Meltwater: Social Trends Monitoring Tool - Privacy impact assessment summary

Introduction

Statistics Canada will use Meltwater, a social trends monitoring tool, to search, monitor and analyze social media and traditional media trends and conversations on issues and topics relevant to the Agency’s mandate, in an effort to maintain and improve its public relations, communications, outreach and engagement activities with Canadians.

Objective

A privacy impact assessment for Meltwater was conducted to determine if there were any privacy, confidentiality or security issues with this tool and, if so, to make recommendations for their resolution or mitigation.

Description

Statistics Canada will use Meltwater, a social monitoring tool, to search, monitor and analyze social media and traditional media trends and conversations on issues and topics relevant to Statistics Canada. Using Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), Meltwater performs searches of social and traditional media content based on specific search query keywords relevant to the agency's mandate, indexes the related information found and then presents the results to licensees accessing this tool. The results are then aggregated in summary reports and can be shared internally within the Agency, on a need-to-know basis. The use of Meltwater will allow the Agency to better understand current opinion, sentiment and overall conversation on specific Statistics Canada issues to create communications products that resonate with target audiences.

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:

a) Type of program or activity

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

Risk scale: 1

b) Type of personal information involved and context

Sensitive personal information, including detailed profiles, allegations or suspicions and bodily samples, or the context surrounding the personal information is particularly sensitive.

Risk scale: 4

c) Program or activity partners and private sector involvement

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

Risk scale: 1

d) Duration of the program or activity

Long-term program or activity.

Risk scale: 3

e) Program population

The program's use of personal information is not for administrative purposes. Information is collected under the Statistics Act.

Risk scale: N/A

f) Personal information transmission

The personal information is used in a system that has connections to at least one other system.

Risk scale: 2

g) Technology and privacy

While the Meltwater web based tool is new to Statistics Canada, its functionalities and objectives are not new. Monitoring of social media and traditional media environments has been a common practice at Statistics Canada for years. The use of Meltwater will make this practice more efficient and will directly support the Agency's desire to further engage with Canadians and translate data stories via social media, media relations, outreach and engagement activities. It will also be a critical support system for the 2021 Census collection strategy. Daily reports on public sentiment will allow for immediate adjustments to our communication strategy in aid of collection. There will also be an update to the agency's social media terms of use to include a section detailing the use of social monitoring tools such as Meltwater.

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

Statistics Canada has robust risk mitigation procedures in place to guard against accidental and purposeful privacy breaches. The use of the Meltwater software provides a low risk to the individual because Meltwater will only access individuals' publicly-available personal information which is made available by the user through the social media accounts' privacy settings. Meltwater uses open Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to access public social media and traditional media databases. APIs are a software intermediary that allow two applications to talk to each other. Meltwater performs searches of social and traditional media content based on specific search query keywords relevant to the agency's mandate, indexes the related information found, and then presents the results to licensees accessing this tool. The results are then aggregated in summary reports and can be shared internally within the agency, on a need-to-know basis.

The Agency's risk mitigation practices/measures will be fully utilized to guard against purposeful breaches. This includes the employee security screening process, leveraging Statistics Canada's culture (of privacy and confidentiality protection), and leveraging practices and training material used with the Agency's interviewers designed to physically control access to confidential data. Training material will outline the policies and directives governing employees' day-to-day activities.

There is a low risk of a breach of some of the personal information being disclosed without proper authorization, noting the impact on the individual would below. This is because the information available through Meltwater is limited to the specific search criteria, and because any personal information collected by the application is already publicly available and consistent with the parameters outlined by the social media platforms.

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

There is a very low risk of a breach of some of the personal information being disclosed without proper authorization. The impact on the institution would be low.

j) Potential risk of Meltwater users being able to identify an individual by the information obtained such as their IP address, a picture or a chain of unique characters.

It is not intended for Meltwater users to access IP addresses, pictures or videos. None of that information is necessary and has no value to the Agency. However, certain identifiable information may be visible to our select Meltwater users due to the nature and settings of an individual's account or social media platform. For example, information about location is accessible in Meltwater if the individual has agreed and consented to a) publishing location information in social media posts, b) publishing location in their profile, or c) enabling social media platforms to access their devices internal GPS (location services are enabled). It is important to mention that access to Meltwater will be controlled through licenses administered to only a select group of individuals on the social monitoring and social media teams. Personal information accessed through the tool will be controlled through licenses administered to only a select group of individuals on the social monitor and social media teams. Personal information accessed through the tool will only be disclosed on a need-to-know basis.

There is a very low risk of an individual being identified by their IP address, pictures, videos or via a chain of unique characters in their messages. The impact on the institution would be low.

Conclusion

This assessment of Meltwater did not identify any privacy risks that cannot be managed using existing safeguards.

Why are we conducting this survey?

This survey collects data from plants in Western Canada that use grain mainly to produce ethanol or biodiesel. The data will be used by Statistics Canada to calculate grain deliveries and to produce supply and disposition statistics. Information from agricultural surveys is used by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and other federal and provincial departments for economic research, and to develop and administer agricultural policies.

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 reporting burden, Statistics Canada may combine the acquired data with information from other surveys or from administrative sources.

Data-sharing agreements

To reduce respondent 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 statistical agencies of Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, New brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and british Columbia. The shared data will be limited to information pertaining to business establishments located within the jurisdiction of the respective province.

Business or organization and contact information

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

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

Note: Press the help button (?) for additional information.

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 of the designated business or organization contact person for this questionnaire and correct where 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
    • Canada
    • United States
  • Email address
  • Telephone number (including area code)
  • Extension number (if applicable)
    The maximum number of characters is 10.
  • 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
    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 for ceased operations
    • 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 (NAICS).

Note: Press the help button (?) for additional information, including a detailed description of this activity complete with example activities and any applicable exclusions.

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 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.

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

Main activity

5. You indicated that is not the current main activity.

Was this business or organization's main activity ever classified as: ?

  • Yes
  • No

When did the main activity change?
Date

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

How to search:

  • if desired, you can filter the search results by first selecting this business or organization's activity sector
  • enter keywords or a brief description that best describes this business or organization main activity
  • press the Search button to search the database for an activity that best matches the keywords or description you provided
  • then select an activity from the list.

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

Enter keywords or a brief description, then press the Search button

7. You have indicated that the current main activity of this business or organization is:

Main activity

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.

Approximately what percentage of this business or organization's revenue is generated by each of the following activities?
  Percentage of revenue
Main activity  
Secondary activity  
All other activities  
Total percentage  

Grains purchased for industrial purposes

1. Which of the following grains did this company purchase for industrial purposes from the beginning of the crop year to the reference date?

Include:

  • purchases from farmers
  • quantities purchased from companies
  • imported grains.

Select all that apply

  • Wheat
    • Excluding durum.
  • Durum wheat
  • Canola
  • Corn
  • Barley
  • Oats
  • Flaxseed
  • Rye
  • Other grain purchased for industrial purposes
    • Specify the other grain purchased for industrial purposes

Quantity of grain purchased for industrial purposes

2. From the beginning of the crop year to the reference date, how much grain was purchased for industrial use from farmers and companies?

Include:

  • purchases from farmers
  • quantities purchased from companies
  • imported grains.

If your unit of measure is kilograms, please convert it to metric tonnes and round to one decimal place.

From the beginning of the crop year to the reference date, how much grain was purchased for industrial use from farmers and companies?
  Quantity purchased from farmers
(metric tonnes)
Quantity purchased from companies
(metric tonnes)
Grain    
Wheat (excluding durum)    
Durum wheat    
Canola    
Corn    
Barley    
Oats    
Flaxseed    
Rye    

Grain stocks

3. On the reference date, what were the stocks in metric tonnes of the following grains held in your company's elevators?

Include imported grains.

If your unit of measure is kilograms, please convert it to metric tonnes and round to one decimal place.

On the reference date, what were the stocks in metric tonnes of the following grains held in your company's elevators?
  Total stocks
(metric tonnes)
Grain  
Wheat (excluding durum)  
Durum wheat  
Canola  
Corn  
Barley  
Oats  
Flaxseed  
Rye  

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
  • Exchange rate impact
  • Price changes in goods or services sold
  • Contracting out
  • Organizational change
  • Price changes in labour or raw materials
  • Natural disaster
  • Recession
  • Change in product line
  • Sold business or business units
  • Expansion
  • New or lost contract
  • Plant closures
  • Acquisition of business or business units
  • Other
    Specify the other changes or events:
  • No changes or events

Contact person

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

Is the provided given names 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):
    The maximum number of characters is 5.
  • Fax number (including area code):

Feedback

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

Include the time spent gathering the necessary information.

