Statistics Canada's web scraping initiative.

Learn more about Statistics Canada's transparency and accountability.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Statistics Canada Client Services, toll-free at 1-877-949-9492 (TTY: 1-800-363-7629) or by email at infostats@statcan.gc.ca. Additional information about this survey can be found by selecting the following link: Survey of Innovation and Business Strategy

Contact person

Question 82. Statistics Canada may need to contact the person who completed this questionnaire for further information.

Is (Respondent Name) the best person to contact?

  • Yes
  • No

Feedback

Question 83. How long did it take to complete this questionnaire?

Include the time spent gathering the necessary information.

  • Hours
  • Minutes

Question 84. Do you have any comments about this questionnaire?

Enter your comments

Addendum to the Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) related to the Automated Access Control System (August 2022)

Section 1: Overview

StatsCan Office of Privacy Management and Information Coordination (OPMIC) is providing privacy advice and support in relation the occupancy proposal in a phased approach:

  • Phase 1: This phase covers the non-administrative use of the personal information to report to senior management on aggregated counts of employees working from StatCan offices in the National Capital Region. The present addendum is included in this phase.
  • Phase 2: During this phase, the Agency will continue to assess and articulate the use of personal information from FEENICS as well as HR databases to allow to filter counts by fields and financial responsibility centers, as well as to make administrative decisions on cases of non-compliance in relation to personnel management. Central to this phase will be to ensure the proper notification of employees before the personal information is collected and used to make decisions in relation to attendance and personnel management thus ensuring compliance with subsection 5(2) of the Privacy Act as well as 6.2.9 of the Directive on Privacy Practices.

The following is an addendum to the PIA related to the Automated Access Control System (AACS) that was originally approved in 2009 and updated in 2016.

1.1 Description of the activity covered by the addendum

Personal information from the access control system database (FEENICS) containing data from the use of identification cards at the security terminals at the entrance of the Statistics Canada (StatCan) NCR facilities will be used to count the number of employees who are working from the Statistics Canada offices in the National Capital Region (NCR). Summary reports will be generated with aggregated numbers of on-site visits by day, week and month.

  1. A dataset containing four variables (employee name, card type1, card ID number, and date of use of the card at Stats Can NCR facilities) will be made available internally by Security and Facilities Division (SFD) to the agency's Human Resources Business Intelligence (HRBI). Only data about StatCan employees will be made available to HRBI and will be used only for that purpose.
  2. The number of unique swipe card uses will be aggregated by HRBI to create a summary report for senior management. This summary report will only include aggregated number of building occupancy by day, week, and month. There will be no individual data in the summary report.

With more employees returning to the office, and the implementation of a minimum two days/week hybrid environment effective in September 2022, it is important for Statistics Canada to monitor the occupancy trends of the agency's offices in the NCR. This information is required by HR and Facilities to plan and make data-driven decisions about occupational health and safety by ensuring adequate levelsFootnote 1 of office and collaborative spaces (e.g., hybrid-enabled rooms) that are fully equipped to meet growing needs. For example, on-site occupancy levels will allow to make decisions on the number of fully equipped workstations (e.g. Two monitors per station, ergonomic chair, sit-stand desk and other supporting technology) that are required to meet the needs. These decisions aid in the promotion of a safe and healthy workplace for employees.

1.2 Reason for the addendum

This addendum assesses a use of personal information from the Access control system database (FEENICS) that was not originally accounted for in the PIA. In the context of the hybrid return to the workplace, and especially in light of Covid-19, Statistics Canada needs to have information on counts of employees coming to the workplace in order to assess capacity and ensure the security and safety of its employees. Personal information from FEENICS will therefore now be used to count the number of employees present at Statistics Canada NCR buildings.

1.3 Scope of the analysis

The scope of the privacy analysis included in this addendum is limited to the additional use of the information as described in section 1.1 above, and does not cover elements and information already assessed in the PIA. Please refer to the PIA for these considerations.

Section 2: Personal Information Flow

2.1 Personal Information Elements table

The table below lists the personal information elements that will be involved in this activity as well as additional details that will be taken in consideration in the privacy analysis.

Personal information cluster Personal information Element Dataset Source Use of personal information Disclosure of personal information Justification
Daily Swipe Card data Employee Full Name

A list of daily swipes which includes the four variables listed and does not include any further personal information that is collected at the time that the security pass is used at the security terminals of the StatCan NCR buildings.

In regards to the use of temporary passes; only the number of the card and the date will be made available to HRBI.

Facilities daily swipe card data (FEENICS)

To measure the number of employees who are working from the StatCan offices in the National Capital Region (NCR) and produce summary aggregate reports for senior management on the total count of employees who entered the NCR offices by day, week, and month.

Reports will be accessed by HRBI and senior management only. The reports will not contain identifiable information. The information will not and could not be used to track individuals or used for administrative purposes.

There will be no disclosure of personal information outside of the organization. The reports will be used for planning purposes. They will be used to monitor the occupancy trends of the offices in the NCR. This information is necessary to plan and make data- driven decisions about occupational health and safety, accommodations, and to ensure the planned level of office and collaborative space (e.g., hybrid- enabled rooms) are sufficient to meet the growing demand.
Card ID Number

Card Type

Statistics Canada employee passes as well as temporary passesFootnote 2 for Statistics Canada employees will be used.

Other types of cards such as visitorsFootnote 3 and cleaners will be removed from the data before it is made available by SFD to HRBI.

Use of the cards at Stats Can NCR facilities.

2.2 List of individuals having access to the personal information

The table below lists the position of employees involved in this activity who will have access to the personal information, described in section 2.1.

Title of the position Number of individuals having access to the personal information Justification – Need to know
Unit Head (HRBI) 1 Reviewing the process and sometimes receiving the data, cleaning the records, running the summary reports.
Subject Matter Analyst (HRBI) 3 Receiving the data, cleaning the records, running the summary reports.

2.3 Description of the handling of the personal information

Employee name and date of access are required as part of the internal data transfer from SFD to HRBI in order to produce summary statistics. Two measures of occupancy are required:

  1. total occupancy in a given time period (ex. by day or week);
  2. total number of unique employees who worked from the office in a given time period (ex. by week or month).

2 The card number and the date that are collected through the security terminals when a card is used are the only elements that will be made available to HRBI in relation to a StatCan employee temporary pass.
3 Visitors are considered to be non-StatCan employees requiring access to the StatCan facilities. The personal information that is provided to the front desk to complete a paper-based document, in relation to the issuance of temporary passes to visitors as well as for the issuance of employee's temporary passes, will not be made available by SFD to HRBI or used. It is outside the scope of this activity. No data will be made available or used in regards to visitors.

Once the data has been cleaned, the individual records will be aggregated by date. Once aggregated, the information will not be used to re-identify individuals. This process will be done prior to the creation of the summary reports. There will be no individual data included in the summary report, meaning that no individual could be identified or tracked using the summary report. The report will contain the following counts:

  1. total occupancy by day, week, and month;
  2. unique number of visitors by week and month;
  3. average occupancy by day of the week.

The individual level data will be stored in a secured folder. Access will be limited to the list of individuals in section 2.2. Neither the identifiable information or the aggregated data will be used by HRBI for any administrative purpose as part of this activity. The individual level data will be retained for one year for validation purposes, after which point it will be disposed of securely.

Section 3: Necessity and Proportionality

  1. Necessity

With more employees returning to the office, and the implementation of a minimum two days/week hybrid environment effective in September 2022, it is important to monitor the occupancy trends of the offices in the NCR. These figures are necessary for HR and Facilities to plan and make data-driven decisions about occupational health and safety, accommodations, and to ensure the planned level of office and collaborative space (e.g., hybrid-enabled rooms) are fully equipped to meet the growing demand. For example, on-site occupancy levels will allow to make decisions on the number of fully equipped workstations (e.g. Two monitors per station, ergonomic chair, sit-stand desk and other supporting tech) that are required to meet the needs. These decisions aid in the promotion of a safe and healthy workplace for employees.

The date variable will be used to aggregate the individual records by day, week and month. This variable is necessary to determine the total occupancy for a given time frame. This is required to ensure that the level of office space available meets the demand. For example, on a given day, if there are 3,500 employees who visit the office, Statistics Canada must ensure there are, at a minimum, 3,500 work stations available.

The name variable is required to clean the data (ex. removing duplicates) and to determine the number of unique employees who worked from the office in a given time frame. It is important to measure the aggregate count of employees who are attending the office more than twice a week/month, and to measure unique visits in a given time period. This metric may be used to determine the level of fixed office space required. If there are a certain number of employees who visit the office more than X days in a month, permanent office space may be required.

This metric will also be used to measure, at an organizational level, the proportion of employees who are using the office in a given time period (ex. in a week or in a month). If there are a small number of employees who are using the office frequently, less office space will be required than if there are a large number of unique employees are using the office space less frequently. This metric is at the aggregate level, meaning no individuals can be tracked.

  1. Effectiveness - Working assumptions

The summary statistics that are produced with this data will provide HR and Facilities with the necessary information to plan and make data-driven decisions about occupational health and safety, accommodations, and office space requirements.

  1. Proportionality

There is a need for building occupancy statistics by day, as outlined in section 3.1 (Necessity). The potential impact on privacy is assessed as low given the safeguards in place which include:

  • The individual level data will be shared with only a small limited group of individuals in HRBI who will clean, deidentify and aggregate the data before it is included in the summary reports.
  • The summary reports will have no individual data and the information will not be disclosed or used for an administrative purpose.
  1. Alternatives

Alternatives have been explored and no feasible less privacy intrusive options were identified.

HRBI considered using the 'Return to Work' booking application data to measure the on-site occupancy. This data source did not meet the needs of the project because of poor data quality. Employees are not required to use the application in order to come in to the office, and employees who do book in the application may not actually come in to the office.

HRBI consulted with IT to determine if the number of employees accessing the server on-site could be measured. This was determined not to be feasible.

Section 4: Privacy Analysis

The following privacy analysis is based on the information included in sections 1 to 3 by HRBI as of August 15, 2022. Refer to the Automated Access Control System (AACS) PIA in regards to the principles that are not covered in this addendum.

Accountability

The AACS PIA states that "Statistics Canada is responsible for all personal information under its control". For the activity assessed in this addendum, the Assistant Chief Statistician of Corporate Strategy and Management is accountable for the personal information of employees collected through the AACS and stored in FEENICS that will be used by HRBI for the purpose described in this addendum.

Purpose

The original PIA in 2009 covered and assessed a limited use of the personal information collected using the AACS. The update to the PIA made in 2016 included and assessed an additional use. The current addendum covers the use of the AACS personal information (employee name and card ID number) to count the number of employees present daily, weekly at the NCR Stats Can facilities in the context of the

current pandemic and the return to work to a hybrid environment to ensure the safety of the employees present in the building. The next sub-section will demonstrate how this use is considered to be covered by the use section of the applicable Identification Cards and Access Badges - PSE 917. This purpose will be communicated to all current and new employees via a Privacy Notice Statement (see subsection on openness below).

Use

In order to use personal information from FEENICS without obtaining employee consent, the intended use of the personal information must match the original purpose for which it was collected or be for a consistent use. These uses and consistent uses must be described in their related Personal Information Banks (PIBs) as well as communicated to the individuals.

An employee should be in a position to understand that the personal information collected initially could be used for this other purpose and the notice that should be provided to each employee should include a reference to the related PIB(s).

