The following provides information to assist in completing the Annual Survey of End Use of Refined Petroleum Products.

The end use categories requested in this questionnaire have been established to correlate as close as possible with the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS).

Definitions

The following definitions relate to the categories listed on the questionnaire:

Total Net Sales, All Categories

Report sales in Canada, less sales to other refinery-owning enterprises (see list of other reporting companies on questionnaire), and less exports (either direct or known for export). The quantities reported on this row must be broken down by province between the different end-use categories for refined petroleum products.

Iron Mines

Include all sales to establishments primarily engaged in mining, beneficiating or otherwise preparing iron ores. NAICS code 21221. Exclude any offsite transportation fuel use, which should be included in road transport.

Oil and Gas Extraction

Include all sales to establishments primarily engaged in exploration of and/or production of crude oil and natural gas, whether by conventional or non-conventional methods. Also include establishments primarily engaged in contract drilling operations for oil and gas as well as services incidental to oil and gas extraction. NAICS codes 211 and 213. Exclude any offsite transportation fuel use, which should be included in road transport.

Other Mining

Include all sales to establishments primarily engaged in mining activities other than iron mines. This category includes metal mines (excluding iron mines), non-metal mines, coal mines, stone quarries, and sand and gravel pits. NAICS code 212 excluding 21221. Exclude any offsite transportation fuel use, which should be included in road transport.

Food, Beverage, Tobacco Manufacturing

Include all sales to establishments primarily engaged in manufacturing and processing food products (NAICS code 311), Beverage and Tobacco Manufacturing (NAICS code 312). These establishments typically sell to wholesalers or retailers, for distribution to consumers. NAICS codes 311 and 312. Exclude any offsite transportation fuel use, which should be included in road transport.

Paper Manufacturing

Include all sales to establishments primarily engaged in manufacturing pulp, paper and paper products. NAICS code 322. Exclude any offsite transportation fuel use, which should be included in road transport.

Iron and Steel Manufacturing

Include all sales to establishments primarily engaged in operating blast furnaces, casting mills, rolling mills or coke oven operated in association with blast furnaces including ferrous metal foundries. NAICS codes 3311, 3312 and 33151. Exclude any offsite transportation fuel use that should be included in road transport.

Aluminium and Non-Ferrous Metal Manufacturing

Include all sales to establishments primarily engaged in the production of aluminium and in the refining of non-ferrous metals and including non-ferrous metal foundries. NAICS codes 3313, 3314 and 33152. Exclude any offsite transportation fuel use, which should be included in road transport.

Cement Manufacturing

Include all sales to establishments primarily engaged in the manufacturing of cement, NAICS code 32731. Do not include ready mix concrete operations which should be placed in "other manufacturing". Exclude any offsite transportation fuel use, which should be included in road transport.

Petroleum and Coal Products Manufacturing

Include all sales to establishments primarily engaged in the manufacturing of a group of refined petroleum products including fuels, blended oils and greases. NAICS code 324. Exclude any offsite transportation fuel use, which should be included in road transport.

Chemical and Fertilizer Manufacturing

Include all sales to establishments primarily engaged in manufacturing industrial organic and inorganic chemicals and chemical fertilizers. NAICS codes 3251 and 3253. Exclude any offsite transportation fuel use, which should be included in road transport.

Other Manufacturing

Include all sales to manufacturing establishments not covered above. This category comprises establishments which are primarily engaged in the following manufacturing activities:

This category comprises establishments which are primarily engaged in the following manufacturing activities and the NAICS codes

	NAICS Codes
Textile Mills	313
Textile Product Mills	314
Clothing Manufacturing	315
Leather and Allied Product Manufacturing	316
Wood Product Manufacturing	321
Printing and Related Support Activities	323
Resin, Synthetic Rubber and Artificial and Synthetic Fibers and Filaments Manufacturing	3252
Pharmaceutical and Medicine Manufacturing	3254
Paint, Coating and Adhesive Manufacturing	3255
Soap, Cleansing Compound and Toilet Preparation Mfg.	3256
Other Chemical Product Manufacturing	3259
Plastics and Rubber Products Manufacturing	326
Non-Metallic Mineral Product Manufacturing - (excluding Cement Manufacturing - 32731)	327
Fabricated Metal Product Manufacturing	332
Machinery Manufacturing	333
Computer and Electronic Product Manufacturing	334
Electrical Equipment, Appliance and Component Mfg.	335
Transportation Equipment Manufacturing	336
Furniture and Related Product Manufacturing	337
Miscellaneous Manufacturing	339

Exclude any offsite transportation fuel use, which should be included in road transport.