  • Hours:
  • Minutes:

2. Do you have any comments about this questionnaire?

Topic Modelling and Dynamic Topic Modelling : A technical review

By: Loic Muhirwa, Statistics Canada

In the machine learning subfield of Natural Language Processing (NLP), a topic model is a type of unsupervised model that is used to uncover abstract topics within a corpus. Topic modelling can be thought of as a sort of soft clustering of documents within a corpus. Dynamic topic modelling refers to the introduction of a temporal dimension into a topic modelling analysis. The dynamic aspect of topic modelling is a growing area of research and has seen many applications, including semantic time-series analysis, unsupervised document classification, and event detection. In the event detection case, if the semantic structure of a corpus represents real world phenomenon, a significant change in that semantic structure can be used to represent and detect real world events. To that end, this article presents the technical aspects of a novel Bayesian dynamic topic modelling approach in the context of event detection problems.

A proof-of-concept dynamic topic modelling system has been designed, implemented and deployed using the Canadian Coroner and Medical Examiner Database (CCMED), a new database developed at Statistics Canada in collaboration with the 13 provincial and territorial Chief Coroners, Chief Medical Examiners and the Public Health Agency of Canada. The CCMED contains standardized information on the circumstances surrounding deaths reported to coroners and medical examiners in Canada. In particular, the CCMED contains unstructured data in the form of free-text variables, called narratives, that provide detailed information on the circumstances surrounding these reported deaths. The collection of the narratives forms a corpus (a collection of documents) that is suitable for text-mining and so the question follows: can machine learning (ML) techniques be used to uncover useful and novel hidden semantic structures? And if so, can these semantic structures be analyzed dynamically (over time) to detect emerging death narratives?

The initial results look promising and the next step is twofold: firstly, further fine-tuning of the system and construction of event detections. Secondly, since this system will be used as an aid for analysts to study and investigate the CCMED, the insights coming out of the system will need to be aligned with human interpretability. This article gives a technical overview of the methodology behind topic modelling, explaining the basis of Latent Dirichlet Allocation and introducing a temporal dimension into the topic modelling analysis. A future article will showcase the application of these techniques on the CCMED.

Latent Dirichlet Allocation

Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA)Footnote 1 is an example of a topic model commonly used in the ML community. Due to the performance of LDA models, it has several production-level implementations in popular data-oriented scripting languages like PythonFootnote 2. LDA was first introduced as a generalization to Probabilistic Latent Semantic Analysis (PLSA)Footnote 3 presenting significant improvements; one of them being fully generativeFootnote 4.

The model

LDA is regarded as a generative model as the joint distribution (likelihood-prior product) is explicitly defined; this allows documents to be generated by simply sampling from the distribution. The model assumptions are made clear by examining the generative process that describes how each word in a given document is generated.

Put formally, suppose T ,   V N are the number topics and the size of our entire vocabulary respectively. The vocabulary refers to the set of all terms used to generate the documents. Furthermore, suppose that θ R T and ϕ R V are vectors representing discrete distributions over topics and vocabulary respectively. In LDA a document is represented by a distinct topic distribution and a topic is represented by a distinct word distribution. Let w0,1V be a one-hot vector representing a particular word in the vocabulary and let z 0 , 1 T be a one-hot vector representing a particular topic.

The notation θ and ϕ can be used to describe the generative process that generates a word in a document by sampling a topic distribution and a word distribution. LDA assumes that these distributions are drawn from Dirichlet distributions, that is θ~Dirα and ϕ~Dirβ where α and β are the sparsity parameters. Then using those distributions, first draw a topic assignment ~Multinomialθ and then from that topic draw a word w ~Multinomialϕ. In other words, the words within a document are sampled from a word distribution governed by a fixed topic distribution representing that document. Figure 1 demonstrates this generative process in graphical plate notation, for a corpus of size M with documents of a fixed size N. Though the document size is usually assumed to come from an independent Poisson process, for now, to simplify the notation, it is assumed without loss of generality, that the documents have a fixed size.

Plate notation of the generative process. The boxes are “plates” representing replicates and shaded nodes are observed.
Description Figure 1 - Plate notation of the generative process. The boxes are “plates” representing replicates and shaded nodes are observed.

An illustration of the LDA generative process in plate notation. The diagram is composed of a directed acyclic graph, where the nodes represent variables and the edges represent variable dependencies. The outermost nodes of the directed graph are the model hyperparameters and these nodes have no in-edges, meaning they do not depend on any other parameter of the model. From the hyperparameters, edges lead into the other variables until they reach a final node, representing a word. From one end, the topic hyperparameter node, leads into a word distribution node, which finally leads into the word node. From another endpoint, the document hyperparameter, leads into a topic distribution node, which leads into a word-topic assignment node and then finally the word node. This word node is shaded and is the only node that is shaded, the shading indicates that the node in question represents an observed variable; implying that every other node in the graph is unobserved. Some nodes are enclosed in a rectangular box with a variable at the bottom-right corner of the box. The boxes represent repetitions and the bottom-right variable represents the size of that repetition. The word distribution node is enclosed in a box with a variable number of repetitions, T. The word-topic assignment and word nodes are enclosed in a box with a variable number of repetitions, N. This previous box is further enclosed into a larger box that includes the topic distribution node a variable number of repetitions, M. Since the word-topic assignment and word nodes are enclosed in two boxes, those two variables have a number of repetitions that is equal to the product of the variable at the bottom-right corner of the two boxes, in this case, N times M.

Table 1: Notation
Variable Description
D A set representing all raw documents, i.e., the corpus
T Number of topics
V Number of words in the vocabulary
θi Topic distribution representing the jth document; this is an RT dense vector
Nj Word count in the jth document
ϕt Word distribution representing the tth topic; this is an RV dense vector
Zij Topic assignment for the ith word in the jth document; this is an RT one-hot vector
wij Vocabulary assignment for the ith word in the jth document; this is an RV one-hot vector
β Dirichlet sparsity parameter for topics
α Dirichlet sparsity parameter for documents

Let Z be a set representing the collection of all topic assignments, this is a set of size j|D|·Nj and let θ be a set representing the collection of all topic distributions (documents) and finally, let ϕRV×RT be a random matrix representing the collection of all word distributions (topics), i.e., ϕ=ϕ1...,ϕT. It follows that if the tth entry in a given topic assigned, say zij is 1 then:

Equation 1: ϕt=Φ·zij

Following the notation from above, the joint distribution can be defined as follows:

Equation 2: p(W,Z,Θ,Φ|α,β)=p(Φ|β)j=1|D|p(θj|α)i=1Njp(zij|θj)p(wij|Φ,zij)

Since one of the model assumptions is that the topic distributions are conditionally independent on β, the following form is equivalent:

Equation 3: p(W,Z,Θ,Φ|α,β)=t=1Tp(ϕt|β)j=1|D|p(θj|α)i=1Njp(zij|θj)p(wij|Φ·zij)

Now that the model is specified, the generative process might seem clearer in pseudo-code. Following the joint distribution, the generative process goes as follows:

Given: V, T, |D|,α,β
for t[1,...,T ]  do
ϕt~Dir(β)
end for
Φ[ϕ1,...,ϕT]
for j[1,...,|D|] do
θj~Dir(α)
for i[1,...,Nj] do
zij~Mutinomial(θj)
wij~Mutinomial(Φzij)
end for
end for

It is worth pointing out that T, the number of topics, is fixed and being fixed is indeed a model assumption and requirement—this also implies, in the Bayesian setting, that T is a model parameter and not a latent variable. This difference is far from trivial, as shown in the inference section.

It is important to distinguish LDA from a simple Dirichlet-multinomial clustering model. A Dirichlet-multinomial clustering model would involve a two-level model in which a Dirichlet is sampled once for a corpus, a multinomial clustering variable is selected once for each document in the corpus, and a set of words is selected for the document conditional on the cluster variable. As with many clustering models, such a model restricts a document to being associated with a single topic. LDA, on the other hand, involves three levels, and notably, the topic node is sampled repeatedly within the document. Under this model, documents can be associated with multiple topicsFootnote 1.

Inference

Inference with LDA amounts to reverse-engineering of the generative process described in the previous section. As the generative process goes from topic to word, the posterior inference will therefore go from word to topic. With LDA we assume that Θ,Φ and Z are latent variables rather than model parameters. This difference has a drastic impact on the way the quantities of interest are inferred, which are the distributions Θ and Φ. In contrast, if Θ and Φ were modelled as parameters the Expectation Maximization (EM) algorithm could be used to find the maximum likelihood estimate (MLE). After the convergence of the EM algorithm, it retrieves the learned parameters to accomplish the goal of finding the abstract topics within the corpus. EM provides point estimates of the model parameter by marginalizing out the latent variables. The issues here are that the quantities of interest are being marginalized out and the point estimation wouldn't be faithful to the Bayesian inference approach. For a true Bayesian inference, access to the posterior distribution of the latent variables Θ,Φ and Z would be needed. Next, this posterior distribution is examined and some computational difficulties which will help motivate an inference approach will be pointed out.