Statistics Canada's Privacy Impact Assessment on the Automated Access Control System did not cover or assess this use of personal information from FEENICS. The PIA originally written in 2009 and updated in 2016 indicates that the use of the personal information collected and stored in FEENICS is "strictly restricted to the specific purpose of investigating matters related to safety, security, and personal management. In all cases, any authorized used will require the approval of the Departmental Security Officer."

The PIA indicates that the personal information collected in FEENICS is described in the Personal Information Bank Identification Cards and Access Badges - PSE 917, whereas personal information related to the issuance of temporary passes is covered by PIB Security Video Surveillance and Temporary Visitor Access Control Logs and Access Badges - PSU 9074. Both are standard TBS PIBs that apply to all federal institutions.

Personal information collected in regards to the issuance of temporary passes that are collected by departmental security is not covered in this analysis as it is not involved or used as part of this activity. Based on the information provided by HRBI, the information collected in regards to StatCan employees' temporary passes is limited to the temporary card number and date of use collected through FEENICS when a temporary pass is used at a building security terminal. No information about visitors who are not employees of StatCan will be handled by HRBI or would be used in relation to the activity assessed.
Based on the above, the PIB PSU 907 does not apply in the context of this activity.

PSE 917 specifies that permitted uses of the personal information (limited to: photographs, signatures, name and card numbers of holders) are to "maintain information relating to the issuance, use and cancellation of identification cards and access badges, and to assist in ensuring the security of government institution facilities and the safety and security of individuals and assets present in such facilities." The allowed consistent uses are limited to: "use personal information in the event of security- related incidents such as thefts or emergency situations".Footnote 4

The Office of Privacy Management's current understanding is that only information from FEENICS, not information related to temporary visitor's access controls logs and access badges is intended to be used in relation to this activity.

PIB Human Resources Planning – PSU 935 includes the use of limited personal information elements for the management of facilities, but personal information elements related to identification cards and access badges is not covered under this PIB. The PIBs Occupational Health and Safety - PSE 907 as well as Employment Equity and Diversity – PSE-918, were also reviewed and do not include personal information elements related to identification cards and access badges.

The intended purpose of the proposed activity is to count the number of employees who are working from StatCan offices in the National Capital Region (NCR) buildings in the context of the hybrid return to the workplace.

The intended use of personal information related to identification cards and access badges to count the number of employees (including employees using a temporary card) who are accessing the StatCan buildings in the National Capital Region to inform management of the number of individuals present at each work site daily, weekly and to ensure the safety of individuals in the buildings during the return to work to an hybrid environment in the current health context is considered to be covered in the uses section of the PIB PSE 917. More specifically, to maintain information related to the use of identification cards and access badges (including temporary cards) and to assist in ensuring the safety and security of individuals present in facilities.

The use of any additional data elements or any new use of personal information from FEENICS not included in the PIA or in this addendum would need to be assessed and an additional addendum developed accordingly.

Disclosure

Based on the information included in section 1 to 3 by HRBI, this activity will not involve any disclosure of the FEENICS personal information used for the purpose of this activity.

Openness

Section 5(2) of the Privacy Act requires that the institution collecting personal information inform the individuals to which the personal information relates, of the purpose for which it was collected. The AACS PIA has identified the lack of proper notification as a potential threat and stated that: detailed information about the AACS "has been communicated via the Internal Communication Network, the employee newsletter and staff emails". As the PIA was drafted in 2009, which pre-dates the issuance of the Directive on Privacy Practices by the Treasury Board, it would be prudent to draft a Privacy Notice Statement including the elements listed in section 6.2.9 of the Directive. This Privacy Notice Statement will be presented to StatCan employees before or at the time of collection of their personal information through FEENICS in order to comply with section 6.2.10 of the Directive mentioned above. Both the purpose and the use of the personal information, including the uses described in the current document, will be included in the Privacy Notice Statement. In the interim, communication has been sent on July 12, 2022, by the Chief Statistician to all StatCan employees mentioning "I encourage you to familiarize yourself with the Statistics Canada Modernization Journey: Framework on Hybrid Work", which included a link to the document. The document includes the following statement: "To support the agency's ability to track onsite activity, inform floor design plans for PSPC renovations, and track the implementation of our hybrid work model, aggregated turnstile data will be used, wherever possible, to measure building occupancy levels."

Conclusion

This assessment concludes that this activity does not introduce any additional risks not addressed in the Automated Access Control System (AACS) PIA.

Footnotes

Footnotes

Footnote 1

See footnotes 3 & 4.

Return to footnote 1 referrer

Footnote 2

The card number and the date that are collected through the security terminals when a card is used are the only elements that will be made available to HRBI in relation to a StatCan employee temporary pass.

Return to footnote 2 referrer

Footnote 3

Visitors are considered to be non-StatCan employees requiring access to the StatCan facilities. The personal information that is provided to the front desk to complete a paper-based document, in relation to the issuance of temporary passes to visitors as well as for the issuance of employee’s temporary passes, will not be made available by SFD to HRBI or used. It is outside the scope of this activity. No data will be made available or used in regards to visitors.

Return to footnote 3 referrer

Footnote 4

The Office of Privacy Management’s current understanding is that only information from FEENICS, not information related to temporary visitor’s access controls logs and access badges is intended to be used in relation to this activity.

Return to footnote 4 referrer

Why are we conducting this survey?

This survey is conducted by Statistics Canada in order to collect the necessary information to support the Integrated Business Statistics Program (IBSP). This program combines various survey and administrative data to develop comprehensive measures of the Canadian economy. This survey collects data essential for the statistical analysis of the passenger bus industry and its impact on the Canadian economy.

Your information may also be used by Statistics Canada for other statistical and research purposes.

Your participation in this survey is required under the authority of the Statistics Act.

Other important information

Authorization to collect this information

Data are collected under the authority of the Statistics Act, Revised Statutes of Canada, 1985, Chapter S-19.

Confidentiality

By law, Statistics Canada is prohibited from releasing any information it collects that could identify any person, business or organization, unless consent has been given by the respondent, or as permitted by the Statistics Act. Statistics Canada will use the information from this survey for statistical purposes only.

Record linkages

To enhance the data from this survey and to reduce the response burden, Statistics Canada may combine the acquired data with information from other surveys or from administrative sources.

Data-sharing agreements

To reduce the response burden, Statistics Canada has entered into data-sharing agreements with provincial and territorial statistical agencies and other government organizations, which have agreed to keep the data confidential and use them only for statistical purposes. Statistics Canada will only share data from this survey with those organizations that have demonstrated a requirement to use the data.

Section 11 of the Statistics Act provides for the sharing of information with provincial and territorial statistical agencies that meet certain conditions. These agencies must have the legislative authority to collect the same information, on a mandatory basis, and the legislation must provide substantially the same provisions for confidentiality and penalties for disclosure of confidential information as the Statistics Act. Because these agencies have the legal authority to compel businesses to provide the same information, consent is not requested and businesses may not object to the sharing of the data.

For this survey, there are Section 11 agreements with the provincial and territorial statistical agencies of Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia and the Yukon. The shared data will be limited to information pertaining to business establishments located within the jurisdiction of the respective province or territory.

Section 12 of the Statistics Act provides for the sharing of information with federal, provincial or territorial government organizations.

Under Section 12, you may refuse to share your information with any of these organizations by writing a letter of objection to the Chief Statistician, specifying the organizations with which you do not want Statistics Canada to share your data, and mailing it to the following address:

Chief Statistician of Canada
Statistics Canada
Attention of Director, Enterprise Statistics Division
150 Tunney's Pasture Driveway
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0T6

You may also contact us by email at statcan.esdhelpdesk-dsebureaudedepannage.statcan@statcan.gc.ca  or by fax at 613-951-6583.

For this survey, there are Section 12 agreements with the Quebec Department of Transport and the Ontario Ministry of Transportation.

For agreements with provincial and territorial government organizations, the shared data will be limited to information pertaining to business establishments located within the jurisdiction of the respective province or territory.

There is also a Section 12 agreement with Transport Canada. Federally-regulated carriers under the authority of the Canada Transportation Act (CTA) and pursuant to the Transportation Information Regulations do not have the right to object to sharing their information with Transport Canada. Carriers which are not federally regulated may object to sharing their information with Transport Canada by writing to the Chief Statistician. Transport Canada will use the information obtained from federally-regulated carriers in accordance with the provisions of the CTA and Regulations.

Statistics Canada will also share your information under Section 12 of the Statistics Act with Infrastructure Canada, unless you refuse.

Business or organization and contact information

1. Verify or provide the business or organization's legal and operating name, and correct information if needed.

Note: Legal name should only be modified to correct a spelling error or typo.

Legal name

The legal name is one recognized by law, thus it is the name liable for pursuit or for debts incurred by the business or organization. In the case of a corporation, it is the legal name as fixed by its charter or the statute by which the corporation was created.

Modifications to the legal name should only be done to correct a spelling error or typo.

To indicate a legal name of another legal entity you should instead indicate it in question 3 by selecting "Not currently operational" and then choosing the applicable reason and providing the legal name of this other entity along with any other requested information.

Operating name

The operating name is a name the business or organization is commonly known as if different from its legal name. The operating name is synonymous with trade name.

• Legal name
• Operating name (if applicable)

2. Verify or provide the contact information for the designated contact person for the business or organization, and correct information if needed.

Note: The designated contact person is the person who should receive this questionnaire. The designated contact person may not always be the one who actually completes the questionnaire.

  • First name
  • Last name
  • Title
  • Preferred language of communication
    • English
    • French
  • Mailing address (number and street)
  • City
  • Province, territory or state
  • Postal code or ZIP (Zone Improvement Plan) code
  • Country
    • Canada
    • United States
  • Email address
  • Telephone number (including area code)
  • Extension number (if applicable)
  • Fax number (including area code)

3. Verify or provide the current operational status of the business or organization identified by the legal and operating name above.

  • Operational
  • Not currently operational - e.g., temporarily or permanently closed, change of ownership
    Why is this business or organization not currently operational?
    • Seasonal operations
      • When did this business or organization close for the season?
        • Date
      • When does this business or organization expect to resume operations?
        • Date
    • Ceased operations
      • When did this business or organization cease operations?
        • Date
      • Why did this business or organization cease operations?
        • Bankruptcy
        • Liquidation
        • Dissolution
        • Other - Specify the other reasons why operations ceased
    • Sold operations
      • When was this business or organization sold?
        • Date
      • What is the legal name of the buyer?
    • Amalgamated with other businesses or organizations
      • When did this business or organization amalgamate?
        • Date
      • What is the legal name of the resulting or continuing business or organization?
      • What are the legal names of the other amalgamated businesses or organizations?
    • Temporarily inactive but expected to reopen
      • When did this business or organization become temporarily inactive?
        • Date
      • When does this business or organization expect to resume operations?
        • Date
      • Why is this business or organization temporarily inactive?
    • No longer operating because of other reasons
      • When did this business or organization cease operations?
        • Date
      • Why did this business or organization cease operations?

4. Verify or provide the current main activity of the business or organization identified by the legal and operating name above.

Note: The described activity was assigned using the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS).

This question verifies the business or organization's current main activity as classified by the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) is an industry classification system developed by the statistical agencies of Canada, Mexico and the United States. Created against the background of the North American Free Trade Agreement, it is designed to provide common definitions of the industrial structure of the three countries and a common statistical framework to facilitate the analysis of the three economies. NAICS is based on supply-side or production-oriented principles, to ensure that industrial data, classified to NAICS, are suitable for the analysis of production-related issues such as industrial performance.