Total Manufacturing

Add up the provincial data for all manufacturing sectors. Do not include mining.

Forestry, Logging and Support Activities

Include all sales to establishments primarily engaged in forestry and logging services. NAICS codes 113 and 1153. Exclude any offsite transportation fuel use, which should be included in road transport.

Agriculture, Fishing, Hunting, and Trapping

Include all sales to establishments with land holdings primarily engaged in agricultural, fishing, hunting and trapping activity. In addition, include establishments primarily engaged in providing support activities; included are activities such as mushroom growing, greenhouses and nurseries, harvesting of fish and other wild animals, game retreats and hunting preserves. NAICS codes 111, 112, 114  and 115 (excluding 1153). Exclude any offsite transportation fuel, which should be included in road transport.

Construction

Include all sales to establishments primarily engaged in the construction of buildings, highways, dams etc., and those providing services to the construction industry. Also include special trade contractors primarily engaged in construction work in such specialties as plumbing, carpentry, painting, roofing, etc. NAICS code 23. Exclude any offsite transportation fuel use, which should be included in road transport.

Public Administration

Include all sales to establishments of federal, provincial and municipal governments primarily engaged in activities associated with public administration. This includes establishments such as the Federal Public Service, the Department of National Defense, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and provincial and local administrations. NAICS code 91. Exclude any offsite transportation fuel use, which should be included in road transport.

Electric Power Generation and Distribution

Include all sales to establishments primarily engaged in the generation of electric power. NAICS code 22111. Municipal utilities engaged in the distribution of electricity should be reported under - "Other Commercial and Institutional Sales". Exclude any offsite transportation fuel use, which should be included in road transportation.

Railway Transportation

Include all sales to establishments primarily engaged in operating railways (i.e. establishments primarily engaged in the operation of long haul or mainline railways, short-haul railways and passenger railways are included). NAICS codes 482 and 4882. Fuels used for heating and cooling buildings and offices should be reported under "Other Commercial and Institutional Sales".

Air Transportation – Sales to Canadian Airlines

Include all sales to establishments primarily engaged in for-hire, common-carrier transportation of people and/or goods using aircraft, such as airplanes and helicopters. NAICS codes 481 and 4881. Fuels used for heating and cooling buildings and offices should be reported under "Other Commercial and Institutional Sales".

Air Transportation – Sales to Foreign Airlines

Include all sales to establishments primarily engaged in for-hire, common-carrier transportation of people and/or goods using aircraft, such as airplanes and helicopters. NAICS codes 481 and 4881. Fuels used for heating and cooling buildings and offices should be reported under "Other Commercial and Institutional Sales".

Road Transportation and Support Activities

Include all sales to establishments primarily engaged in the truck transportation of goods, transit and ground passenger transportation (urban transit systems, interurban and rural bus transportation, taxi and limousine services, school and employee bus transportation, charter bus industry, limousine service to airports and stations, shuttle services and special needs transportation), scenic and sightseeing transportation, and support activities for road transportation. NAICS codes 484, 485, 4871, 4879, 4884, 4885 and 4889. Fuels used for heating and cooling buildings and offices should be reported under "Other Commercial and Institutional Sales".

Marine Transportation – Sales to Canadian Marine Companies

Include all sales made in Canada to establishments primarily engaged in the water transportation of passengers and goods, using equipment designed for those purposes and provided by ships of Canadian registry (flag). In addition, include all sales made to establishments primarily engaged in commercial fishing. NAICS codes 483, 4872, 4883 and 1141. Fuels used for heating and cooling buildings and offices should be reported under "Other Commercial and Institutional Sales".