The posterior has the following form:

Equation 4: p(Z,Θ,Φ|W,α,β)=p(W,Z,Θ,Φ| α,β)p(W| α,β)

A closer look at the denominator:

Equation 5: p(W|α,β)=Φp(Φ|β)Θp(Θ|α)Zp(Z|Θ)p(W|Z,Φ)dΘdΦ

Equation (5) is known as the evidence and acts as a normalizing constant. Calculating the evidence requires computing a high dimensional integral over the joint probability. As shown in equation (5), the coupling of Θ and Φ makes them inseparable in the summation and thus this integral is at least exponential in dim(Θ)×dim(Φ), making it intractable. The intractability of the evidence integral is a common problem in Bayesian inference and is known as the Inference ProblemFootnote 1. LDA inference and implementations differ in the way they overcome this problem.

Variational inference

In modern machine learning, variational (Bayesian) inference (VI), is most often used to infer the conditional distribution over the latent variables given the observations and parameters. This is also known as the posterior distribution over the latent variables (equation (2)). At a high level, VI is straightforward: the goal is to approximate the intractable posterior with a distribution that comes from a family of tractable distributions. This family of tractable distributions are called variational distributions (from variational calculus). Once the family of distributions are specified one approximates the posterior by finding the variational distribution that optimizes some metric between itself and the posterior. A common metric used to measure the similarity between two distributions is the Kullback-Leibler divergence and it is defined as follows: (KL) divergence and it is defined as follows:

Equation 6: KL(q||p)=\Ezlogq(z)p(z|x)=zq(z)logq(z)p(z|x)\

Where q(·) and p(·) are probability distributions over the same support. In the original LDA paperFootnote 1 the authors propose a family of distributions having the following form:

Equation 7: q(W,Z,Θ,Φ|λ,π,γ)=t=1TDir(ϕt|λt)j=1|D|Dir(θj|γj)i=1NjMulti(zij|πij)

Where λ ,π and γ are free variational parameters. This family of distributions is obtained by decoupling Θ and Φ (this coupling is what led to intractability), which makes the latent variables conditionally independent on the variational parameters. Thus, the approximate inference is reduced to the following deterministic optimization problem:

Equation 8: λ*,π*,γ*=argminλ,π,γ KL(q||p)

Where p is the posterior of interest and its final approximation is given by:

Equation 9: q(W,Z,Θ,Φ|λ*,π*,γ*)

In the context of the problem, the optimization problem in equation (8) is ill-posed since it requires p(·) and approximating p(·) is the original inference problem. It is straightforward to show the following:

Equation 10: Ezlogp(z,x)q(z)=-KL(q||p)+logp(x)

Equation 11: Let  L=Ezlogp(z,x)q(z) 

L is called the Evidence Lower Bound (ELBO) and though it depends on the likelihood it is free of p(·) and therefore tractable. Therefore, the optimization problem in equation (8) is equivalent to the following optimization problem:

Equation 12: λ*,π*,γ*=argmaxλ,π,γL

Thus, inference in LDA maximizes the ELBO over a tractable family of distributions to approximate the posterior. Typically, a stochastic optimization approach is implemented to overcome the computational complexity—stochastic coordinate descent in particular. Further details on the analysis of VI is provided inFootnote 1, sections 5.2, 5.3, and 5.4 ofFootnote 1, and section 4 ofFootnote 4.

Dynamic topic modelling

Dynamic topic modelling refers to the introduction of a temporal dimension into the topic modelling analysis. In particular, dynamic topic modelling in the context of this project, refers to studying the change over time of specific topics. The project aims to analyze fixed topics over a particular time interval. Since the documents coming out of the CCMED have a natural time stamp, the date of death (DOD), they provide a canonical way to split the complete dataset into corpora covering a specific time interval. Once the data are split, the LDA can be applied to each individual corpus and then it is possible to analyze how each topic evolves over time.

One challenge with this dynamic approach is mapping the topics from two adjacent time windows. Because of the stochastic nature of the optimization problem in the inference stage, every time an instance of LDA is run, the ordering of the resulting abstract topics is random. Specifically, given two adjacent time windows indexed by t and t-1 and a fixed topic indexed by i, how can it be assured that the ith topic at time t corresponds to the ith topic at time t-1? To answer this, it is possible to construct topic priors for time t by using learned topic parameters from time t-1. To have a better understanding of the mechanism, the term prior refers to the parameters of the prior distributions and not the distributions themselves; equivalently this refers to quantities that are proportional to the location (expectation) of the prior distributions. Under this setting, the topic prior β can be represented by a matrix such that the entry βij is the prior on the ith term given the jth topic. Note that without any prior information or domain knowledge about Φij, the probability parameter of the ith term given the jth topic, a uniform prior would be imposed by making β a constant and therefore it would be minimally represented by a scalar. Whenever β is constant, the resulting Dirichlet distribution is symmetric and it is said to have a symmetric prior, which is the constant. Suppose that at time t-1 we learned topic parameter matrix Φt-1 , before learning Φt we will impose a prior βt with the following form:

Equation 13: β(t)=ηΦ(t-1)+(1-η)β(0)
where β(0)=1V1V1V1V  and  η[0,1]

Matrix Φt-1 serves as an informative prior for Φt, essentially implying that it is assumed that the topic distributions from adjacent time windows are similar in some sense. β0 serves as an uninformative uniform prior, this matrix essentially smooths out the sharp information from Φt-1. Keeping in mind that the vocabulary also evolves over time, meaning that some words are being added and some words are being removed from the vocabulary as the model sees new corpora, meaning this has to be accounted for in the prior. It is necessary to ensure that any unlearned topic could potentially have any new word even if in the previous time windows, the same topic had a probability of 0 of having that word. The introduction of β0 with a non-zero η ensures that any new word has a non-zero probability of being picked up by any evolving topic.

A Dirichlet distribution with a non-constant β is said to have a non-symmetric prior. Typically, the literature advises against non-symmetric priorsFootnote 5 since it is usually unreasonable to assume that there is sufficient a priori information about the word distributions within unknown topics—this case is different. It is reasonable to assume that adjacent time corpora share some level of word distribution information and to further justify this prior, an overlap between the adjacent corpora will be imposed. Suppose Dt-1 and Dt are corpora from time t-1 and t respectively, essentially the following condition will be imposed:

Equation 14: D(t-1)D(t)

The proportion of overlap is controlled by a hyperparameter that is set beforehand. Note that the overlap strengthens the assumption that βt is a reasonable prior for Φt. However, one might still reasonably assume that this prior is sensible, even with non-overlapping corpora, since Dt-1 and Dt would be quite close in time and thus share some level of information as far as word distribution goes.

Date modified:

Official Languages in Natural Language Processing

By: Julien-Charles Lévesque, Employment and Social Development Canada; Marie-Pier Schinck, Employment and Social Development Canada

Official Languages in Natural Language Processing

It is no secret that English is the dominant language in the field of Natural Language Processing. This can be a challenge for Government of Canada data scientists, who must ensure the quality of French data and that data from both official languages receive equal treatment so as to avoid any biases.

The Data Science Division of the Chief Data Office (CDO) at Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) is launching a research project on the use of natural language processing (NLP) for both official languages. This initiative, funded by ESDC's Innovation Lab, aims to deepen the CDO's understanding of the impact of language (French or English) on the merit of tools and techniques used in NLP to enable more informed decisions in future NLP projects.

Why is it important to explore the use of both official languages in NLP?

ESDC has experienced this firsthand through their work on NLP projects, and some of their partners in other departments have reported facing this issue as well. While there are numerous possible approaches to the treatment and processing of data in multiple languages, it is unclear whether some of these approaches work better than others to provide predictions of comparable quality for both official languages. Essentially, because the impact of how language is processed is never the sole focus of projects, data scientists can only invest limited time and resources to explore that question—which could lead to suboptimal decisions. For the French language, there is a need to better understand the implications of the choices made by data scientists when applying NLP techniques. This will lead to better quality handling of French data, thus helping to reduce language-driven biases and increase fairness for solutions impacting service delivery to clients, as well as internal solutions.

New research into NLP techniques for official languages

To address this problem, ESDC is launching a research project that will focus on some recurrent questions surrounding the application of NLP techniques to both official languages. This includes techniques for preprocessing, embedding and modelling text, as well as techniques to mitigate the impact of imbalanced datasets. They want to gain transferable knowledge that could be leveraged by their team, as well as the GoC data science community, to help bridge the gap between French and English when it comes to the quality of NLP applications in the federal government.

For now, they will only be using text classification problems as use cases. It is both a very common NLP task as well as one that they have worked on in numerous projects. They have access to several labelled data sets from these past projects, enabling them to ground their findings in a more applied context, using real life data from their department.