The target entity for which NAICS is designed are businesses and other organizations engaged in the production of goods and services. They include farms, incorporated and unincorporated businesses and government business enterprises. They also include government institutions and agencies engaged in the production of marketed and non-marketed services, as well as organizations such as professional associations and unions and charitable or non-profit organizations and the employees of households.

The associated NAICS should reflect those activities conducted by the business or organizational units targeted by this questionnaire only, as identified in the "Answering this questionnaire" section and which can be identified by the specified legal and operating name. The main activity is the activity which most defines the targeted business or organization's main purpose or reason for existence. For a business or organization that is for-profit, it is normally the activity that generates the majority of the revenue for the entity.

The NAICS classification contains a limited number of activity classes; the associated classification might be applicable for this business or organization even if it is not exactly how you would describe this business or organization's main activity.

Please note that any modifications to the main activity through your response to this question might not necessarily be reflected prior to the transmitting of subsequent questionnaires and as a result they may not contain this updated information.

The following is the detailed description including any applicable examples or exclusions for the classification currently associated with this business or organization.

Description and examples

  • This is the current main activity
  • This is not the current main activity

Provide a brief but precise description of this business or organization's main activity.

e.g., breakfast cereal manufacturing, shoe store, software development

Main activity

5. You indicated that _ is not the current main activity. Was this business or organization's main activity ever classified as _ ?

  • Yes

When did the main activity change?

  • Date
  • No

Reporting period information

1. What is the start and end date of this business or organization's reporting period for MM-YYYY ?

Start date

End date

2. What is the reason the reporting period does not cover at least 28 days?

Select all that apply.

  • Seasonal operations
  • New business
  • Change of ownership
  • Temporarily inactive
  • Change of fiscal year
  • Ceased operations
  • Other - Specify other reason the reporting period does not cover at least 28 days

Operating information

1. What were the total operating revenues?

Exclude subsidies.

  • CAN$

2. What was the total number of passengers?

  • Number of passengers

Attach Files

1. If you have revisions to previous months' data, you can now attach up to five files by following the instructions provided below.

To attach files 

  • Press the Attach files button.
  • Choose the file to attach. Multiple files can be attached.

Note: 

  • Each file must not exceed 5 MB.
  • All attachments combined must not exceed 50 MB.
  • The name and size of each file attached will be displayed on the page.

Changes or events

1. Indicate any changes or events that affected the reported values for this business or organization, compared with the last reporting period.

Select all that apply.

  • Strike or lock-out
    • How many days in _ was this business or organization open?
  • Exchange rate impact
  • Price changes in goods or services sold
  • Contracting out
  • Organizational change
  • Price changes in labour or raw materials
  • Natural disaster
    • How many days in _ was this business or organization open?
  • Recession
  • Change in product line
  • Sold business or business units
  • Expansion
  • New or lost contract
  • Plant closures
    • How many days in _ was this business or organization open?
  • Acquisition of business or business units
  • Other
    • Specify the other change or event
  • No changes or events

Contact person

2. Statistics Canada may need to contact the person who completed this questionnaire for further information.

Is the provided given name and the provided family name the best person to contact?

  • Yes
  • No

Who is the best person to contact about this questionnaire?

  • First name
  • Last name
  • Title
  • Email address
  • Telephone number (including area code)
  • Extension number (if applicable)
  • Fax number (including area code)

Feedback

3. How long did it take to complete this questionnaire?

Include the time spent gathering the necessary information.

Hours:

Minutes:

4. Do you have any comments about this questionnaire?

Enter your comments

Retail Trade Survey (Monthly): CVs for total sales by geography - November 2022

CVs for Total sales by geography
This table displays the results of Retail Trade Survey (monthly): CVs for total sales by geography – November 2022. The information is grouped by Geography (appearing as row headers), Month and Percent (appearing as column headers)
Geography Month
202211
%
Canada 0.6
Newfoundland and Labrador 1.9
Prince Edward Island 0.9
Nova Scotia 2.2
New Brunswick 1.8
Quebec 1.4
Ontario 1.0
Manitoba 1.2
Saskatchewan 3.0
Alberta 1.6
British Columbia 1.6
Yukon Territory 2.3
Northwest Territories 1.9
Nunavut 1.7

Integrated Business Statistics Program (IBSP)

This guide is designed to assist you as you complete the 2022 Annual Wholesale Trade Survey. If you need more information, please call the Statistics Canada Help Line at the number below.

Help Line: 1-800-858-7921

Your answers are confidential.

Statistics Canada is prohibited by law from releasing any information it collects which could identify any person, business, or organization, unless consent has been given by the respondent or as permitted by the Statistics Act.

Statistics Canada will use information from this survey for statistical purposes.

Table of contents

Reporting instructions

1. Please print in ink.

2. Please report all dollar amounts in thousands of Canadian dollars ('000 CAN$).

3. Do not include sales tax

4. All dollar amounts reported should be rounded to the nearest whole dollar (e.g., $55,417.40 should be rounded to $55,417). All percentages reported should be rounded to the nearest whole percent (e.g., 37.3% to 37%, 75.8% to 76%).

5. When precise figures are not available, please provide your best estimates.

Business or organization and contact information

This section verifies or requests basic identifying information of the business or organization such as legal name, operating name (if applicable), contact information of the designated contact person, current operational status, and main activity(ies).

1. Legal name and Operating name

Legal Name
The legal name is one recognized by law, thus it is the name liable for pursuit or for debts incurred by the business or organization. In the case of a corporation, it is the legal name as fixed by its charter or the statute by which the corporation was created.

Modifications to the legal name should only be done to correct a spelling error or typo.

To indicate a legal name of another legal entity you should instead indicate it in question 3 by selecting 'Not currently operational' and then choosing the applicable reason and providing the legal name of this other entity along with any other requested information.

Operating Name
The operating name is a name the business or organization is commonly known as if different from its legal name. The operating name is synonymous with the trade name.

2. Designated contact person

Verify or provide the requested contact information of the designated business or organization contact person. The designated contact person is the person who should receive this questionnaire. The designated contact person may not always be the one who actually completes the questionnaire. If different than the designated contact person, the contact information of the person completing the questionnaire can be indicated later in the questionnaire.

3. Current operational status

Verify or provide the current operational status of the business or organization identified by the legal and operating name in question 1. If indicating the operational status of the business or organization is 'Not currently operational' then indicate an applicable reason and provide the requested information.

4. Main activity

This question verifies the business or organization's current main activity as classified by the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) is an industry classification system developed by the statistical agencies of Canada, Mexico and the United States. Created against the background of the North American Free Trade Agreement, it is designed to provide common definitions of the industrial structure of the three countries and a common statistical framework to facilitate the analysis of the three economies. NAICS is based on supply-side or production-oriented principles, to ensure that industrial data, classified to NAICS, are suitable for the analysis of production-related issues such as industrial performance.

The target entity for which NAICS is designed are businesses and other organizations engaged in the production of goods and services. They include farms, incorporated and unincorporated businesses and government business enterprises. They also include government institutions and agencies engaged in the production of marketed and non-marketed services, as well as organizations such as professional associations and unions and charitable or non-profit organizations and the employees of households.

The associated NAICS should reflect those activities conducted by the business or organizational unit(s) targeted by this questionnaire only, as identified in the 'Answering this questionnaire' section and which can be identified by the specified legal and operating name. The main activity is the activity which most defines the targeted business or organization's main purpose or reason for existence. For a business or organization that is for-profit, it is normally the activity that generates the majority of the revenue for the entity.

The NAICS classification contains a limited number of activity classifications; the associated classification might be applicable for this business or organization even if it is not exactly how you would describe this business or organization's main activity.

Please note that any modifications to the main activity through your response to this question might not necessarily be reflected prior to the transmitting of subsequent questionnaires and as a result they may not contain this updated information.

If the current NAICS associated with this business or organizations is not correct, please provide a brief description of the main activity and provide any additional information as requested.

Reporting period information

For this survey, please report information for this business's most recent 12 month fiscal period

Note: For this survey, the End date should fall between April 1, 2022 and March 31, 2023.

Here are examples of common fiscal periods that fall within the required dates:

  • May 1, 2021 to April 30, 2022
  • June 1, 2021 to May 31, 2022
  • July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022
  • August 1, 2021 to July 31, 2022
  • September 1, 2021 to August 31, 2022
  • October 1, 2021 to September 30, 2022
  • November 1, 2021 to October 31, 2022
  • December 1, 2021 to November 30, 2022
  • January 1, 2022 to December 31, 2022
  • February 1, 2022 to January 31, 2023
  • March 1, 2022 to February 28, 2023
  • April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023

Here are other examples of fiscal periods that fall within the required dates:

  • September 18, 2021 to September 15, 2022 (e.g., floating year-end)
  • June 1, 2022 to December 31, 2022 (e.g., a newly opened business)

Revenue

1. Sales of goods and services (e.g., fees, admissions, services revenue)

Sales of goods and services are defined as amounts derived from the sale of goods and services (cash or credit), falling within a business's ordinary activities. Sales should be reported net of trade discount, value added tax and other taxes based on sales.
Include: Sales from Canadian locations (domestic and export sales); Transfers to other business units or a head office of your firm.
Exclude: Transfers into inventory and consignment sales; Federal, provincial and territorial sales taxes and excise duties and taxes; intracompany sales in consolidated financial statements.

2. Rental and leasing

Include: Rental or leasing of apartments, commercial buildings, land, office space, residential housing, investments in co-tenancies and co-ownerships, hotel or motel rooms, long and short term vehicle leasing, machinery or equipment, storage lockers, etc.

3. Commissions

Include: Commissions earned on the sale of products or services by businesses such as advertising agencies, brokers, insurance agents, lottery ticket sales, sales representatives, and travel agencies – (compensation could also be reported under this item (for example, compensation for collecting sales tax)).

4. Subsidies (including grants, donations and fundraising)

Include: Non-repayable grants, contributions and subsidies from all levels of government; Revenue from private sector (corporate and individual) sponsorships, donations and fundraising.

5. Royalties rights, licensing and franchise fees

A royalty is defined as a payment received by the holder of a copyright, trademark or patent.
Include: Revenue received from the sale or use of all intellectual property rights of copyrighted materials such as musical, literary, artistic or dramatic works, sound recordings or the broadcasting of communication signals.

6. Dividends

Include: Dividend income; Dividends from Canadian sources; Dividends from foreign sources; Patronage dividends.
Exclude: Equity income from investments in subsidiaries or affiliates.

7. Interest

Include: Investment revenue; Interest from foreign sources; Interest from Canadian bonds and debentures; Interest from Canadian mortgage loans; Interest from other Canadian sources.
Exclude: Equity income from investments in subsidiaries or affiliates.

8. Other revenue (please specify)

Include: Amounts not included in questions (1) to (7).

9. Total revenue

The sum of sub-questions (1) to (8).

Expenses

1. Cost of goods sold

Many business units distinguish their costs of materials from their other business expenses (selling, general and administrative). This item is included to allow you to easily record your costs/expenses according to your normal accounting practices.
Include: Cost of raw materials and/or goods purchased for re-sale – net of discounts earned on purchases; Freight in and duty.