Marine Transportation – Sales to Foreign Marine Companies

Include all sales made in Canada to establishments primarily engaged in the water transportation of passengers and goods, using equipment designed for those purposes and provided by ships of foreign registry (flag). NAICS codes 483, 4872 and 4883. Fuels used for heating and cooling buildings and offices should be reported under "Other Commercial and Institutional Sales".

Pipeline Transportation and Natural Gas disposition

Include all sales to establishments primarily engaged in operating pipelines for the transport of natural gas, crude oil and other products. NAICS code 486. Establishments engaged in the distribution of natural gas through a system of mains should be reported under "Other Commercial and Institutional Sales."

Gasoline Stations

Include all sales to establishments engaged in retailing motor fuels by means of retail pumps, irrespective of the type of ownership or operation. Establishments that operate gasoline stations on behalf of their owners and receive a commission on the sales of fuels are also included. NAICS 4571. Fuels used for heating and cooling the retail outlet should be reported under "Other Commercial and Institutional Sales".

Other Commercial and Institutional Sales

Include all sales to final customers other than residential customers (as defined below), and those activities specifically listed above. The category comprises establishments that are primarily engaged in the following activities:

Other Commercial and Institutional Sales and the NAICS codes

	NAICS Codes
Water, Sewage and Other Systems	2213
Electric Power Transmission and Distribution	22112
Natural Gas Distribution	2212
Wholesale Trade	41 except 412
Retail Trade	44 and 45 except 457
Postal Service	491
Couriers and Messengers	492
Warehousing and Storage	493
Information and Cultural Industries	51
Finance and Insurance	52
Real Estate and Rental and Leasing	53
Professional, Scientific and Technical Services	54
Management of Companies and Enterprises	55
Administrative and Support, Waste Management and Remediation Services	56
Educational Services.	61
Health Care and Social Assistance	62
Arts, Entertainment and Recreation	71
Accommodation and Food Services	72
Other Services (except Public Administration)	81

Exclude any offsite transportation fuel use, which should be included in road transport.

Secondary Distributors

Include all sales to companies who resell fuels in bulk to others within Canada. NAICS 412 and NAICS 4572.

Residential Sales

Include all sales destined to be used in personal residences including single family residences and apartments. Include apartment hotels, and condominiums.

I. Introduction

The main objective of this survey is to obtain detailed revenue and expenditure data on each college and vocational school in Canada. Coupled with what is already available for the university sector, this gathering of data will provide a complete picture of the financial statistics of postsecondary education as well as vocational training in Canada.

The following notes provide the principles, definitions and guidelines necessary for the completion of the data form. Since it is desirable to obtain figures as comparable as possible from one institution to another, each respondent is requested to:

• provide accompanying notes of explanation in the observations and comments section of the submission for figures that do not follow the guidelines;
• provide comments on items which are excluded from the data, such as cases where provinces are making contributions to repay debt on behalf of an institution or material gifts received as donated service along with their estimated market value;
• estimates should be made whenever possible if income and expenditure figures are not readily available in the required format from the financial records of the institution. When estimates are made they should be indicated with an asterisk (*).

II. Submission

The final deadline for the submission is indicated in the covering letter. The completed questionnaire(s) should be returned in the self-addressed envelope provided.

A copy of the institution's Audited Financial Statements is also requested with your submission. If a copy is not available, please advise Statistics Canada as to the date on which they will be forwarded.

III. Coverage

With the exception of private institutions that only offer courses at the trade and vocational level, the survey covers all private and public non-degree granting institutions that offer educational programs at the postsecondary level and/or at the trade and vocational level. For statistical purposes, institutions are classified as follows:

1. Colleges/Institutes/Polytechnics

   Included in this classification are the colleges of applied arts and technology (CAAT’s) in Ontario, general and vocational colleges (CEGEP’s) in Quebec, institutes of technology and any other institutions providing education in fields such as paramedical technologies, nursing, agriculture, forestry, nautical sciences, etc..  These institutions offer programs at the postsecondary level, and may offer trade-vocational level programs.