Leveraging existing data sets

The ESDC team will be using datasets from four past text classification problems they solved. These vary in terms of the length of documents, the quality of the text, the classification task (binary vs. multiclass), the proportion of French and English content as well as the way the French content was handled. For context, each of these problems is explored in more detail below.

  • The T4 project is a binary classification problem of notes written by call centre agents; the objective was to predict if a T4 had already been re-sent to a client or not.
  • The Media Monitoring project is a binary classification problem of NewsDesk news articles; the aim was to predict if articles were relevant to senior management.
  • The Record of Employment Comments (ROEC) project is a multiclass classification problem, where the objective was to predict which reason for separation corresponded to employers' comments on Record of Employment forms.
  • The Human Resources (HR) project is a research project that explored the pre-selection of candidates for large entry-level staffing processes. It was framed as a binary classification problem where the objective was to predict the label attributed by HR staff based on the candidates' answers to screening questions.
Table 1. Overview of each problem's data and final solution
Project name Problem Type Dataset size Proportion of French content Input length Method used
T4 Binary Small (6k) 35% Short Tokens in both languages,N-Gram & Chi-Square + MLP
Media Monitoring Binary Large (1M) 25% Long French translated to English,
Meta-embedding (from GloVe, FastText and Paragram), Ensemble model (LSTM, GRU, CNN)
ROEC Multiclass Medium-Large (300k+) 28% Short Tokens in both languages,
N-Gram & Chi-Square + MLP
HR Binary Small (5k) 6% Medium to long Pretrained multilingual contextual embeddings (BERT Base) followed by fine-tuning

Key research questions

This work will explore key questions that typically arise when developing NLP solutions for classification. The recurring question of imbalanced datasets in GoC data (more observations in English than in French) will also be addressed. More specifically, this project will attempt to answer the following questions:

  1. What is the difference between using a separate model for French and English and using a single model for both? Can general rules or guidelines be inferred for when each approach might be preferable?
  2. Is the strategy of translating French data to English and then training a monolingual English model valid? What are the main factors to take into consideration when using that approach?
  3. Are models trained on a multitude of languages biased in favor of one language over the other? Is the understanding of French documents equivalent to the understanding of English ones?
  4. What is the impact of the imbalance in language representation in the data? Is there a minimum French to English ratio that should be targeted? Which methods should be used to mitigate the implications of this imbalance?

Sharing the results

The bulk of the experiments will be completed over the summer, and a presentation and report will be prepared and circulated sometime during the fall. This detailed report will document the research and exploration that took place as well as the findings. The report will be technical, with data scientists as the targeted audience, since the main goal of this initiative is to enable them to make more informed decisions when handling French data on NLP projects. Additionally, a Machine Learning Seminar will be prepared to discuss this research initiative. The specific topics discussed, and the number of sessions offered, will be driven by the conclusions of the study.

Let's connect!

The team hopes that this research initiative will bring value to future bilingual NLP projects through a more informed handling of French content, thus allowing a higher quality final product. In the meantime, if you have also been facing challenges when using NLP on bilingual datasets, if you have comments, ideas, or maybe some lessons learned that you think would be of interest, or if you simply would like to be kept in the loop, don't hesitate to reach out! The project team invites you to chat with the GC data science community by joining the conversation in the Artificial Intelligence Practitioners and Users Network!

Team Members

Marie-Pier Schinck (Data Scientist), Julien-Charles Lévesque (Data Scientist)

Date modified:

Federal government expenditures on COVID-19 response measures

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 pandemic. To address the consequences of the pandemic on the Canadian economy, the federal government of Canada announced and implemented various support and recovery measures for businesses, households, students, the vulnerable population and organizations helping individuals. The table Federal government expenditures on COVID-19 response measures presents the major federal measures announced and implemented, their treatment in the national accounts (in particular, in the Income and Expenditure Accounts), the table numbers where the pertinent series may be found and the amount of expenditure on a quarterly basis.

For a comprehensive explanations on the treatment of COVID-19 government support measures in the national accounts, please refer to the documents Recording COVID-19 measures in the national account and Recording new COVID measures in the national accounts.

Treatment in national accounts: Subsidies on production, by quarter at quarterly rates
  2020 2021
First quarter Second quarter Third quarter Fourth quarter First quarter
COVID-19 measure $ millions
Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) - business 4,359 29,351 22,711 10,703 8,307
Temporary Wage Subsidy (TWS) - business 169 739      
Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy (CERS) - business     52 1,558 1,222
Lockdown Support (LS) - business     5 209 255
Source: Statistics Canada, tables 36-10-0103, 36-10-0118, 36-10-0477.
Treatment in national accounts: Current transfers to non-profit institutions serving households (NPISH), by quarter at quarterly rates
  2020 2021
  First quarter Second quarter Third quarter Fourth quarter First quarter
COVID-19 measure $ millions
Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) - NPISH 200 1,095 1,051 573 364
Temporary Wage Subsidy (TWS) - NPISH 13 46      
Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy (CERS) - NPISH     1 36 23
Lockdown Support (LS) - NPISH     0 4 4
Source: Statistics Canada, tables 36-10-0118, 36-10-0477, 36-10-0115.
Treatment in national accounts: Subsidies on products and imports, by quarter at quarterly rates
  2020 2021
  First quarter Second quarter Third quarter Fourth quarter First quarter
COVID-19 measure $ millions
Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance (CECRA)   1,130 904    
  • Federal contribution
  849 679    
  • Provincial contribution
  281 225    
Source: Statistics Canada, tables 36-10-0103, 36-10-0118, 36-10-0477.
Treatment in national accounts: Current transfers to households - Employment Insurance benefits, by quarter at quarterly rates
  2020 2021
  First quarter Second quarter Third quarter Fourth quarter First quarter
COVID-19 measure $ millions
Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) - EI stream   19,127 9,239 864  
Source: Statistics Canada, tables 36-10-0118, 36-10-0477, 36-10-0112.
Treatment in national accounts: Transfers to households -Other federal transfers to households, by quarter at quarterly rates
  2020 2021
  First quarter Second quarter Third quarter Fourth quarter First quarter
COVID-19 measure $ millions
Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) - CRA stream   29,002 15,597 704  
Canada Emergency Student Benefit (CESB)   1,386 1,550 8  
Canada Recovery Benefit (CRB)       6,073 7,280
Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit (CRCB)       900 960
Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit (CRSB)       246 144
Source: Statistics Canada, tables 36-10-0118, 36-10-0477, 36-10-0112.

Why are we conducting this survey?

The purpose of this survey is to collect reliable and timely information on special crops. Results from this survey are used to:

  • validate crop production such as farm stock and marketing data, and
  • calculate the contribution of the special crops sector to the Canadian economy.

The Canadian Special Crops Association, Pulse Canada and federal and provincial governments, such as Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada use this information for establishing programs and policies.

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 reporting burden, Statistics Canada may combine the acquired data with information from other surveys or from administrative sources.

Data-sharing agreements

To reduce respondent 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 statistical agencies of Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia. The shared data will be limited to information pertaining to business establishments located within the jurisdiction of the respective province.

Business or organization and contact information

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

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

Note: Press the help button (?) for additional information.

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 of the designated business or organization contact person for this questionnaire and correct where 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
    • Canada
    • United States
  • Email address
  • Telephone number (including area code)
  • Extension number (if applicable)
    The maximum number of characters is 10.
  • 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
    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 for ceased operations
    • 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 (NAICS).

Note: Press the help button (?) for additional information, including a detailed description of this activity complete with example activities and any applicable exclusions.

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 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.

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

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

How to search:

  • if desired, you can filter the search results by first selecting this business or organization's activity sector
  • enter keywords or a brief description that best describes this business or organization main activity
  • press the Search button to search the database for an activity that best matches the keywords or description you provided
  • then select an activity from the list.

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:

Main activity

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.

Approximately what percentage of this business or organization's revenue is generated by each of the following activities?
  Percentage of revenue
Main activity  
Secondary activity  
All other activities  
Total percentage  

Physical stocks of special crops

1. On the reference date , which of the following special crops were held as physical stocks in your facilities?

Include only stocks held in Canadian facilities such as elevators, cleaning plants, and stocks in-transit.
Exclude stocks held on farms or outside Canada.

Select all that apply.

  • Canary seed
  • Chickpeas
  • Dry field peas
    • Include feed peas.
  • Lentils
  • Mustard seed
  • Sunflower seed
    • Include sunola and other dwarf varieties.
  • No physical stocks of these special crops on the reference date

2. On the reference date, please indicate the physical stocks in metric tonnes for the following special crops.

Include only stocks held in Canadian facilities such as elevators, cleaning plants, and stocks in-transit.
Exclude stocks held on farms or outside Canada.