2. Employment costs and expenses

a. Salaries, wages and commissions

Please report all salaries and wages (including taxable allowances and employment commissions as defined on the T4 – Statement of Remuneration Paid) before deductions for this reporting period.
Include: Vacation pay; Bonuses (including profit sharing); Employee commissions; Taxable allowances (e.g., room and board, vehicle allowances, gifts such as airline tickets for holidays); Severance pay.
Exclude: All payments and expenses associated with casual labour and outside contract workers (report these amounts at question 3 - Subcontracts).

b. Employee benefits

Include contributions to: Health plans; Insurance plans; Employment insurance; Pension plans; Workers' compensation; Association dues; Contributions to any other employee benefits such as child care and supplementary unemployment benefit (SUB) plans; Contributions to provincial and territorial health and education payroll taxes.

3. Subcontracts

Subcontract expense refers to the purchasing of services from outside of the company rather than providing them in-house.
Include: Hired casual labour and outside contract workers; Custom work and contract work; Subcontract and outside labour; Hired labour.

4. Research and development fees

Expenses from activities conducted with the intention of making a discovery that could either lead to the development of new products or procedures, or to the improvement of existing products or procedures.

5. Professional and business fees

Include: Legal services; Accounting and auditing fees; Consulting fees; Education and training fees; Appraisal fees; Management and administration fees; Property management fees; Information technology (IT) consulting and service fees (purchased); Architectural fees; Engineering fees; Scientific and technical service fees; Other consulting fees (management, technical and scientific); Veterinary fees; Fees for human health services; Payroll preparation fees; All other professional and business service fees.
Exclude: Service fees paid to Head Office (report at question 21 - All other costs and expenses).

6. Utilities

Utility expenses related to operating your business unit such as water, electricity, gas, heating and hydro.
Include: Diesel, wood, natural gas, oil and propane; Sewage.
Exclude: Energy expenses covered in your rental and leasing contracts; Telephone, Internet and other telecommunications; (report this amount at question 8. - Telephone, Internet and other telecommunication); Vehicle fuel (report at question 21 - All other costs and expenses).

7. Office and computer related expenses

Include: Office stationery and supplies, paper and other supplies for photocopiers, printers and fax machines; Postage and courier (used in the day to day office business activity); Diskettes and computer upgrade expenses; Data processing.
Exclude: Telephone, Internet and other telecommunication expenses (report this amount at question 8 - Telephone, Internet and other telecommunication).

8. Telephone, Internet and other telecommunication

Include: Internet; Telephone and telecommunications; Cellular telephone; Fax machine; Pager.

9. Business taxes, licenses and permits

Include: Property taxes paid directly and property transfer taxes; Vehicle license fees; Beverage taxes and business taxes; Trade license fees; Membership fees and professional license fees; Provincial capital tax.

10. Royalties, franchise fees and memberships

Include: Amounts paid to holders of patents, copyrights, performing rights and trademarks; Gross overriding royalty expenses and direct royalty costs; Resident and non-resident royalty expenses; Franchise fees.
Exclude: Crown royalties

11. Crown charges

Federal or Provincial royalty, tax, lease or rental payments made in relation to the acquisition, development or ownership of Canadian resource properties.
Include: Crown royalties; Crown leases and rentals; Oil sand leases; Stumpage fees.

12. Rental and leasing

Include: Lease rental expenses, real estate rental expenses, condominium fees and equipment rental expenses; Motor vehicle rental and leasing expenses; Studio lighting and scaffolding; Machinery and equipment rental expenses; Storage expenses; Road and construction equipment rental; Fuel and other utility costs covered in your rental and leasing contracts.

13. Repair and maintenance

Include: Buildings and structures; Machinery and equipment; Security equipment; Vehicles; Costs related to materials, parts and external labour associated with these expenses; Janitorial and cleaning services and garbage removal.

14. Amortization and depreciation

Include: Direct cost depreciation of tangible assets and amortization of leasehold improvements; Amortization of intangible assets (e.g., amortization of goodwill, patents, franchises, copyrights, trademarks, deferred charges, organizational costs).

15. Insurance

Insurance recovery income should be deducted from insurance expenses.
Include: Professional and other liability insurance; Motor vehicle and property insurance; Executive life insurance; Bonding, business interruption insurance and fire insurance.

16. Advertising, marketing, promotion, meals and entertainment

Include: Newspaper advertising and media expenses; Catalogues, presentations and displays; Tickets for theatre, concerts and sporting events for business promotion; Fundraising expenses; Meals, entertainment and hospitality purchases for clients.

17. Travel, meetings and conventions

Include: Travel expenses; Meeting and convention expenses, seminars; Passenger transportation (e.g., airfare, bus, train, etc.); Accommodations; Travel allowance and meals while travelling; Other travel expenses.

18. Financial services

Include: Explicit service charges for financial services; Credit and debit card commissions and charges; Collection expenses and transfer fees; Registrar and transfer agent fees; Security and exchange commission fees; Other financial service fees.
Exclude: Interest expenses (report at question 19 - Interest expense).

19. Interest expense

Report the cost of servicing your company's debt.
Include: Interest; Bank charges; Finance charges; Interest payments on capital leases; Amortization of bond discounts; Interest on short-term and long-term debt, mortgages, bonds and debentures.

20. Other non-production-related costs and expenses

Include: Charitable donations and political contributions; Bad debt expense; Loan losses; Provisions for loan losses (minus bad debt recoveries); Inventory adjustments

21. All other costs and expenses (including intracompany expenses)

Include: Production costs; Pipeline operations, drilling, site restoration; Gross overriding royalty; Other producing property rentals; Well operating, fuel and equipment; Other lease rentals; Other direct costs; Equipment hire and operation; Log yard expense, forestry costs, logging road costs; Freight in and duty; Overhead expenses allocated to costs of sales; Other expenses; Cash over/short (negative expense); Reimbursement of parent company expense; Warranty expense; Recruiting expenses; General and administrative expenses; Interdivisional expenses; Interfund transfer (minus expense recoveries); Exploration and Development (including prospect/geological, well abandonment & dry holes, exploration expenses, development expenses); Amounts not included in questions 1 to 20 above.

22. Total expenses

The sum of sub-questions 1 to 21.

Industry Characteristics

All revenue reported should exclude sales taxes (GST/HST, PST and QST) and be net of returns, discounts, sales allowances, and charges for outward transportation by common or contract carriers.

1. All products purchased for resale

Include: Excise taxes (such as those on gasoline, liquor, and tobacco) and other taxes that are levied on the manufacturer/importer and included in the cost of products purchased by this business unit; Sales of all products purchased for resale, please report gross sales of new and used products less returns, discounts and rebates; Parts used in generating repair and maintenance revenue, report the labour portion of repair and maintenance at question 3; Any sales made to any member company of your enterprise. Do not deduct the value of trade-ins.
Exclude: Taxes collected directly from customers and paid directly by this operating unit to provincial and federal tax agencies.

2. Products manufactured as a secondary activity by this business

Report revenue from sales of products of own manufacture.

3. Repair and maintenance services

Include: Labour revenue from installation, repair and maintenance work; Parts used in generating installation, repair and maintenance revenue are to be included at question 1.

4. Rental and leasing of real estate

Include: Rental and leasing of office space and other real estate.

5. Rental and leasing of products and equipment

Include: Rental and leasing of products and equipment whether or not they have been produced by this business.

Value of products

Report sale value of those products upon which this business has reported earning a commission or fee in the Revenue section question 1.

Sales by type of client

This section is designed to measure which sector of the economy purchases your services.

Please provide a percentage breakdown of your sales by type of client.

Please ensure that the sum of percentages reported in this section equals 100%.

1. Clients in Canada

a. Individuals and households

Please report the percentage of sales to individuals and households who do not represent the business or government sector.

b. Businesses

Percentage of sales sold to the business sector should be reported here.
Include: Sales to Crown corporations.

c. Governments, not-for-profit organizations and public institutions (e.g., hospitals, schools)

Percentage of sales to federal, provincial, territorial and municipal governments should be reported here.
Include: Sales to hospitals, schools, universities and public utilities.

2. Clients outside Canada

Please report the percentage of total sales to customers or clients located outside Canada including foreign businesses, foreign individuals, foreign institutions and/or governments.
Include: Sales to foreign subsidiaries and affiliates.

Province/country of origin and destination of goods sold

For costs of goods sold and sales of goods

Report the total cost of goods for this product. In the following question, you will be asked to provide the percentage breakdown of the total cost of goods according to the origin of the goods (i.e., the province, territory, or country outside Canada where the goods were originally manufactured).

The origin is, to the best of your knowledge, where the products were originally produced or manufactured (i.e., which province, territory, or country outside Canada). If the origin is not known, an acceptable substitute is the location of this business's supplier.
Note: exclude intermediate shipping points between your supplier and you.

The total for the origin should be equal to 100%.

Sales of goods

Report the total sales for this product. In the following question, you will be asked to provide a percentage breakdown of the total sales of this product according to the destination (that is, the province, territory, or country outside Canada where the goods will ultimately be used). For the product listed, please provide the percentage breakdown of the sales according to the destination.

The destination, to the best of your knowledge, where the goods will ultimately be used (i.e., which province, territory, or country outside Canada). Acceptable substitutes are: Shipping destinations; Location of retail customers; Location of warehouses.

The percentages should sum to 100%.

Notification of intent to extract web data

Statistics Canada engages in web-data extraction, also known as web scraping, which is a process by which information is gathered and copied from the Web using automated scripts or robots, for retrieval and analysis. As a result, we may visit the website for this organization to search for and compile additional information. The use of web scraping is part of a broader effort to reduce the response burden on organizations, as well as produce additional statistical indicators to ensure that our data remain accurate and relevant

We will strive to ensure that the data collection does not interfere with the functionality of the website. Any data collected will be used by Statistics Canada for statistical and research purposes only, in accordance with the agency’s privacy and confidentiality mandate. All information collected by Statistics Canada is strictly protected.

More information regarding Statistics Canada's web scraping initiative.

Learn more about Statistics Canada's transparency and accountability.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Statistics Canada Client Services, toll-free at 1-877-949-9492 (TTY: 1-800-363-7629) or by email at infostats@statcan.gc.ca. Additional information about this survey can be found at the following link: Annual Wholesale Trade Survey

Accommodation Services: CVs for operating revenue - 2021

Accommodation Services : CVs for operating revenue - 2021
Table Summary
This table displays the results of CVs for operating revenue for 2021. The information is grouped by Geography (appearing as row headers), CVs for operating revenue (appearing as a column header) calculated using percentage units of measure.
Geography CVs for operating revenue
percent
Canada 0.00
Newfoundland and Labrador 0.00
Prince Edward Island 0.00
Nova Scotia 0.01
New Brunswick 0.00
Quebec 0.00
Ontario 0.00
Manitoba 0.00
Saskatchewan 0.00
Alberta 0.00
British Columbia 0.00
Yukon 0.00
Northwest Territories 0.00
Nunavut 0.00

Designing a metrics monitoring and alerting system

By: Simardeep Singh, Statistics Canada

Introduction

Designing a metrics monitoring and alerting system is a crucial step in ensuring the health and performance of any system or application. A well-designed system can help identify potential issues before they become critical, allowing for quick resolution and minimizing downtime.

The first step in designing a metrics monitoring and alerting system is to identify the key metrics that need to be monitored. These metrics should be chosen based on the specific goals and objectives of the system or application, as well as its unique characteristics and requirements. For example, a website may need to monitor metrics such as page load time, user engagement, and server response time, while a mobile app may need to monitor metrics such as battery usage and network performance.