2. Vocational Schools

   This classification includes Community Colleges in Saskatchewan and Vocational Centres in Alberta, government training schools, vocational training centres and any other institution offering programs at the trade-vocational level only.

3. Training in hospitals

   Included in this classification are educational centres located in hospitals, which offer educational or training programs, independently of the community college system, in nursing, radiotherapy, radiography, medical technology, etc..

   To ensure full coverage, it is important that each reporting officer indicates on section 2 of the questionnaire the affiliated campuses included in and/or excluded from the submission.

IV. Confidentiality

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.

V. Authorization to Release

In order for Statistics Canada to release the information provided an 'Authorization to release' form must be signed. The form provided authorizes Statistics Canada to release the information in aggregation to the provincial/territorial level only.

VI. Principles of Reporting

1. Accrual Concept

For the purpose of this survey, the revenue and expenditure data should be reported on an accrual basis. That is, all revenues and expenditures should be reflected in the period in which they are considered to have been earned and incurred respectively. For example, major adjustments, such as retroactive salary and their related benefit costs, should be reported on that basis.

2. Total Income and Expenditures

All income and expenditures of the institution are to be reported. In this regard particular attention should be paid to the following:

• when an institution is provincially governed or consists of a branch of a department, all costs related to the operation, maintenance and administration of the institution are to be reported; the actual funds used to finance those expenditures should be shown as a provincial source of funds;
• consultations may be required with the institution's research department to obtain detailed breakdowns of income sources and expenses related to sponsored research;
• capital expenditures, as well as related revenues, that are financed by a government Department or Ministry other than the one responsible for the institution must be included in this report; the reporting officer is responsible for obtaining and providing this information;
• the figures reported should not include income or expenditures for the purpose of creating or eliminating an appropriation; however, any actual income or expenditure transaction recorded directly in reserve accounts should be included in the figures reported; this also applies to other assets and liability accounts; provisions for replacement of assets are considered to be transfers to reserve or appropriation accounts and should not be reported as expenses;
• receipts and expenses relating to special purpose, trust and other funds of the institution should, as well, be included in the report.

3. Ancillary Enterprises

An ancillary enterprise is an entity that exists to furnish goods and services to students, staff or others, and that charges a fee directly related to, although not necessarily equal to, the cost of the goods or services. To reflect properly the full cost of these enterprises, you should report their total gross revenues and total gross expenditures in the appropriate cells in the Schedule 1 and Schedule 2A. In addition, a breakdown by type of ancillary enterprises (bookstores, food services, residences, parking) must be completed on the Supporting Schedule A.

4. Reporting of Income

When reporting the sources of funds in the operating, sponsored research and capital income in Schedule 1, it is important to show the revenues under the headings that correspond to the immediate source of funds for the institution. For example, if an institution offers training courses for which Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) purchases seats, then the amount of money paid by ESDC should be shown under "Federal" only if the money is received directly by the institution. If the money is received by a third party (provincial government) and then transferred to the institution, then the direct source of funds is the "Provincial Government".

VII. Definitions

1. Program Cost Groups

This section defines the program cost groups to be used in the reporting of direct instruction expenditures on Schedule 2B of the questionnaire.

The criteria used to define the various program cost groups originates from those used in other surveys conducted by Statistics Canada and also from analysis of different educational systems across Canada. Note that these statistical definitions may not correspond identically to other existing definitions used by other organizations or governments.

a) Postsecondary Programs

This program cost group includes all direct expenditures incurred in providing instruction to students enrolled FULL-TIME or PART-TIME in postsecondary programs offered by Colleges/Institutes (see section III). These programs are of two kinds: university transfer programs and semi-professional career programs.

b) Trade and Vocational Programs

This program cost group includes all direct expenditures incurred in providing instruction (or training) to students (or trainees) enrolled FULL-TIME in vocational programs at the trade level for credit towards a recognized standing of proficiency or certification. Also included are direct expenditures related to students enrolled in academic upgrading programs for entry into a vocational program. Such students normally attend regular day classes in provincial trade schools, trade or industrial divisions of community colleges, adult vocational centres and other similar schools. These programs or courses prepare the student (trainee) for an occupational role below the professional or semi-professional level. A period of less than one year is normally sufficient to complete courses at this level. For less complex occupations, a program may last only a matter of weeks. Completion of grade 9 or 10 is usually required for entrance to these courses.