On the reference date, please indicate the physical stocks in metric tonnes for the following special crops.
  Metric tonnes
Canary seed  
a. Owned by this company  
b. Held for farmers  
c. Held for other companies  
Chickpeas  
d. Owned by this company  
e. Held for farmers  
f. Held for other companies  
Dry field peas  
g. Owned by this company  
h. Held for farmers  
i. Held for other companies  
Lentils  
j. Owned by this company  
k. Held for farmers  
l. Held for other companies  
Mustard seed  
m. Owned by this company  
n. Held for farmers  
o. Held for other companies  
Sunflower seed  
p. Owned by this company  
q. Held for farmers  
r. Held for other companies  

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
  • Exchange rate impact
  • Price changes in goods or services sold
  • Contracting out
  • Organizational change
  • Price changes in labour or raw materials
  • Natural disaster
  • Recession
  • Change in product line
  • Sold business or business units
  • Expansion
  • New or lost contract
  • Plant closures
  • Acquisition of business or business units
  • Other
    Specify the other changes or events:
  • No changes or events

Contact person

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

Is the provided given names 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):
    The maximum number of characters is 5.
  • Fax number (including area code):

Feedback

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

Include the time spent gathering the necessary information.

  • Hours:
  • Minutes:

2. Do you have any comments about this questionnaire?

Why do we conduct this survey?

The purpose of this survey is to collect data on commercial stocks of raw unprocessed corn for grain, and soybeans, stored in your operation's elevators. This survey gathers information on stocks intended for use by your operation or intended for sale to grain or oilseed processing operations for human or animal consumption or for industrial use.

The estimates produced will be used in national supply-disposition analyses to verify production and farm stocks. The data are also used by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and by grain analysts in the public and private sectors.

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 reporting burden, Statistics Canada may combine the acquired data with information from other surveys or from administrative sources.

Data-sharing agreements

To reduce respondent 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 statistical agencies of Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia. The shared data will be limited to information pertaining to business establishments located within the jurisdiction of the respective province.

Business or organization and contact information

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

Note: Legal name modifications should only be done 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 of the designated business or organization contact person for this questionnaire and correct where 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

  • Canada
  • United States

Email address

Telephone number (including area code)

Extension number (if applicable)
The maximum number of characters is 5.

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
    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 for ceased operations
    • 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 (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 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.

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?
  • No

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

How to search:

  • if desired, you can filter the search results by first selecting this business or organization's activity sector
  • enter keywords or a brief description that best describes this business or organization main activity
  • press the Search button to search the database for an activity that best matches the keywords or description you provided
  • then select an activity from the list.

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:

Main activity

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.

Example
  Percentage of revenue
Main activity  
Secondary activity  
All other activities  
Total percentage  

Physical stocks of unprocessed grains

1. On the reference date, what were the physical stocks in metric tonnes of raw unprocessed grains held in your company's elevators?

Include imports.

Exclude stocks held in elevators licensed by the Canadian Grain Commission.

Example
  Stocks on December 31, 2019 (Metric tonnes)
Grain Corn  
a. Owned by this company  
b. Held for other companies  
Total grain corn  
Soybeans  
c. Owned by this company  
d. Held for other companies  
Total soybeans  

Quantity of grain used for manufacturing or industrial purposes

2. From the beginning of the crop year to the reference date, how many metric tonnes of grain corn did this company use for manufacturing or industrial purposes?

Grain corn

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
  • Exchange rate impact
  • Price changes in goods or services sold
  • Contracting out
  • Organizational change
  • Price changes in labour or raw materials
  • Natural disaster
  • Recession
  • Change in product line
  • Sold business or business units
  • Expansion
  • New or lost contract
  • Plant closures
  • Acquisition of business or business units
  • Other
    Specify the other changes or events:
  • No changes or events

Contact person

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

Is the provided given names 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):
The maximum number of characters is 5.

Fax number (including area code):

Feedback

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

Include the time spent gathering the necessary information.

Hours:

Minutes:

2. Do you have any comments about this questionnaire?

Why do we conduct this survey?

The purpose of this survey is to collect data on commercial stocks of raw unprocessed corn for grain, and soybeans, stored in your operation's elevators. This survey gathers information on stocks intended for use by your operation or intended for sale to grain or oilseed processing operations for human or animal consumption or for industrial use.

The estimates produced will be used in national supply-disposition analyses to verify production and farm stocks. The data are also used by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and by grain analysts in the public and private sectors.

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 reporting burden, Statistics Canada may combine the acquired data with information from other surveys or from administrative sources.

Data-sharing agreements

To reduce respondent 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 statistical agencies of Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia. The shared data will be limited to information pertaining to business establishments located within the jurisdiction of the respective province.

Business or organization and contact information

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

Note: Legal name modifications should only be done 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 of the designated business or organization contact person for this questionnaire and correct where 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

  • Canada
  • United States

Email address

Telephone number (including area code)

Extension number (if applicable)
The maximum number of characters is 5.

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
    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 for ceased operations
    • 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 (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 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.

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

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

How to search:

  • if desired, you can filter the search results by first selecting this business or organization's activity sector
  • enter keywords or a brief description that best describes this business or organization main activity
  • press the Search button to search the database for an activity that best matches the keywords or description you provided
  • then select an activity from the list.

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:

Main activity

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.

Example
  Percentage of revenue
Main activity  
Secondary activity  
All other activities  
Total percentage  

Physical stocks of unprocessed grains

1. On the reference date, what were the physical stocks in metric tonnes of raw unprocessed grains held in your company's elevators?

Include imports.

Exclude stocks held in elevators licensed by the Canadian Grain Commission.

Example
  Stocks on December 31, 2019 (Metric tonnes)
Grain Corn  
a.Owned by this company  
b.Held for other companies  
Total grain corn  
Soybeans  
c.Owned by this company  
d.Held for other companies  
Total soybeans  

Changes or events

2. 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
  • Exchange rate impact
  • Price changes in goods or services sold
  • Contracting out
  • Organizational change
  • Price changes in labour or raw materials
  • Natural disaster
  • Recession
  • Change in product line
  • Sold business or business units
  • Expansion
  • New or lost contract
  • Plant closures
  • Acquisition of business or business units
  • Other
    Specify the other changes or events:
  • No changes or events

Contact person

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

Is the provided given names 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):
The maximum number of characters is 5.

Fax number (including area code):

Feedback

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

Include the time spent gathering the necessary information.

Hours:

Minutes:

2. Do you have any comments about this questionnaire?

Integrated Business Statistics Program (IBSP)

Reporting Guide

This guide is designed to assist you as you complete the 2020 Annual Civil Aviation Survey - Level IV. If you need more information, please call the Statistics Canada Help Line at the number below.

Help Line: 1-877-949-9492

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

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 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 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 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.

Statement of Revenues, Annual - Statement 21 (IV)

Scheduled services

Transportation of passengers or goods, or both, by an aircraft provided by an air carrier that operates the air service and that, directly or indirectly, sells some or all of its seats or part or all of its cargo space to the public on a price per seat, price per unit of mass or price per volume of cargo basis.

Charter services

Transportation of passengers or goods, or both, by aircraft pursuant to a contract under which a person, other than the air carrier that operates the air service, or its agent, reserves a block of seats or part of the cargo space of an aircraft for the person's use or for resale to the public.

Include air ambulance service and the movement of people and goods to logging or heli-logging sites.

Exclude firefighting and heli-logging activities and the movement of people and goods to a firefighting site. (A complete list of activities which are specialty and therefore not subject to filing requirements as charter can be found in the Transport Canada document entitled Starting a Commercial Air Service.)

Fixed wing

Means a power-driven, heavier-than-air aircraft, deriving its lift in flight chiefly from aerodynamic reactions on surfaces which remain fixed. An aircraft having wings fixed to the airplane fuselage and outspread in flight – that is non-rotating wings.

Helicopter

Means a rotary wing, heavier-than-air aircraft, supported in flight chiefly by the reactions of the air on one or more power-driven rotors on substantially vertical axes. A helicopter does not have conventional fixed wings, nor is it provided with a conventional propeller for forward thrust.

Total operating revenue

Include revenue from air transportation services (for example, transportation of passengers, transportation of goods and other flight-related revenue [such as flying training, recreational flying and other specialty flying]) and all other sources.

Integrated Business Statistics Program (IBSP)

Reporting Guide

This guide is designed to assist you as you complete the 2020 Annual Civil Aviation Survey - Level III. If you need more information, please call the Statistics Canada Help Line at the number below.

Help Line: 1-877-949-9492

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

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 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 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 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.

Balance Sheet, Annual - Statement 20 (II, III)

Financial assets

Current assets

Include:

  • cash, bank balances (including deposits in transit, special deposits for the payments of debts, and so on) and short-term investments due within one year from the date of the balance sheet;
  • current accounts and notes receivable as well as other current assets such as inventories, charges to subscribers on transportation contracts, interests and dividends receivable, and so on.