Once the key metrics have been identified, the next step is to determine how they will be collected and stored. This may involve setting up specialized monitoring tools or using existing tools and services. It is important to ensure that the data collected is accurate, reliable, and easily accessible.

The next step is to set up alerts and notifications based on the metrics being monitored. This can be done using a variety of tools and methods, such as email, SMS, or push notifications. The alert thresholds should be carefully chosen to ensure that they are sensitive enough to detect potential issues, but not so sensitive that they generate erroneous alerts.

Finally, it is important to regularly review and assess the performance of the metrics monitoring and alerting system. This can involve analyzing the data collected, identifying areas for improvement, and making any necessary adjustments to the system. By continuously improving the system, it can remain effective and reliable over time.

What are the major components of the system?

A metrics monitoring and alerting system consists of five components:

  • Data collection: collects metric data from different resources.
  • Data transmission: transfers data from sources to the metrics monitoring system.
  • Data storage: organizes and stores incoming data.
  • Alerting: analyzes the incoming data, detects anomalies and generates alerts. The system must be able to send alerts to different communication channels configured by the organization.
  • Visualization: presents data in graphics, charts, etc. It's easier to identify the patterns, trends or problems when data is presented visually.

How to design the metrics for monitoring and alerting system

In this section, we discuss some fundamentals of building the system, the data model, and the high-level design.

Data modelling: Metrics data is generally recorded as a time series that contains the set of values with their associated timestamps. The series itself can be identified by its name, and operationally by a set of labels. Every time series consists of the following:

Table 1: Time series

Name Type
A metric name String
A set of tags/labels List of <key: value> pairs
An array of values and their timestamps An array of <value, timestamp> pairs

Data access pattern: Consider a real-world scenario where the alerting system must calculate the average CPU load across all the webservers in a specific region. The data must be averaged every 10 minutes, which accounts for about 10 million operational metrics written per day, and many metrics are collected at high frequency. For these systems, the write load is heavy, and the read load is simultaneously spiky. Both visualization and alerting services will send the queries to the database, and depending on the access patterns and alerts, the read volume can either increase or decrease. The system is under constant heavy write load, while the read load is spiky.

Data storage system: A general-purpose database, in theory, could support time-series data, but it will require extensive tuning to make it work on a large scale. A relational database is not optimized for operations commonly performed against time-series data.

There are many storage systems optimized for time-series data. Optimization consumes fewer servers to handle huge volumes of data. Many of these databases have custom query interfaces designed for the analysis of time-series data that are much easier to use than structured query language (SQL).

Two very popular time-series databases are Influx DB (database) and Prometheus, which are designed to store large volumes of time-series data and perform real time analysis. Another feature of the strong time-series database is efficient aggregation. Influx DB builds indexes on the labels to facilitate the fast lookup of time-series by labels.

High level design

Figure 1: High level design for a metrics monitoring and designing system

Figure 1: High level design for a metrics monitoring and designing system
Figure 1: High level design for a metrics monitoring and designing system

Different components of the metrics monitoring and alerting system interacting with each other. The metrics source generates the metrics which are being collected by the metrics collector and being fed to the time-series database. The time-series database is being queried by the visualization system to show the visuals and the altering system to notify the developers.

  1. Metrics Source
    1. forward to Metrics Collector
  2. Metrics Collector
    1. forward to Time Series DB
  3. Time Series DB
    1. back to Metrics Collector
    2. back to Query Service
  4. Query Service
    1. back to Alerting System (send queries)
    2. back to Visualization System (send queries)
  5. Visualization System
    1. forward to Query Service
  6. Alerting System
    1. forward to Query Service
    2. forward to Email
    3. forward to Text Message
    4. forward to PageDuty
    5. forward to Https Endpoints
  7. Email
  8. Text Message
  9. PageDuty
  10. Https Endpoints
  • Metrics source:This can be application servers, SQL databases, message queues, etc.
  • Metrics collector: Gathers metrics data and writes data into the time-series database.
  • Time-series database: This stores metrics data as time series. It usually provides a custom-query interface for analyzing and summarizing a large amount of time-series data. It maintains indexes on labels to facilitate the fast lookup of data using the labels.
  • Query service: The query service makes it easy to query and retrieve data from the time-series databases.
  • Alerting system: This sends alert notifications to various alerting destinations.
  • Visualization system: This shows metrics in the form of various graphs/charts.

Design deep dive

Let's investigate the designs in detail:

  • Metrics collection
  • Scaling the metrics transmission pipeline
  • Query service
  • Alerting system
  • Visualization system

Metrics collection

There are two ways metrics data can be collected – pull or push.

Figure 2: Metrics collection flow

Figure 2: Metrics collection flow
Figure 2: Metrics collection flow

The metrics source and metrics collector system. These components are discussed in the detailed in the following paragraphs.

  1. Metrics Source
    1. forward to Metrics Collector
  2. Metrics Collector
    1. forward to Time Series DB
  3. Time Series DB
    1. back to Metrics Collector
    2. back to Query Service
  4. Query Service
    1. back to Alerting System (send queries)
    2. back to Visualization System (send queries)
  5. Visualization System
    1. forward to Query Service
  6. Alerting System
    1. forward to Query Service
    2. forward to Email
    3. forward to Text Message
    4. forward to PageDuty
    5. forward to Https Endpoints
  7. Email
  8. Text Message
  9. PageDuty
  10. Https Endpoints

Pull model

In a pull model, the metrics collector pulls the metrics from the sources. Consequently the metrics collector needs to know the complete list of service ends to pull the data. We can use a reliable, scalable and maintainable service like service discovery, provided by ETCD and Zookeeper. A service discovery contains configuration rules about when and where to collect the metrics.

  • The metrics collector fetches the configuration metadata of service endpoint from service discovery. Metadata includes pulling interval, IP addresses, timeout and retry parameters.
  • The metrics collector pulls the metric data using the HTTP endpoint (for example, web servers) or TCP (transmission control protocol) endpoint (for DB clusters).
  • The metrics collector registers a change event notification with the service directory to get an update whenever the service endpoints change.

Figure 3: Pull model in detail

Figure 3: Pull model in detail
Figure 3: Pull model in detail

The metrics collector pulls the metrics from different sources. The metrics collectors get the information of service-end points from the service directory which includes ETCD and zookeeper.

  1. Metrics Collector
    1. forward to Service Discovery - ETCD and Zookeeper (via Discovery Targets)
    2. forward to Metrics Source – Web Servers, DB Clusters, Queue Clusters, Cache Clusters (via Requests)
  2. Service Discovery – ETCD Zookeeper
  3. Metrics Source – Web Servers, DB Clusters, Queue Clusters, Cache Clusters

Push model

In a push model, a collection agent is installed on every server that is being monitored. A collection agent is long-running software that collects the metrics from the service running on the server and pushes those metrics to the collector.

To prevent the metrics collector from falling behind a push model, the collector should always be in an autoscaling position with a load balancer in the front of it (Figure 4). The cluster should scale up or down based on the CPU (central processing unit) load of the metrics collector.

Figure 4: Push model in detail

Figure 4: Push model in detail
Figure 4: Push model in detail

The collection agent collects the metrics from the web servers and pushes those metrics to a load balancer. The load balancer balances the metrics load and pushes to the group of metrics collectors.

  1. Metrics Source 
    1. Web Servers
      1. forward to Metrics 1
      2. forward to Metrics 2
      3. forward to Metrics 3
    2. Forward to Load Balancer
  2. Load Balancer (via Push Messages)
    1. Forward to Metrics Collectors
  3. Metrics Collectors

Pull or push?

So, what's best for a large organization? Knowing the advantages and disadvantages of each approach is important. A large organization needs to support both, especially serverless architecture.

Push Monitoring System:

Advantages:

  • Real-time notifications of issues and alerts
  • Can alert multiple recipients at once.
  • Can be customized to specific needs and requirements
  • Can be integrated with other systems and applications

Disadvantages:

  • Requires a constant and reliable internet connection to function properly
  • Can be overwhelming with too many notifications and alerts
  • Can be vulnerable to cyber-attacks and security breaches

Pull Monitoring System:

Advantages:

  • Can be accessed remotely and for multiple devices
  • Can be set up to check specific metrics and parameters at regular intervals
  • Can be easily configured and customized
  • Can provide detailed and historical data for analysis and reporting

Disadvantages:

  • Requires manual intervention to check and review the data.
  • May not provide the real-time alerts and notifications
  • Can be less efficient in identifying and responding to issues and anomalies.

Scaling the metrics transmission pipeline

Whether we use the push or pull model, the metrics collector of servers and the cluster receive enormous amounts of data. There's a risk of data loss if the time-series database is unavailable. To navigate through the risk of losing data, we can use a queueing component as shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5: Add queues

Figure 5: Add queues
Figure 5: Add queues

Steps to scale the metrics transmission pipeline. The design leverages the use of Kafka's built-in partition mechanism to scale the system. Kafka helps to categorize and prioritize so that the important metrics cane be processed first by the time-series database.

  1. Metrics Source
    1. forward to Metrics Collector
  2. Metrics Collector
    1. forward to Kafka
  3. Kafka
    1. forward to Consumer
  4. Consumers
    1. forward to Time Series DB
  5. Time Series DB
    1. back to Query Service
  6. Query Service
    1. back to Alerting System
    2. back to Visualization System
  7. Visualization System
    1. forward to Query Service (send queries)
  8. Alerting System
    1. forward to Query Service (send queries)
    2. forward to Email
    3. forward to Text Message
    4. forward to PageDuty
    5. forward to Https Endpoints
  9. Email
  10. Text Message
  11. PageDuty
  12. Https Endpoints

In this design, the metrics collector sends metric data to a queuing system like Kafka. Then consumers or streaming processing services such as Apache Spark process and push the data to the time-series database. This approach has several advantages:

  • Kafka is used as a highly reliable and scalable distributed messaging platform.
  • It decouples the data collection and processing services from one another.
  • It can easily prevent data loss when the database is unavailable by retaining the data in Kafka.

Query service

The query service comprises a cluster of query servers which access the time-series database and handle the requests from the visualization or alerting systems. Once you have a dedicated set of query servers, you can decouple time-series database from the visualization and alerting systems. This provides us with the flexibility to change the time-series database or the visualization and alerting systems, whenever needed.

To reduce the load of the time-series database and make the query service more performant, cache servers can be added to store query results, as shown in Figure 6.

Figure 6: Cache layer

Figure 6: Cache layer
Figure 6: Cache layer

The integration of query service and cache layer. Cache layer reduces the load time of the time-series database and make query more performant.

  1. Metrics Source
    1. forward to Metrics Collector
  2. Metrics Collector
    1. forward to Kafka
  3. Kafka
    1. forward to Consumer
  4. Consumers
    1. forward to Time Series DB
  5. Time Series DB
    1. back to Query Service
  6. Query Service
    1. back to Alerting System
    2. back to Visualization System
    3. forward to Cache
  7. Cache
  8. Visualization System
    1. forward to Query Service (send queries)
  9. Alerting System
    1. forward to Query Service (send queries)
    2. forward to Email
    3. forward to Text Message
    4. forward to PageDuty
    5. forward to Https Endpoints
  10. Email
  11. Text Message
  12. PageDuty
  13. Https Endpoints

Storage layer

Space optimization – In order to optimize the storage, following strategies can be used to tackle this problem:

Data encoding and compression: Data encoding is the process of translating data from one format into another, typically for the purposes of efficient transmission or storage. Data compression is a related process that involves reducing the amount of data required to represent a given piece of information. Together data encoding and compression can significantly reduce the size of the data. It is the process of encoding, restructuring, or otherwise modifying data to reduce its size. Essentially, it involves re-encoding information with fewer bits than the original representation.