Included are, for example, pre-employment programs, language, skill or academic upgrading programs, refresher courses, apprenticeship programs, training on the job or training in-industry programs associated with educational institution, nursing assistant, etc..

c) Continuing Education Programs

This program cost group includes all direct expenditures incurred in providing instruction to students enrolled PART-TIME in courses, mostly in the evening, offered under the auspices of subsidiary divisions of schools designated by various names such as Division of Continuing Education, Adult Education Division and so on. Excluded are activities which have no sustained instruction or educational purpose such as recreational activities, presentations in the performing arts, art exhibitions and displays, debates fairs, conferences or conventions of clubs or associations.

Included are, for example, courses such as pre-employment programs, language, skill or academic upgrading programs, refresher, professional development, general interest, etc., which are offered on a PART-TIME basis.

2. Funds

a) Operating

This fund accounts for the cost of credit and non-credit instruction, non-sponsored research, academic support services, administration, plant maintenance and other operating expenses of the institution financed by fees, grants and other operating income. This fund will normally include all revenues and expenses regarding materials, supplies or services that are consumed within the year and which the institution considers to be operating, within the functional operating areas referred to in section 3 below.

b) Sponsored Research

Sponsored Research is a restricted fund that accounts for income and expenditures for all sponsored research as well as Research and Development (R&D). For an activity to qualify as R&D, there must be an appreciable element of novelty. Income is to be reported following the funds flow approach.

Sponsored Research covers the following activities:

Basic Research is any experimental or theoretical work undertaken primarily to acquire new knowledge of the underlying foundation of phenomena and observed facts, without any particular application or use in view;

Applied Research is the original investigation undertaken to acquire new knowledge, and directed primarily towards a specific practical objective;

Experimental Development is systematic work drawing on existing knowledge gained from research and/or practical experience that is directed to producing new materials, products or devices, installing new processes, systems and services, or improving those already installed.

The following activities should not be counted as R&D:

• all education and training of personnel; however, research by graduates and postgraduate students should be counted;
• scientific and technical information services such as collecting, coding, recording, classifying, analyzing, disseminating, translating, and evaluating, except where conducted solely or primarily for R&D support;
• routine testing of materials, components, products, processes, soils, etc.;
• maintenance of national standards;
• administrative and legal work connected with patents and licenses;
• investigations of proposed engineering projects using existing techniques; however feasibility studies on research projects are part of R&D;
• policy-related studies at the national, regional and local levels, as well as those of business enterprises in pursuit of economic activity;
• routine software development, computer maintenance, quality assurance, routine data collection, and market research;
• the many steps other than R&D necessary for the development and marketing of a manufactured product;
• the raising, management, and distribution of R&D funds; and
• routine investigation and normal application of specialized medical knowledge.

Sponsored Research accounts for the institution's income paid in the form of a contract (legally enforceable arrangements under which the institution, or an individual within the institution, agrees to undertake a research project, using the institution's facilities and/or personnel, for a sponsor that provide funds to meet all or part of the costs of the project) or a grant (unconditional payment for which service is not necessarily expected) from a source external to the institution.

Income sources include government, private industry and donors. Income may also include investment income, if the corresponding expenditures are reported in Sponsored Research.

Expenditures include activity funded from Sponsored Research income and exclude activity funded from the General Operating fund. It also includes the purchase of capital assets, if the corresponding income is reported as Sponsored Research.

c) Capital

The uniform reporting practice in the annual return for capital expenditures is to follow the funds flow approach, rather than to capitalize and amortize. Funds received to acquire capital assets are reported as income in the period in which the funds are received or receivable. Funds used to acquire capital assets are reported as expenditures in the year they take place.

For reporting purposes, capital expenditures are to be reported in the same fund as the corresponding income. Specifically, capital expenditures are only reported in the Capital fund when the corresponding income is reported in the Capital fund.