All other financial assets – (Include investments and special funds.)

Include investments in associated companies, other investments such as investments in stocks, bonds, and so on, and special funds such as equipment purchase funds, funds set aside for such special purposes as contractual deposits, pension funds, self-insurance funds, and so on.

Property and equipment

Operating - property and equipment – (Include capital leases.)

Include:

  • ground property and equipment (including flight equipment) owned and/or under capital leases;
  • the cost of aircraft (airframes), aircraft engines, propellers, components (aircraft communication and navigational equipment) and spare parts that have been purchased outright;
  • the cost of  non-airborne communication and meteorological equipment, ramp equipment, maintenance and engineering equipment, surface transport vehicles and equipment, furniture, fixtures and office equipment, buildings and land as well as miscellaneous ground equipment such as medical equipment, airport and lighting equipment, passenger service equipment, hotel, restaurant and food service equipment, storage and distribution equipment. Property and equipment under capital leases includes the cost of property and equipment under a capital or finance lease, in other words, a lease for a period considered to be the whole or nearly the whole life of the property or equipment.

Accumulated depreciation and amortization - property and equipment

Include:

  • accumulated depreciation and amortization of ground property and equipment (including flight equipment) owned and/or under capital leases;
  • accrued charges representing losses, not replaced by current repairs, occurring in physical property and suffered through current lessening of service value due to wear and tear from use and the action of time and the elements; and losses occurring through obsolescence, supersession, new technological developments, changes in popular demand and the requirements of public authority.

Non-operating property and equipment – (Include capital leases.)

Include the cost of all non-operating property and equipment, in other words, all property and equipment not included in the "operating" category above.

Accumulated depreciation and amortization - non-operating property and equipment

Include accumulated depreciation and amortization of the non-operating property and equipment.

All other assets

Include long-term prepayments, developmental and pre-operating costs such as the cost of extraordinary training, unamortized discounts and expenses on the issue of long-term debt securities, property acquisition adjustments, other intangibles such as payments made for patents, copyrights, and so on, and other deferred charges.

Total assets

The sum of the assets above less the accumulated depreciation and amortization.

Liabilities and capital

Current liabilities

Include:

  • current accounts and traffic balances payable, including balances subject to current settlement and payable to associated companies and/or shareholders, and notes payable on demand or within one year from the date of the balance sheet;
  • the current portion of long-term debt and the current obligations under capital leases;
  • air traffic liabilities (unearned transportation revenue), which includes the value of passenger tickets sold but not used or refunded as of the date of the balance sheet, and pre-paid amounts for the transportation of baggage, freight and mail for which the transportation has not occurred as of the date of the balance sheet;
  • salaries and wages accrued and unpaid, taxes accrued and unpaid, dividends payable, deposits by subscribers on transportation contracts (air travel plan liabilities, in other words, deposits received under air travel plan contracts) and other current and accrued liabilities.

Advances from associated companies and/or shareholders

Include the net amount from associated companies and/or shareholders for notes, loans or advances which are not currently settled.

Long-term debt and other non-current liabilities – (Include capital leases.)

Include:

  • the face value or principal amount of debt securities (for example, bonds, trust certificates, debentures, notes) issued and assumed by the air carrier and in the hands of others, which is not payable within twelve months of the balance sheet date;
  • long-term obligations under capital leases, which refers to the present value of unexpired contracts for the acquisition of aircraft under such lease arrangements.

Deferred income taxes

Include taxes that will be owed on income, but that have not yet been assessed.

All other liabilities

Include:

  • deferred credits which correspond to unamortized premiums on all classes of long-term debt, and other deferred credits such as securities issued or assumed by the air carrier, and other unadjusted accounts that cannot be cleared as of the date of the balance sheet;
  • provisions for major overhauls such as for flight equipment (in other words, liabilities of uncertain value or timing associated with the complete disassembly and inspection or repair of an aircraft, engine or other component of an aircraft) and other provisions such as liabilities of uncertain value or timing.

Shareholders' equity

Capital stock

Include the equity capital invested in a business through the purchase of various classes of common and preferred shares.

Retained earnings

Include the portion of after-tax profits left over, after dividends have been paid to shareholders, for reinvestment into the company. If this account is negative, then the amount indicated for this item should be shown with a negative (-) sign.

All other items

Include other paid-in capital and reserves. Other paid-in capital or contributed surplus includes the premiums or discounts that have resulted from selling stock, and stock received from donations. Reserves include any reserve fund such as reserve for self-insurance, reserve for pension, reserves against potential future losses, and so on. Also, include proprietorship or partnership accounts (balance year-end).

Total liabilities and capital

The sum of liabilities and capital plus the sum of shareholders' equity which should equal total assets.

Statement of Revenues and Expenses, Annual - Statement 21 (III)

Operating revenue

Scheduled services

Transportation of passengers or goods, or both, by an aircraft provided by an air carrier that operates the air service and that, directly or indirectly, sells some or all of its seats or part or all of its cargo space to the public on a price per seat, price per unit of mass or price per volume of cargo basis.

Charter services

Transportation of passengers or goods, or both, by aircraft pursuant to a contract under which a person, other than the air carrier that operates the air service, or its agent, reserves a block of seats or part of the cargo space of an aircraft for the person's use or for resale to the public.

Include air ambulance service and the movement of people and goods to logging or heli-logging sites.

Exclude firefighting and heli-logging activities and the movement of people and goods to a firefighting site. (A complete list of activities which are specialty and therefore not subject to filing requirements as charter can be found in the Transport Canada document entitled Starting a Commercial Air Service.)

Passenger revenue

Refers to the revenue earned from the transportation of passengers on scheduled and charter services. Include revenue from all surcharges (baggage, fuel, seat selection, changing or cancelling flights, and so on) that are retained by the air carrier. Exclude amounts such as taxes, navigation fees, security fees, and so on that are collected but passed on to other entities.

Goods revenue

Refers to the revenue earned from the transportation of goods on scheduled and charter services. Exclude taxes such as the Goods and Services Tax (GST), Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) or Provincial Sales Tax (PST).

All other flight - related revenue

Refers to the revenue earned from air transport activities not included in passenger revenue or goods revenue. Include revenue from other flying services such as flying training, recreational flying and other specialty flying.

All other revenue

Include subsidies and revenue earned from all other sources (including contra revenue, revenue of a corporate nature (leasing revenue, third party ground-handling, and so on), ancillary passenger revenue not easily allocated by operating flight (customs brokerage, and so on), revenue from in-flight sales (beverages, food, entertainment and wireless Internet access, and so on)).

Total operating revenue

The sum of passenger revenue, goods revenue, other flight-related revenue and revenue from all other sources.

Operating expenses

Maintenance - ground property and equipment

Expenses incurred in the repair and upkeep of ground property and equipment. Include employee wages, salaries and benefits (including employer contributions to pensions, medical benefits, insurance, and so on), expenses for materials and supplies, purchased repair services and all other related expenses.

Aircraft operations

Expenses incurred directly for the in-flight operation of aircraft or in the holding of aircraft and aircraft personnel in readiness for assignment to an in-flight status.

Include:

  • the wages, salaries and benefits (including employer contributions to pensions, medical benefits, insurance, and so on and layover expenses such as hotels and meals) for flight crews (pilot, co-pilot, navigator, and so on);
  • expenses for turbo fuel, gasoline and all other fuel and oil consumed such as turbine oil and piston oil (including throughput charges, non-refundable duties and taxes);
  • airport landing fees paid both in Canada and outside of Canada;
  • navigation fees remitted to NAV CANADA or other international suppliers for the provision of air navigation services (air navigation services include aeronautical communication services, aeronautical information services, aeronautical radio navigation services, air traffic control services, aviation weather services, emergency assistance services and flight information services);
  • expenses for insurance against accidental damage to flight equipment while in flight or on the ground and for insurance against liability occurring from the operation of aircraft or, in the case of non-insurance, the resulting expenses for which the carrier is liable;
  • expenses incurred for the rental of aircraft (and crew) from other carriers, such as in chartering, interchange and operating or lease agreements;
  • all other aircraft operation expenses incurred directly for the in-flight operation and related standby time of aircraft.

Maintenance - flight equipment

Expenses incurred in the repair and upkeep of flight equipment. Include employee wages, salaries and benefits (including employer contributions to pensions, medical benefits, insurance, and so on), expenses for materials and supplies, purchased repair services and all other related expenses.

General administration

Expenses incurred for in-flight service, aircraft and traffic servicing, promotion and sales and general administration.