Downsampling: Downsampling is the process of reducing the number of samples in a dataset by removing some data points. This is often done to reduce the amount of data that needs to be processed and to simply the analysis. Downsampling can be done in a variety of ways, including randomly selecting a subset of the data points, using a specific algorithm to select the data points, or using a specific sampling frequency to reduce the data. If the data retention policy is set to one year, we can sample the data using the following example.

  • Retention: seven days, no sampling
  • Retention: 30 days, down sample to one minute resolution
  • Retention: one-year, down sample to one hour resolution

Alerting system

A monitoring system is very useful for proactive interpretation and investigation, but one of the main advantages of a full monitoring system is that administrators can be disconnected from the system. Alerts allow you to define situations to be actively managed while relying on passive monitoring of software to watch for changing conditions.

The alert flow works as follows:

  1. Load the config files to the cache servers. Rules are defined as config files on the disk, shown in Figure 7.

Figure 7: Alerting system

Figure 7: Alerting system
Figure 7: Alerting system

The raw config files are being cached and forwarded to the alert manager. The alert manager forwards those files to Kafka which are further consumed by the Alert consumers including e-mail, text message, page duty and http endpoints.

  1. Rule Config Files
    1. forward to Cache
  2. Cache
    1. forward to Alert Manager
  3. Alert Manager
    1. back to Cache
    2. forward to Query Service
    3. lateral to Alert Store
    4. forward to Kafka
  4. Query Service
    1. back to Alert Manager
  5. Alert Store
    1. back to Alert Manager
  6. Kafka
    1. forward to Alert Consumer
  7. Alert Consumer
    1. forward to Email
    2. forward to Text Message
    3. forward to PageDuty
    4. forward to Https Endpoints
  8. Email
  9. Text Message
  10. PageDuty
  11. Https Endpoints
  1. The alert manager fetches alert configs from the cache.
  2. Based on the config rules, the alert manager calls the query service at a predefined interval. If the value violates the threshold, an alert event is created. The alert manager is responsible for the following:
    1. Filter, merge, and dedupe alerts. Here's an example of merging alerts that are triggered within one instance in a short amount of time.

Figure 8: Merge alerts

Figure 8: Merge alerts
Figure 8: Merge alerts

Merging of the alerts with respect to the different events.

  1. Event 1, Instance 1, disk_usage > 90%
    1. forward to Merge
  2. Event 2, Instance 1, disk_usage > 90%
    1. forward to Merge
  3. Event 3, Instance 1, disk_usage > 90%
    1. forward to Merge
  4. Merge
    1. forward to 1 alert on Instance 1
  5. 1 alert on Instance 1
  1. Access control—to avoid human error and keep the system secure, it is essential to restrict access to certain alert management operations to authorized individuals only.
  2. Retry—the alert manager checks alert states and ensures a notification is sent at least once.
  1. The alert store is a key-value database such as Cassandra, that keeps the state (in-active, pending, firing, resolved) of all alerts. It ensures a notification is sent at least once.
  2. Eligible alerts are inserted into a messaging and queuing system such as Kafka.
  3. Alert consumers pull alert events from the messaging and queuing system.
  4. Alert consumers process alert events from the messaging and queuing system and sends notifications to different channels such as email, text message, PageDuty, or HTTP endpoints.

Visualization system

Visualization is built on top of the data layer. Metrics can be shown on the metrics dashboard over various time scales and alerts can be shown on the dashboard. A high-quality visualization system is hard to build. There's a strong argument for using an off-the-shelf system. For example, Grafana can be a very good system for this purpose.

Wrap up

In this article we discussed the design for a metrics monitoring and alerting system. At a high level, we talked about the data collection, time-series database, alerts and visualization. We also dove into some of the important techniques and components, such as:

  • Push versus pull model for collecting metrics data.
  • Using Kafka to scale the system.
  • Choosing the right time-series database.
  • Using down sampling to reduce data size.
  • Build versus buy options for alerting and visualization systems.

We went through a few iterations to refine the diagram, and our final design looks like this:

Figure 9: Final design

Figure 9: Final design
Figure 9: Final design

The refined design for the metrics monitoring and alerting system.

  1. Metrics Source
    1. forward to Metrics Collector
  2. Metrics Collector
    1. forward to Kafka
  3. Kafka
    1. forward to Consumer
  4. Consumers
    1. forward to Time Series DB
  5. Time Series DB
    1. back to Query Service
  6. Query Service
    1. back to Alerting System
    2. back to Visualization System
  7. Visualization System
    1. forward to Query Service (send queries)
  8. Alerting System
    1. forward to Query Service (send queries)
    2. forward to Email
    3. forward to Text Message
    4. forward to PageDuty
    5. forward to Https Endpoints
  9. Email
  10. Text Message
  11. PageDuty
  12. Https Endpoints

In conclusion, designing a metrics monitoring and alerting system is a crucial step in ensuring the health and performance of any system or application. By carefully selecting the key metrics to monitor, collect and store data accurately, setting up effective alerts and notifications, and regularly reviewing and improving the system, it is possible to create a robust and reliable system that can help identify and resolve potential issues before they become critical.

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Additional resources

  1. Datadog
  2. Splunk
  3. PagerDuty
  4. Elastic stack
  5. Dapper, a Large-Scale Distributed Systems Tracing Infrastructure
  6. Distributed Systems Tracing with Zipkin
  7. Prometheus
  8. OpenTSDB-A Distributed, Scalable Monitoring System
  9. Data model
  10. MySQL
  11. Schema design for time-series data | Cloud Bigtable Documentation
  12. MetricsDB
  13. Amazon Timestream
  14. DB-Engines Ranking of time-series DBMS
  15. InfluxDB
  16. etcd
  17. Service Discovery with Zookeeper
  18. Amazon CloudWatch
  19. Graphite
  20. Push vs. Pull
  21. Pull doesn't scale or does it?
  22. Monitoring Architecture
  23. Push vs. Pull in Monitoring Systems
Date modified:

Enhancements to the publication of core inflation measures based on the trimmed mean (CPI-trim) and the weighted median (CPI-median) 2023

With the release of the January 2023 Consumer Price Index (CPI) on February 21, the CPI-trim and CPI-median have been revised back 84 months as per their normal revision policy. Two enhancements have been made at this time:

  1. Statistics Canada has published, for the first time, index-level data series for CPI-trim and CPI-median to accompany the year-over-year figures published monthly since December 2016.
  2. The seasonal adjustment treatment of step-series indexes that are used in the calculation of the CPI-trim and CPI-median has been enhanced as part of the regular review of methodologies.

Statistics Canada is responsible for both these aspects of the core inflation measures, along with their calculation. The Bank of Canada has been advised of the changes, as they set out the methodology for the measures.

These enhancements have no impact on the All-items CPI, seasonally adjusted All-items CPI, or the CPI-common.

Why are index levels now being published for the CPI-trim and CPI-median?

Statistics Canada continually strives to provide the data Canadians need, when they need them, and how they want them. Our users have told us that these data provide more flexibility. The new index-level data allow users to calculate the year-over-year percentage change themselves, along with the changes over any other reference period, including monthly and quarterly, which was previously not possible, nor available.

It should be noted that calculating the year-over-year percentage change using the rounded, published index values could result in slight differences compared to the published year-over-year percentage change, due to the latter figure's calculation prior to index rounding.

Where are the index-level data published?

Index-level data series for CPI-trim and CPI-median have been published in Table: 18-10-0256-01, Consumer Price Index (CPI) statistics, measures of core inflation and other related statistics - Bank of Canada definitions, and Table: 18-10-0259-01, Historical (real-time) releases of Consumer Price Index (CPI) statistics, measures of core inflation - Bank of Canada definitions. The index series are available back to January 1989. The index base period is January 1989=100.

Data currently published for these measures in the form of year-over-year percent changes continue to be published, along with CPI-common, the third Bank of Canada's preferred measure of core inflation.

Why has the seasonal adjustment process been enhanced?

The enhancement is part of Statistics Canada's regular review of methodologies that ensures techniques are improved to produce the most accurate indicators as possible for users. The seasonal adjustment process remains unchanged for the majority of the seasonally adjusted series; seasonal adjustment treatment has been enhanced for 15 of the 43 seasonally adjusted input series – those identified as step series – with one of the step series having already been treated in the enhanced manner. This enhancement aims to avoid potential under- and over-estimation of price change that can be caused by treating index movements of step series as outliers in the seasonal adjustment process. Such changes are best made at the time of annual revision of seasonal adjustment options to avoid creating breaks in series that might then interfere with regular, annual evaluation and modification of seasonal adjustment parameters.

Table 1: Distribution of the core measures input components with respect to seasonal adjustment and step series pattern
  Not currently seasonally adjusted Currently seasonally adjusted Total
Non-step series 11 27 38
Step series 1 16Tablenote 1 17
Total 12 43 55
Tablenote 1

The enhancement has been applied for the first time to 15 of these 16 series, with one having already been treated in this manner previously.

Return to tablenote 1 referrer

What is the enhancement to seasonal adjustment?

The seasonal adjustment process for most series contains two main components: (1) the identification and treatment of outliers, including adjustments for calendar effects when holidays or the number of days between months is not equal and may affect trends in the indicator, and (2) the application of various filters to remove seasonal patterns to parse out underlying economic trends that are not influenced by seasonality – essentially, a trend-smoothing process. Going forward, indexes that display a step series pattern, and that were undergoing the full seasonal adjustment process, will only be subjected to the second component, the trend-smoothing process; this ensures that non-seasonal movements of these series are further captured through the process and more accurately reflected in the CPI-trim and CPI-median indicators.

In the context of price indexes, a step series can be any series that displays periods of flatness, followed by sudden price change, creating a step-like appearance in the charted index over time. It can be evident in the prices of products or services that are collected or may change infrequently (annually or quarterly) or regularly priced series whose movements are stable, followed by periodic larger movements. Examples of step-series subcomponents of the CPI are illustrated in chart 1.