It is a restricted fund that accounts for resources provided to the institution for capital purposes and not reported in any other fund. Fund income includes grants and related investment income, donations and other resources made available to the institution by external funding sources, such as government and donors, specifically for capital purposes. Fund expenditures include building programs, acquisitions of major equipment and furniture, major renovations and alterations, space rental and buildings, land and land improvements.

Capital expenditures, as well as related revenues, being financed by a Government Department or Ministry other than the one responsible for the institution must be included in this report. The reporting officer should be responsible for obtaining and providing this information.

3. Functions (Schedule 2A)

a) Instruction and non-sponsored research

This includes all direct costs related to credit and non-credit courses, summer courses, extension programs and all other academic functions related to instruction and non-sponsored research such as offices of academic department heads, audio-visual services, laboratories, etc..

b) Library

This includes all the operating costs of the main library as well as the campus libraries, if there are any. All costs of library acquisitions from the Operating fund should be shown under this function.

c) General Administration

This includes costs for activities whose primary function is to provide administrative support for the operation of the institution. It includes the activities of the president's office, vice president, registrar, finance, personnel, public relations, secretariats, etc.. It also includes expenditures on convocations, ceremonies, legal and audit fees, long distance phone calls, the internal portion of debt repayments and costs for computing facilities.

d) Physical Plant

This includes the costs related to physical facilities, such as physical plant offices, maintenance of buildings and grounds, fire insurance, telephone service, security, repairs and furnishing, renovations and alterations, mail delivery service.

e) Student Services

This includes costs for activities whose primary purpose is to assist students in their educational or employment pursuits and which are outside of, but supplemental to, the instruction of academic programs. It includes the costs of: counselling, placement, health services, athletics (not physical education), student accommodation services (not residences), student transportation services, bursaries, scholarships and prizes, student financial aid office, cultural activities, etc..

4. Types of Income

a) Government Grants and Contracts

Lines 1 to 10 include grants from, and contracts with, federal government departments and agencies, provincial/territorial government departments and agencies, and municipal governments.

Government grants provide financial support to institutions and the grants may or may not be restricted.

Government contracts provide financial support to institutions under certain stipulations and conditions, including the provision of a deliverable product, such as a piece of equipment, a service or a report. A contract normally includes provisions for institutions to recover certain indirect or overhead costs, with the contract specifying or documenting the basis for the calculation of the recoverable costs.

Federal

Lines 1 to 6 include all research grants, research contracts, grants and contributions from the Government of Canada and its departments and agencies. Income received from the five major federal government agencies is reported on lines 1 to 5 as applicable.

The line items under "Federal" are as follows:

Provincial/Territorial

Lines 7 to 9 include income from provincial government departments and agencies. For example, Provincial/Territorial CFI matching grants, Provincial/Territorial CFI matching income (line 8) from the Ministry responsible for the institution is reported under the Sponsored Research fund.

In the case of a provincially/territorially administered institution, direct provincial funding is to be included here.

Municipal

Examples of income to be reported on this line include grants from urban transit, communication and parking authorities.

b) Fees

This includes all mandatory student fees for credit and non-credit courses (with the exception of residence fees, parking fees and other similar fees which should be reported under 'ancillary enterprises - gross') paid by, or on behalf of all FULL-TIME and PART-TIME students.

All other fees charged to students such as laboratory fees, transcript, late registration, application, athletic fees, etc., are to be reported under the heading 'other'.

Normally, whenever revenues from fees are reported in Schedule 1 under specific program(s), related expenditures should be reported for the corresponding program(s) in Schedule 2B.

Note: Fees that are "flow through" (such as student activity fees collected for the students' council, etc.) should not be reported as college revenue.

c) Bequests, Donations, Non-Government Grants

This includes receipts from business, industry, foundations, individuals and religious organizations, as well as the value of services donated by various organizations.

d) Investment Income

This includes income from all investments such as dividends, bonds, mortgages, short-term notes and bank interest. Realized gains (or losses) should also be included if they are treated as income in the operating and/or capital funds.

e) Ancillary Enterprises (gross)

This includes total revenues from all ancillary enterprises such as residence or parking fees, and sales of services and products from bookstores, food services (dining hall, cafeterias and vending machines), publishing, laundry services, etc..