Include:

  • the wages, salaries and benefits (including employer contributions to pensions, medical benefits, insurance, and so on and layover expenses such as hotels and meals) paid to cabin crews (flight attendants, and so on), ground personnel, staff engaged in reservations, ticketing, sales and promotional activities and all other employees (including the personnel performing the general and administrative functions of the air carrier);
  • expenses for in-flight service such as passenger food and supplies (in-flight meals, complimentary drinks, and so on and the cost of supplies and personal services furnished to passengers), passenger liability insurance (premiums for passenger liability and accident insurance) and all other in-flight service expenses (including passenger-related expenses incurred due to interrupted flights, including hotels, meals, taxi fares and other expense items, the cost of other services provided to passengers, such as pay, allowances and the cost of passenger service personnel, and all other services provided for the comfort of passengers in transit);
  • expenses for aircraft and traffic servicing purchased from outside suppliers, expenses incurred on the ground for scheduling or preparing aircraft for arrival and takeoff, expenses incurred in enplaning and deplaning passenger and cargo traffic, and expenses involved in servicing and handling individual aircraft and traffic on the ground, in preparing aircraft crews for flight assignment, in controlling the in-flight movements of aircraft and the in-flight expenses of handling all traffic including baggage;
  • all promotion and sales expenses such as passenger and cargo commission expenses (the net commission payable to others for the sale of transportation on the reporting carrier's service less the commission receivable from the reporting carrier's sale of transportation on other carriers' services), advertising and publicity expenses and any related expenses, accommodation costs, agency fees for outside services, expenses associated with reservations, city ticket offices and other sales expenses;
  • general administration expenses such as those for financial accounting activities, supplementary labour income, property taxes, building rentals, communications purchased, purchasing activities, representation at law, and all other operational administration expenses not directly applicable to a particular function that are not included in the previous operating expenses categories;
  • expenses such as incidental air transport-related expenses associated with revenue reported as "all other revenue";
  • staff reduction expenses.

Depreciation

Include:

  • provisions for the depreciation of ground property and equipment (including flight equipment);
  • all charges incurred in normal wear and tear on property and equipment which have not been replaced by current year repair, as well as losses in service ability;
  • charges for the amortization of capitalized development and other intangible assets.

All other expenses

Include any and all miscellaneous operating expenses not reported elsewhere.

Total operating expenses

The sum of the previous six expense items.

Operating income

Net operating income (a loss should be a negative number)

Total operating revenue less total operating expenses – calculated from the previous questions.

Non-operating income/expenses

Interest and discount income

Include interest income from all sources and cash discounts on the purchase of materials and supplies.

Interest expenses

Include interest on unpaid taxes and all classes of debt including premiums, discounts and expenses on short-term obligations, amortization of premiums, discounts and expenses on short-term and long-term obligations.

All other net non-operating income (enter a negative number for a loss)

Include:

  • capital gains (or losses) from retiring operating property and equipment, aircraft equipment, expendable parts, miscellaneous materials and supplies and other assets, when they are sold or otherwise retired from service as part of a general program and not as incidental sales performed as a service to others;
  • gains or losses made on investments in securities;
  • net miscellaneous non-operating income or loss, which refers to revenue and expenses attributable to financing or other activities that are not an integral part of the air transportation activities undertaken by the carrier, or its incidental services. These could include dividend income, the balance of all income or losses from affiliated companies reimbursed to the carrier, foreign exchange adjustments and special items, such as restructuring expenses, which do not occur on a regular basis.

Exclude staff reduction expenses which should be included under all other expenses.

Net non-operating income (a loss should be a negative number)

The sum of the previous three income or expense items.

Provision for income taxes

Include the provision for taxes payable on net income for the accounting period and adjustments of income taxes relating to previous years, including provisions for deferred income taxes resulting from differences between accounting income and taxable income that arise when the time of including items of revenue and expense in the computation of accounting income and taxable income do not coincide. . If the net amount is negative, then the amount indicated for this item should be shown with a negative (-) sign.

Net income (a loss should be a negative number)

Net operating income plus net non-operating income less the provision for income taxes.

Fuel and oil consumed

Turbo fuel consumed

Include fuel used in both turboprop and jet aircraft.

Provide the quantity and expenses for turbo fuel consumed. Turbo fuel includes the turbine fuel uplifted for all aircraft in the carrier's fleet. Fuel uplift can be determined based on delivery notes or invoices, aircraft onboard measurement systems or, if the fuel was supplied by a customer, estimated based on hours flown. Report the quantity of turbo fuel consumed in litres.

Include turbo fuel consumed for all scheduled and/or charter operations, regardless of where purchased. The expenses for turbo fuel consumed should be reported in Canadian dollars, regardless of where purchased. Include throughput charges, non-refundable duties and taxes. If the fuel was supplied by a customer, an approximate value may be provided based on prevailing market rates.

Conversion factor

To convert gallons (imperial) into litres (l), multiply by 4.546092.

Gasoline consumed

Provide the quantity and expenses for gasoline consumed. If the gasoline was supplied by a customer, it may be estimated based on hours flown. Report the quantity of gasoline consumed in litres.

Include gasoline consumed for all scheduled and/or charter operations, regardless of where purchased. The expenses for gasoline consumed should be reported in Canadian dollars, regardless of where purchased. Include throughput charges, non-refundable duties and taxes. If the gasoline was supplied by a customer, an approximate value may be provided based on prevailing market rates.

Conversion factor

To convert gallons (imperial) into litres (l), multiply by 4.546092.

All other fuel and oil consumed

Provide the quantity and expenses for all other fuel and oil consumed. Report the quantity of all other fuel and oil consumed in litres.

The quantity should include turbine oil, piston oil and all other types of fuel and oil consumed for all scheduled and/or charter operations, regardless of where purchased. The expenses for all other fuel and oil consumed should be reported in Canadian dollars, regardless of where purchased. Include throughput charges, non-refundable duties and taxes.

Conversion factor

To convert gallons (imperial) into litres (l), multiply by 4.546092.

Total fuel and oil consumed

The sum of the quantities and expenses reported in the previous three items.

Employment

Average number of employees

Refers to the average number of people employed for each of the six categories of personnel.

Include all employees, temporary or permanent, on the payroll of the air carrier during the reporting period. Include part-time employees, prorated to the amount of time worked when compared to full-time employees (for example, two part-time employees working half-time are equivalent to one full-time employee).

Wages and salaries expenses

Include a breakdown of the wages and salaries paid for each of the six categories of personnel.

Exclude all benefits, in other words, employer contributions to pensions, medical benefits, insurance, and so on or layover expenses, such as hotels and meals, for flight and cabin crews.

Employment category

Include:

  • Pilots and co-pilots. Self-explanatory;
  • Other flight personnel. Flight crew (including flight engineers, navigators, and so on) and cabin crew (including flight attendants, and so on);
  • General management and administration employees (including the personnel performing the general and administrative functions such as administrative personnel at headquarters, comptrollers and assistants, directors and assistants (operations, passenger service, public relations, sales), and so on);
  • Maintenance personnel (including the personnel performing the ground property and equipment maintenance such as the carpenters, cleaners, and so on and including the personnel performing the flight equipment maintenance such as the aircraft maintenance engineers and the inspectors of flight equipment);    
  • Aircraft and traffic servicing personnel (including supervisory personnel, assigned to ground activities, engaged directly in protecting and controlling aircraft in flight (flight dispatch personnel, flight planning staff), in scheduling and preparing flight crews for flight assignment, in parking and servicing aircraft incidental to line operations and including baggage handlers, aircraft fuelers, and so on);
  • All other employees (including air ambulance attendants, accountants, economists, statisticians, lawyers, purchasing personnel, publicity representatives, and so on). 

Total employees

The sum of the number and the wages and salaries expenses for the six categories of personnel.

Revenue and expenses by area of operation

Passenger revenue

Include a breakdown of the revenue earned from the transportation of passengers for each province, territory and outside of Canada based on where the transportation service was provided. Total passenger revenue should equal the sum of passenger revenue from scheduled services and charter services previously reported.

Goods revenue

Include a breakdown of the revenue earned from the transportation of goods for each province, territory and outside of Canada based on where the transportation service was provided. Total goods revenue should equal the sum of goods revenue from scheduled services and charter services previously reported.

Employee wages and salaries

Include a breakdown of employee wages and salaries for each province, territory and outside of Canada based on where the employees are located. Total employee wages and salaries should equal the total wages and salaries expenses reported in the "Employment" section above.

Scheduled Services, Revenue Operating Statistics, Annual - Statement 10 (III)

Scheduled services - operating statistics

Include fixed wing and helicopter services.

Sector of operation

Refers to the regions where carriers provide transportation services. There are three breakdowns – domestic, transborder (Canada-US) and other international.

Domestic

Includes operations between points in Canada.

Transborder (Canada-US)

Includes operations between points in Canada and points in the United States (including Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico).