Description: Chart 1 - Examples of step series in the Consumer Price Index, Canada, January 2015 to December 2022
Chart 1
Examples of step series in the Consumer Price Index, Canada, January 2015 to December 2022
  Property taxes and other special charges Local and commuter transportation Health care services Education
Index (2002=100)
2015 Jan. 148.3 150.7 152.3 154.8
Feb. 148.3 150.7 152.3 154.8
Mar. 148.3 150.7 152.4 154.9
Apr. 148.3 150.7 155.3 154.9
May 148.3 150.7 155.3 154.9
Jun. 148.3 150.7 155.3 154.9
Jul. 148.3 152.8 155.4 154.9
Aug. 148.3 152.8 155.4 154.9
Sep. 148.3 152.8 155.7 159.4
Oct. 152.7 152.8 155.7 159.4
Nov. 152.7 152.8 155.8 159.4
Dec. 152.7 152.8 155.8 159.5
2016 Jan. 152.7 153.7 155.8 159.5
Feb. 152.7 153.7 155.8 159.5
Mar. 152.7 153.7 155.9 159.5
Apr. 152.7 153.7 158.6 159.5
May 152.7 153.7 158.6 159.5
Jun. 152.7 153.7 158.6 159.6
Jul. 152.7 154.5 158.6 159.3
Aug. 152.7 154.5 158.6 159.2
Sep. 152.7 154.5 159.8 163.3
Oct. 156.9 154.5 159.8 163.5
Nov. 156.9 154.5 159.8 163.5
Dec. 156.9 154.5 159.8 163.4
2017 Jan. 156.9 156.2 159.8 163.2
Feb. 156.9 156.2 159.8 163.1
Mar. 156.9 156.2 159.9 163.1
Apr. 156.9 156.2 163.9 163.1
May 156.9 156.2 163.9 163.1
Jun. 156.9 156.2 163.9 163.1
Jul. 156.9 156.7 163.9 163.1
Aug. 156.9 156.7 163.9 163
Sep. 156.9 156.7 164.6 167.6
Oct. 161.3 156.7 164.6 167.7
Nov. 161.3 156.7 164.6 167.7
Dec. 161.3 156.7 164.6 167.7
2018 Jan. 161.3 157.4 164.6 167.8
Feb. 161.3 157.4 164.6 167.8
Mar. 161.3 157.4 164.8 167.8
Apr. 161.3 157.4 166.6 167.8
May 161.3 157.4 166.6 167.8
Jun. 161.3 157.4 166.6 167.8
Jul. 161.3 158.7 166.7 167.8
Aug. 161.3 158.7 166.7 167.7
Sep. 161.3 158.7 167.1 172.2
Oct. 163.6 158.7 167.1 172.3
Nov. 163.6 158.7 167.2 172.3
Dec. 163.6 158.7 167.2 172.4
2019 Jan. 163.6 159.2 167.2 172.5
Feb. 163.6 159.2 167.2 172.5
Mar. 163.6 159.2 167.3 172.6
Apr. 163.6 159.2 171.1 172.5
May 163.6 159.2 171.1 172.5
Jun. 163.6 159.2 171.1 172.5
Jul. 163.6 161.9 171.3 172.4
Aug. 163.6 161.9 171.3 172.2
Sep. 163.6 161.9 171.8 167.3
Oct. 167.2 161.9 171.8 167.6
Nov. 167.2 161.9 171.8 167.5
Dec. 167.2 161.9 171.8 167.6
2020 Jan. 167.2 165.9 171.8 167.8
Feb. 167.2 165.9 171.8 167.8
Mar. 167.2 165.9 172 167.8
Apr. 167.2 165.9 174.3 167.8
May 167.2 165.9 174.3 167.9
Jun. 167.2 166 174.3 167.9
Jul. 167.2 166.7 174.6 167.7
Aug. 167.2 166.5 174.6 167.5
Sep. 167.2 166.5 177.2 170.3
Oct. 170.3 166.4 177.2 170.7
Nov. 170.3 166.4 177.4 170.7
Dec. 170.3 166.4 177.4 170.7
2021 Jan. 170.3 167.9 177.4 171
Feb. 170.3 167.9 177.4 171
Mar. 170.3 167.9 177.5 171.1
Apr. 170.3 167.9 183.5 171.1
May 170.3 167.9 183.5 171.1
Jun. 170.3 167.9 183.5 171
Jul. 170.3 161.8 183.7 170.8
Aug. 170.3 161.8 183.7 170.6
Sep. 170.3 161.8 184.3 173.9
Oct. 172.8 161.8 184.3 174.3
Nov. 172.8 161.8 184.3 174.3
Dec. 172.8 161.8 184.3 174.4
2022 Jan. 172.8 162.7 184.3 174.3
Feb. 172.8 162.8 184.3 174.4
Mar. 172.8 162.7 184.4 174.3
Apr. 172.8 162.1 191.8 174.4
May 172.8 162.1 191.8 174.5
Jun. 172.8 162.1 191.8 174.4
Jul. 172.8 165.1 191.8 174
Aug. 172.8 165.1 191.8 173.8
Sep. 172.8 166.8 194.5 178.4
Oct. 179 167.3 194.5 178.7
Nov. 179 167.3 194.5 178.7
Dec. 179 167.3 194.5 178.7
Source: Statistics Canada, table 18-10-0004-01 - Consumer Price Index, monthly, not seasonally adjusted.

What is the impact of the enhancement?

An analysis was conducted using the data released for the December 2022 core measures. Over the 84-month revision period, the impact of the modification to the seasonal adjustment method for step series varied on a monthly basis between -0.028 and +0.092 percentage points for the CPI-trim, and between -0.140 and +0.370 percentage points for the CPI-median. As illustrated in charts 2-4, The overall trends remained unchanged.

There is no impact on the All-items CPI, All-items CPI (seasonally adjusted) or the CPI-common.

It is important to note that the All-items CPI not seasonally adjusted series (Consumer Price Index, monthly, not seasonally adjusted) is not revised, nor seasonally adjusted, and therefore is not subject to the revisions detailed above.

The All-items CPI seasonally adjusted series (Consumer Price Index, monthly, seasonally adjusted) is also not affected by this enhancement because seasonal adjustment is performed at a higher level than the 55 CPI component-inputs to the core measures, following the aggregation of indexes that are not seasonally adjusted. Seasonal adjustment is performed on the All-items CPI, in addition to the  eight major components, independently, for which traditional seasonal adjustment methods are optimal in the absence of step-series patterns.

The CPI-common measure of core inflation does not use seasonally adjusted data, and is thus not affected by the change.

Impact analysis charts

Chart 2 - Impact on CPI-trim of enhanced seasonal adjustment of step series, December 2015 to December 2022
Description: Chart 2 - Impact on CPI-trim of enhanced seasonal adjustment of step series, December 2015 to December 2022
Chart 2
Impact on CPI-trim of enhanced seasonal adjustment of step series, December 2015 to December 2022
  CPI-trim, current CPI-trim, enhanced seasonal adjustment
12-month % change
2015 Dec. 1.798921 1.800643
2016 Jan. 1.796617 1.799190
Feb. 1.772121 1.764928
Mar. 1.809152 1.804864
Apr. 1.952497 1.944652
May 1.960286 1.957635
Jun. 1.990498 1.986186
Jul. 1.905163 1.905628
Aug. 1.848476 1.853151
Sep. 1.848813 1.853213
Oct. 1.789098 1.799292
Nov. 1.559545 1.573039
Dec. 1.571893 1.580595
2017 Jan. 1.585164 1.586950
Feb. 1.514567 1.509918
Mar. 1.372983 1.367215
Apr. 1.333282 1.330765
May 1.235565 1.228044
Jun. 1.223923 1.217442
Jul. 1.306557 1.298094
Aug. 1.365388 1.358202
Sep. 1.362903 1.362886
Oct. 1.403123 1.404992
Nov. 1.688048 1.691929
Dec. 1.745262 1.741364
2018 Jan. 1.802465 1.797627
Feb. 1.966788 1.967619
Mar. 1.858894 1.868355
Apr. 1.934701 1.940951
May 1.816595 1.827392
Jun. 1.926166 1.934108
Jul. 1.976225 1.980156
Aug. 2.044910 2.051745
Sep. 1.949687 1.951019
Oct. 1.991952 1.997794
Nov. 1.853315 1.861428
Dec. 1.877490 1.884054
2019 Jan. 1.841715 1.853573
Feb. 1.930141 1.934278
Mar. 2.174784 2.168455
Apr. 1.998460 1.995482
May 2.186265 2.177439
Jun. 2.029293 2.017583
Jul. 2.015597 2.004818
Aug. 1.965489 1.953355
Sep. 2.022138 2.008404
Oct. 2.024671 2.012853
Nov. 2.124468 2.110340
Dec. 2.003229 1.992085
2020 Jan. 2.020303 2.004573
Feb. 1.936249 1.926248
Mar. 1.808957 1.780521
Apr. 1.819903 1.794826
May 1.594422 1.572336
Jun. 1.784051 1.763843
Jul. 1.666054 1.647988
Aug. 1.648049 1.635453
Sep. 1.713201 1.713946
Oct. 1.813752 1.816431
Nov. 1.841874 1.845841
Dec. 1.776275 1.797217
2021 Jan. 1.854619 1.886161
Feb. 1.888431 1.925423
Mar. 2.060559 2.093048
Apr. 2.316445 2.344129
May 2.607608 2.646845
Jun. 2.600015 2.646973
Jul. 3.023349 3.078551
Aug. 3.246401 3.289678
Sep. 3.422735 3.453382
Oct. 3.410778 3.435752
Nov. 3.424953 3.449884
Dec. 3.772249 3.820751
2022 Jan. 4.008979 4.061422
Feb. 4.324719 4.382364
Mar. 4.752281 4.829291
Apr. 5.076781 5.168717
May 5.428157 5.505363
Jun. 5.544976 5.628756
Jul. 5.456757 5.537062
Aug. 5.267646 5.338828
Sep. 5.298619 5.374260
Oct. 5.337995 5.422819
Nov. 5.431233 5.508166
Dec. 5.259411 5.319893
Source: Consumer Prices program.
Chart 3 - Impact on CPI-median of enhanced seasonal adjustment for step series, December 2015 to December 2022
Description: Chart 3 - Impact on CPI-median of enhanced seasonal adjustment for step series, December 2015 to December 2022
Chart 3
Impact on CPI-median of enhanced seasonal adjustment for step series, December 2015 to December 2022
  CPI-median, current CPI-median, enhanced seasonal adjustment
12-month % change
2015 Dec. 2.054765 2.054765
2016 Jan. 1.977707 1.977707
Feb. 2.008347 1.999595
Mar. 2.028980 2.015468
Apr. 2.137827 2.124301
May 2.152824 2.109574
Jun. 2.161842 2.118588
Jul. 2.026714 2.040895
Aug. 1.972626 1.971713
Sep. 2.066314 2.076776
Oct. 2.065377 2.075839
Nov. 1.908945 1.919391
Dec. 1.881307 1.891750
2017 Jan. 1.898461 1.874690
Feb. 1.811288 1.796270
Mar. 1.700217 1.689960
Apr. 1.639477 1.642173
May 1.570418 1.591766
Jun. 1.552191 1.573535
Jul. 1.689544 1.673727
Aug. 1.732561 1.731786
Sep. 1.629374 1.617274
Oct. 1.604297 1.592200
Nov. 1.748889 1.736775
Dec. 1.771562 1.741779
2018 Jan. 1.823477 1.827866
Feb. 1.916134 1.920528
Mar. 1.899578 1.903971
Apr. 1.947955 1.890312
May 1.866856 1.820194
Jun. 1.913452 1.866769
Jul. 1.931949 1.853830
Aug. 1.945540 1.867411
Sep. 1.935439 1.858911
Oct. 1.970718 1.895141
Nov. 1.837997 1.768641
Dec. 1.842719 1.753373
2019 Jan. 1.822566 1.733237
Feb. 1.919356 1.829942
Mar. 2.046098 1.956574
Apr. 1.951358 1.881618
May 2.047899 1.980765
Jun. 2.041170 1.924034
Jul. 2.007940 1.902230
Aug. 1.990089 1.888033
Sep. 1.998629 1.894970
Oct. 2.014509 1.909857
Nov. 2.116959 2.011684
Dec. 2.040239 1.972770
2020 Jan. 2.072201 1.957133
Feb. 2.038270 1.908623
Mar. 1.944614 1.804732
Apr. 2.029569 1.894745
May 1.864151 1.777421
Jun. 1.903086 1.864265
Jul. 1.867345 1.828538
Aug. 1.880555 1.866829
Sep. 2.028321 2.014574
Oct. 2.046446 2.133852
Nov. 2.028868 2.110632
Dec. 2.050305 2.105705
2021 Jan. 2.104615 2.200554
Feb. 2.087020 2.176978
Mar. 2.177171 2.277610
Apr. 2.227432 2.345522
May 2.509732 2.599735
Jun. 2.593902 2.686006
Jul. 2.754149 2.909340
Aug. 2.964052 3.063700
Sep. 2.996702 3.096381
Oct. 2.970442 3.000204
Nov. 3.039351 3.069133
Dec. 3.300336 3.376876
2022 Jan. 3.480396 3.564328
Feb. 3.744460 3.963352
Mar. 4.125091 4.344786
Apr. 4.574449 4.801917
May 4.852742 5.068521
Jun. 4.912719 5.199994
Jul. 4.999449 5.309737
Aug. 4.803241 5.128372
Sep. 4.801767 5.172303
Oct. 4.948436 5.308136
Nov. 5.133249 5.493582
Dec. 5.039350 5.390177
Source: Consumer Prices program.
Chart 4 - Differences due to enhanced seasonal adjustment for step series are smaller and more stable for CPI-trim than for CPI-median
Description: Chart 4 - Differences due to enhanced seasonal adjustment for step series are smaller and more stable for CPI-trim than for CPI-median
Chart 4
Differences due to enhanced seasonal adjustment for step series are smaller and more stable for CPI-trim than for CPI-median
  CPI-trim, enhanced seasonal adjustment - current CPI-median, enhanced seasonal adjustment - current
% point difference between year-over-year growth rates, enhanced method minus current
2015 Dec. 0.001722 -0.00000011
2016 Jan. 0.002573 -0.00000016
Feb. -0.007193 -0.008751
Mar. -0.004288 -0.013512
Apr. -0.007845 -0.013526
May -0.002651 -0.043250
Jun. -0.004312 -0.043254
Jul. 0.000465 0.014181
Aug. 0.004675 -0.000913
Sep. 0.004400 0.010462
Oct. 0.010194 0.010462
Nov. 0.013494 0.010446
Dec. 0.008701 0.010443
2017 Jan. 0.001786 -0.023770
Feb. -0.004649 -0.015017
Mar. -0.005768 -0.010258
Apr. -0.002518 0.002696
May -0.007520 0.021348
Jun. -0.006481 0.021344
Jul. -0.008463 -0.015817
Aug. -0.007186 -0.000775
Sep. -0.000017 -0.012100
Oct. 0.001869 -0.012097
Nov. 0.003880 -0.012114
Dec. -0.003898 -0.029783
2018 Jan. -0.004839 0.004390
Feb. 0.000831 0.004394
Mar. 0.009461 0.004393
Apr. 0.006251 -0.057643
May 0.010798 -0.046662
Jun. 0.007942 -0.046683
Jul. 0.003931 -0.078119
Aug. 0.006835 -0.078129
Sep. 0.001332 -0.076528
Oct. 0.005842 -0.075577
Nov. 0.008114 -0.069356
Dec. 0.006564 -0.089346
2019 Jan. 0.011858 -0.089328
Feb. 0.004138 -0.089413
Mar. -0.006329 -0.089525
Apr. -0.002978 -0.069740
May -0.008826 -0.067134
Jun. -0.011711 -0.117136
Jul. -0.010779 -0.105711
Aug. -0.012134 -0.102056
Sep. -0.013734 -0.103659
Oct. -0.011818 -0.104653
Nov. -0.014128 -0.105275
Dec. -0.011145 -0.067469
2020 Jan. -0.015730 -0.115068
Feb. -0.010000 -0.129647
Mar. -0.028436 -0.139882
Apr. -0.025077 -0.134824
May -0.022086 -0.086730
Jun. -0.020207 -0.038821
Jul. -0.018066 -0.038807
Aug. -0.012596 -0.013727
Sep. 0.000745 -0.013747
Oct. 0.002679 0.087406
Nov. 0.003967 0.081764
Dec. 0.020942 0.055400
2021 Jan. 0.031542 0.095939
Feb. 0.036992 0.089958
Mar. 0.032489 0.100439
Apr. 0.027684 0.118089
May 0.039237 0.090003
Jun. 0.046958 0.092104
Jul. 0.055202 0.155191
Aug. 0.043277 0.099648
Sep. 0.030647 0.099680
Oct. 0.024974 0.029762
Nov. 0.024930 0.029782
Dec. 0.048502 0.076540
2022 Jan. 0.052443 0.083931
Feb. 0.057645 0.218892
Mar. 0.077010 0.219695
Apr. 0.091936 0.227468
May 0.077206 0.215778
Jun. 0.083780 0.287274
Jul. 0.080306 0.310288
Aug. 0.071182 0.325131
Sep. 0.075642 0.370535
Oct. 0.084824 0.359700
Nov. 0.076933 0.360333
Dec. 0.060482 0.350827
Source: Consumer Prices program.