It should also be noted that the reporting officer is asked to report, on Supporting Schedule A, a breakdown of total income for the institution's ancillary enterprises.

f) Borrowings

This includes only those borrowings which are used to finance expenditures when repayment is to be made by the institution. Note that borrowings should be reported on an accrual basis.

g) Miscellaneous

This includes net income from rentals (other than ancillary enterprises), library fines and fines for other similar charges, and any income not reported elsewhere.

h) Interfund Transfers

When income from one fund is used to finance expenditures in another fund, report the amount as an interfund transfer. Total interfund transfers must net to zero.

5. Types of Expenditures

a) Salaries and Wages

Salaries and wages (excluding fringe benefits) as well as payments for leave of absence, shown under the appropriate functions and programs, are to be broken down into the following two categories:

b) Fringe Benefits

This includes the institution's contribution (in respect of all salaries and wages) to pensions, group life insurance, workmen's compensation, unemployment insurance, Canada pension, salary contribution insurance, long term disability insurance and other similar benefits. Also include staff development costs paid for by the institution.

c) Library Acquisitions

This includes all purchases of books, periodicals, audio/visual material and other reference material for the library. Costs of binding may also be included if normally considered part of the acquisition costs.

d) Operational Supplies and Expenses

This includes all expenditures for supplies which are normally consumed in the fiscal year, including postage, teaching supplies, photocopying, publications, long distance telephone charges, repair materials, all supplies to operate laboratories, etc..

e) Utilities

This includes all expenditures for fuel, electricity, water, gas, telephone equipment rental, etc..

f) Furniture and Equipment

This includes all expenses for furniture and equipment, such as laboratory equipment (other than consumables), administrative equipment and furnishings, copying and duplicating equipment, computing equipment maintenance equipment, etc.. Rental and maintenance costs as well as other related operating expenses should be shown under the appropriate operational function. Costs for replacing or acquiring new furniture and equipment should be reported under the capital fund.

g) Scholarships and Other Related Students Support

This includes all payments to students including scholarships, bursaries, prizes, fee remissions, gifts, etc..

h) Fees and Contracted Services

This includes all expenses for services contracted to external agencies (except for renovations, alterations and major repairs). Examples would be cleaning contracts, security services, snow removal, etc.. Also included are fees paid to legal counsellors (including retainers for negotiations of collective contracts), auditors’ fees, consultant’s fees, etc..

i) Debt Services

This includes all payments made to service debts of the institution such as bank interest, mortgage or debenture interest payments, and related charges. Principal payments on loans, mortgages, debentures or repayable grants should be excluded.

j) Buildings

This includes all capital expenditures which are normally considered part of construction costs, except for furniture and equipment as well as land and site services which are to be reported under their respective item. Costs for space rental, building insurances, taxes, minor renovations and alterations on buildings, and all other related operating expenses should be shown under the Physical Plant operational function. Depreciation is not to be included as an expenditure.

k) Land and Site Services

This includes capital expenditures on acquisitions of and improvements to land such as landscaping, sewers, tunnels, roads, etc.. Capitalized professional fees and planning costs related to this category are also to be included. Rental, maintenance and insurance costs as well as other related operating expenses for this item should be shown under the Physical Plant operational function.

l) Miscellaneous

This is to be used when the institution has an operating or capital expenditure not classified in the other categories.

m) Transfers To/From

This item is used for internal transfers of costs between funds or functions whenever it is not feasible to directly adjust the appropriate expenditure items.

The total internal transfers of costs should net to zero.

n) Ancillary Enterprises (gross)

Includes all gross expenditures incurred in the operating of ancillary enterprises (see section 4 (e) above).

It should be noted that the reporting officer is asked to report, on the Supporting Schedule A, a breakdown of total expenditures for the institution's ancillary enterprises.

VIII. Supporting Schedule A

Additional information is to be provided in this section for the total revenue and expenditures of institutional ancillary enterprises (bookstores, residences, food services and parking).