Other international

Includes all other operations (including between points outside of Canada).

Data reported must include both fixed wing and helicopter services, where:

Fixed wing

Means a power-driven, heavier-than-air aircraft, deriving its lift in flight chiefly from aerodynamic reactions on surfaces which remain fixed. An aircraft having wings fixed to the airplane fuselage and outspread in flight – that is non-rotating wings.

Helicopter

Means a rotary wing, heavier-than-air aircraft, supported in flight chiefly by the reactions of the air on one or more power-driven rotors on substantially vertical axes. A helicopter does not have conventional fixed wings, nor is it provided with a conventional propeller for forward thrust.

Scheduled services

Transportation of passengers or goods, or both, by an aircraft provided by an air carrier that operates the air service and that, directly or indirectly, sells some or all of its seats or part or all of its cargo space to the public on a price per seat, price per unit of mass or price per volume of cargo basis.

Enplaned passengers

Refers to revenue passengers1 who board aircraft and surrender one or more flight coupons or other documents good for transportation over the itinerary specified in these coupons or documents.

1Revenue passengers correspond to passengers for which an air carrier receives remuneration and who are travelling with tickets purchased (a) under a publicly available promotional offer; (b) through a loyalty program or through the redemption of loyalty points or miles; (c) with a corporate discount or at a preferential fare; or obtained (d) as compensation for denied boarding. It excludes (a) passengers travelling for free, at a fare available only to persons who are employees or agents of an air carrier or are travelling on the business of an air carrier; and (b) persons, such as infants, who do not occupy seats.

Passenger-kilometres

Represents the carriage of one revenue passenger on each flight stage multiplied by the number of kilometres flown on that stage. Passenger-kilometres are obtained by totalling the number of kilometres flown by all passengers.

Let's take an example with two flight stages, where:

Flight stage A to B

Number of passengers = 5

Distance between points (km) = 161

Passenger-kilometres = 805

Flight stage B to C

Number of passengers = 4

Distance between points (km) = 322

Passenger-kilometres = 1,288

The total number of passenger-kilometres for the flights covering A to B and B to C is 2,093.

Conversion factor

To convert nautical miles (6 080 feet) into kilometres (km), multiply by 1.852.

To convert statute miles (5 280 feet) into kilometres (km), multiply by 1.609344.

Hours flown

Represents the block hours, in other words, the number of hours which elapsed between the time the aircraft started to move to commence a flight and the time the aircraft came to its final stop after the conclusion of a flight. Report the total number of block hours flown to the nearest hour.

Enplaned goods

Refers to all types of non-passenger traffic. It includes priority freight, freight, mail and excess baggage for which revenue is obtained. Enplaned goods should be reported to the nearest kilogram.

Conversion factor

To convert pounds (lbs.) into kilograms (kg), multiply by 0.453592.

Goods tonne-kilometres

Represents the carriage of one tonne of goods on each flight stage multiplied by the number of kilometres flown on that stage. Goods tonne-kilometres are obtained by totalling the number of kilometres flown with all tonnes of goods.

Let's take an example with two flight stages, where:

Flight stage A to B

Tonnes of goods = 5

Distance between points (km) = 161

Goods tonne-kilometres = 805

Flight stage B to C

Tonnes of goods = 4

Distance between points (km) = 322

Goods tonne-kilometres = 1,288

The total number of goods tonne-kilometres for the flights covering A to B and B to C is 2,093.

Conversion factor

To convert nautical miles (6 080 feet) into kilometres (km), multiply by 1.852.

To convert statute miles (5 280 feet) into kilometres (km), multiply by 1.609344.

Scheduled services - revenue

Include fixed wing and helicopter services.

Passenger revenue

Refers to the revenue earned from the transportation of passengers on scheduled services. Include revenue from all surcharges (baggage, fuel, seat selection, and so on) that are retained by the air carrier. Exclude amounts such as taxes, navigation fees, security fees, and so on that are collected but passed on to other entities.

Goods revenue

Refers to the revenue earned from the transportation of goods on scheduled services. Exclude taxes such as the Goods and Services Tax (GST), Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) or Provincial Sales Tax (PST).

Charter Services, Revenue Operating Statistics, Annual - Statement 12 (III)

Charter services - operating statistics

Include fixed wing and helicopter services.

Sector of operation

Refers to the regions where carriers provide transportation services. There are three breakdowns – domestic, transborder (Canada-US) and other international.

Domestic

Includes operations between points in Canada.

Transborder (Canada-US)

Includes operations between points in Canada and points in the United States (including Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico).

Other international

Includes all other operations (including between points outside of Canada).

Data reported must include both fixed wing and helicopter services, where:

Fixed wing

Means a power-driven, heavier-than-air aircraft, deriving its lift in flight chiefly from aerodynamic reactions on surfaces which remain fixed. An aircraft having wings fixed to the airplane fuselage and outspread in flight – that is non-rotating wings.

Helicopter

Means a rotary wing, heavier-than-air aircraft, supported in flight chiefly by the reactions of the air on one or more power-driven rotors on substantially vertical axes. A helicopter does not have conventional fixed wings, nor is it provided with a conventional propeller for forward thrust.

Charter services

Transportation of passengers or goods, or both, by aircraft pursuant to a contract under which a person, other than the air carrier that operates the air service, or its agent, reserves a block of seats or part of the cargo space of an aircraft for the person's use or for resale to the public.

Include air ambulance service and the movement of people and goods to logging or heli-logging sites.

Exclude firefighting and heli-logging activities and the movement of people and goods to a firefighting site. (A complete list of activities which are specialty and therefore not subject to filing requirements as charter can be found in the Transport Canada document entitled Starting a Commercial Air Service.)

Enplaned passengers

Refers to revenue passengers1 who board aircraft and surrender one or more flight coupons or other documents good for transportation over the itinerary specified in these coupons or documents.

1Revenue passengers correspond to passengers for which an air carrier receives remuneration and who are travelling with tickets purchased (a) under a publicly available promotional offer; (b) through a loyalty program or through the redemption of loyalty points or miles; (c) with a corporate discount or at a preferential fare; or obtained (d) as compensation for denied boarding. It excludes (a) passengers travelling for free, at a fare available only to persons who are employees or agents of an air carrier or are travelling on the business of an air carrier; and (b) persons, such as infants, who do not occupy seats.

Passenger-kilometres

Represents the carriage of one revenue passenger on each flight stage multiplied by the number of kilometres flown on that stage. Passenger-kilometres are obtained by totalling the number of kilometres flown by all passengers.

Let's take an example with two flight stages, where:

Flight stage A to B

Number of passengers = 5

Distance between points (km) = 161

Passenger-kilometres = 805

Flight stage B to C

Number of passengers = 4

Distance between points (km) = 322

Passenger-kilometres = 1,288

The total number of passenger-kilometres for the flights covering A to B and B to C is 2,093.

Conversion factor

To convert nautical miles (6 080 feet) into kilometres (km), multiply by 1.852.

To convert statute miles (5 280 feet) into kilometres (km), multiply by 1.609344.

Hours flown

Represents the block hours, in other words, the number of hours which elapsed between the time the aircraft started to move to commence a flight and the time the aircraft came to its final stop after the conclusion of a flight. Report the total number of block hours flown to the nearest hour.

Enplaned goods

Refers to all types of non-passenger traffic. It includes priority freight, freight, mail and excess baggage for which revenue is obtained. Enplaned goods should be reported to the nearest kilogram.

Conversion factor

To convert pounds (lbs.) into kilograms (kg), multiply by 0.453592.

Goods tonne-kilometres

Represents the carriage of one tonne of goods on each flight stage multiplied by the number of kilometres flown on that stage. Goods tonne-kilometres are obtained by totalling the number of kilometres flown with all tonnes of goods.

Let's take an example with two flight stages, where:

Flight stage A to B

Tonnes of goods = 5

Distance between points (km) = 161

Goods tonne-kilometres = 805

Flight stage B to C

Tonnes of goods = 4

Distance between points (km) = 322

Goods tonne-kilometres = 1,288

The total number of goods tonne-kilometres for the flights covering A to B and B to C is 2,093.

Conversion factor

To convert nautical miles (6 080 feet) into kilometres (km), multiply by 1.852.

To convert statute miles (5 280 feet) into kilometres (km), multiply by 1.609344.

Charter services - revenue

Include fixed wing and helicopter services.

Passenger revenue

Refers to the revenue earned from the transportation of passengers on charter services. Include revenue from all surcharges (baggage, fuel, seat selection, and so on) that are retained by the air carrier. Exclude amounts such as taxes, navigation fees, security fees, and so on that are collected but passed on to other entities.

Goods revenue

Refers to the revenue earned from the transportation of goods on charter services. Exclude taxes such as the Goods and Services Tax (GST), Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) or Provincial Sales Tax (PST).