For more information, please see section "revisions and seasonal adjustment" of Consumer Price Index: The Bank of Canada's Preferred Measures of Core Inflation Methodology Document (statcan.gc.ca) or A Comprehensive Evaluation of Measures of Core Inflation for Canada - Bank of Canada. If you have any questions or comments, please contact us at (statcan.cpddisseminationunit-dpcunitedediffusion.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).

Amendment to the Employee Wellness Surveys and Pulse Check Surveys PIA - Supplemental Assessment of the Hard-to-Reach Populations Internal Pilot

Introduction

This is a Supplemental assessment related to the activities originally assessed in the Employee Wellness Surveys and Pulse Check Surveys (EWS) Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA).

Objective

A privacy impact assessment for the Hard-to-Reach Populations Internal Pilot was conducted to determine if there were any privacy, confidentiality or security issues with this activity and, if so, to make recommendations for their resolution or mitigation.

Description

Statistics Canada's Hard-to-Reach Populations (H2RP) internal pilot component of the EWS aims to gain insight into the factors that contributed to nonresponse by employees who could have participated in the November and December 2021 collection of the EWS, but who chose not to do so. The EWS program is comprised of a main survey and series of pulse check surveys administered to the employees of StatCan, all conducted under the Financial Administration Act (FAA). It was conceived to help assess and improve employee wellness across the agency, but the recent survey only achieved an estimated 56% response rate. The H2RP internal pilot will follow-up with a small sample of the EWS nonrespondents using a respondent-driven sampling (RDS) methodology in order to reach employees who are reluctant, or who do not tend, to respond to more-traditional survey approaches. Short personal interviews will be conducted by the Consultative Engagement (CE) team from Stakeholder Relations and Engagement. Participants will be encouraged and told how to recruit more participants from amongst their peers, who will in turn contact the CE team in order to schedule an appointment for an interview to be conducted.

The pilot addresses an HR business need (program-related policy updates to motivate nonrespondents - in this case, employees - to respond to future surveys) by using respondent-driven sampling to reach and convince EWS nonrespondents to participate.

To address the new focus, the following activities will be carried out:

  1. Hard-to-Reach Populations pilot
    The pilot targets nonrespondents from the EWS. Each participant will complete a short 15-minute personal interview before being provided with a "coupon-code" and asked to pass it on to three of their colleagues. In turn, those secondary (recruited) individuals will also be asked to do the same until the respondent-driven sampling activity concludes. The follow-up study targets 300 participants over six to eight waves with the expectation that the realized sample reaches a point of pseudo-randomness. In addition to the content related specifically to nonresponse, the study questionnaire will collect demographic information, a self-assessment by participants of how many peers are in their "personal network", and a number of wellness indicators (as asked in the EWS). The demographic and held-over wellness items will be used, respectively, to assess the realized sample's randomness and to gauge the relationship between the EWS survey topic and nonresponse.
  2. EWS follow-up and use of results
    Through the follow-up questionnaire, the business needs as they pertain to survey nonresponse will be investigated. These business needs target barriers to and facilitators of survey response that may, respectively, hinder or enhance employees' willingness to participate in future survey-based research (e.g., the second iteration of the EWS or other internal surveys).
    The business needs to be addressed are related to identifying factors that are psychosocial in nature (e.g., workload, burn-out) and those that are not (e.g., inadequate explanation of the purpose of the survey, benefits of completing the survey). As such, personal interviews will include questions aimed at investigating various barriers and facilitators which nonrespondents may have encountered, and contributed to their nonresponse to the original survey. Additionally, a limited subset of questions from the original EWS have been included which may be considered psychosocial barriers or facilitators.
    In order to address these business needs, de-identified microdata from the pilot will be used to conduct statistical analyses of differences between responses from participants in the pilot study and previously collected information from respondents to the EWS. Any disaggregation of data will only be considered if the subsamples of interest (e.g., gender) are large enough to mitigate any potential privacy concerns and are amenable to statistical analysis.
    Only aggregate statistical outputs conforming to the confidentiality provisions of what would have been required if the information had been collected under the Statistics Act will be considered for release. Research findings, if disseminated outside of the project team, would be through peer-reviewed academic publications.

Risk Area Identification and Categorization

The PIA identifies the level of potential risk (level 1 is the lowest level of potential risk and level 4 is the highest) associated with the following risk areas:

Risk Area Identification and Categorization

a) Type of program or activity

Risk scale

Program or activity that does not involve a decision about an identifiable individual.

1

b) Type of personal information involved and context

Only personal information, with no contextual sensitivities, collected directly from the individual or provided with the consent of the individual for disclosure under an authorized program.

1

c) Program or activity partners and private sector involvement

Within the institution (among one or more programs within the same institution)

1

d) Duration of the program or activity

Short-term program or activity.

2

e) Program population

The program's use of personal information is not for administrative purposes. Information is collected for statistical purposes, for use by programs operating under the authority of the Statistics Act.

N/A

f) Personal information transmission

The personal information is transmitted using wireless technologies.

4

g) Technology and privacy

No issues identified.

h) Potential risk that in the event of a privacy breach, there will be an impact on the individual or employee.

The risk of privacy breach and the impact on the individual or employee are both low.

i) Potential risk that in the event of a privacy breach, there will be an impact on the institution.

The risk of privacy breach and the impact on the institution are both low.

Conclusion

This assessment of the Supplemental Assessment of Hard-to-Reach Populations Internal Pilot
did not identify any privacy risks that cannot be managed using existing safeguards.

Amendment to the Microsoft 365 PIA

Privacy Impact Assessment Amendment Summary

Introduction

A Privacy Impact Assessment Amendment was conducted to evaluate changes to Microsoft 365.

Objective

An amendment to the privacy impact assessment (PIA) for Microsoft 365 (M365) was conducted to determine if there were any privacy, confidentiality or security issues with changes to this product and, if so, to make recommendations for their resolution or mitigation.

Description

The following amendments shall be applied to the Microsoft 365 PIA (signed by the Chief Statistician October 5, 2021):

  • The M365 Teams application now includes Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) functionality for use by statistical survey operations interviewers in place of traditional telephones to conduct Computer Assisted Telephone Interviews (CATI).
  • M365 may now also be used with deemed employees to discuss personal information or statistically sensitive information.
  • Users are no longer being discouraged from completing M365 personal profile information.
  • Sensitive statistical information that could be contained or referenced within M365 could now also include pre-release data.

Risk Area Identification and Categorization

The risk area identification and categorization remains unchanged.

Conclusion

This assessment of changes to Microsoft 365 did not identify any privacy risks that cannot be managed using existing safeguards.