IX. Suggestions

Statistics Canada would welcome any suggestions made to improve this survey.

Canadian Centre for Education Statistics

This information is collected under the authority of the Statistics Act, Revised Statutes of Canada, 1985, Chapter S19.

Confidential when completed

Voluntary survey

Although your participation in this survey is voluntary, your cooperation is important so that the information collected will be as accurate and complete as possible.

Survey purpose

Results from this survey allow users a better understanding of the financial position (income and expenditures) of all community colleges and public vocational schools in Canada. Your information may also be used by Statistics Canada for other statistical and research purposes.

Confidentiality

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 the information from this survey for statistical purposes.

Financial Year Ending: Day, Month, Year (2025)

Identification of the institution

• Name of institution
• Address (number and street)
• City
• Province
• Postal code
• Check the appropriate boxes
  • Type
    • Public
    • Private
  • Governing authority
    • Province or territory
    • Board

Identification of the reporting officer

• Name and title of reporting officer
• Address (number and street)
• City
• Province
• Postal code
• Email address
• Telephone number
• Fax number
• Signature of the reporting officer
• Day, Month, Year

Does your institution offer courses at the elementary-secondary level, other than those academic upgrading courses such as Adult Basic Education which should be reported in this questionnaire?

• Yes
• No

If yes, please exclude revenues and expenditures relating to that level of education.

Instructions

1. Please read the guidelines carefully.
2. All amounts should be expressed in thousands of dollars ($'000).
3. Indicate estimated amounts with an asterisk (*).

Affiliated institutions or campuses included in this report

Affiliated institutions or campuses partially included in this report

Affiliated institutions or campuses excluded from this report

Schedule 1 – Operating, Sponsored Research and Capital Income
Table summary
This is an empty data table used by respondents to provide data to Statistics Canada. This table contains no data.

Types	Funds
	Operating ($'000)	Sponsored Research ($'000)	Capital ($'000)	Total ($'000)
Government Grants and Contracts
FederalSchedule 1 footnote *
1. Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC)
2. Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI)
3. Canadian Institutes of Health Research
4. Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
5. Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council
6. Other federal
Provincial
7. Regular Grants
8. CFI Matching Fund
9. Other
10. Municipal
Fees
11. Postsecondary Programs
12. Trade Vocational Programs
13. Continuing Education Programs
14. Other
Bequests, Donations, Non-Government Grants
15. Business Enterprises and Individuals
16. Non-profit Organizations and Foundations
17. Sub-total
18. Investment Income
19. Ancillary Enterprises (Gross)Schedule 1 footnote **
20. Borrowings
21. Miscellaneous
22. Interfund TransfersSchedule 1 footnote ***
23. Total Income
Schedule 1 footnote * As highlighted in Section VI.4 in the Guidelines, amounts reported here should relate only to payments received directly by the institution. Return to Schedule 1 footnote * referrer Schedule 1 footnote ** Total should correspond with figures reported in the supporting schedule A. Return to Schedule 1 footnote ** referrer Schedule 1 footnote *** Total interfund transfers must equal to zero. Return to Schedule 1 footnote *** referrer

Schedule 2A – Operating, Sponsored Research and Capital Expenditures by Function and by Type
Table Summary
This is an empty data table used by respondents to provide data to Statistics Canada. This table contains no data.

Types of Expenditures	Functions
	Operating						Sponsored Research ($'000)	Capital ($'000)	Total ($'000)
	Instruction and non-sponsored researchSchedule 2A footnote * ($'000)	Library ($'000)	General Administration ($'000)	Physical Plant ($'000)	Student Services ($'000)	Total Operating ($'000)
Salaries and Wages
1. Teachers
2. Other
3. Fringe Benefits
4. Library Acquisitions
5. Operational Supplies and Expenses
6. Utilities
7. Furniture and Equipment
8. Scholarships and Other Related Students Support
9. Fees and Contracted Services
10. Debt Services
11. Buildings
12. Land and Site Services
13. Miscellaneous
14. Transfers to/from
15. Ancillary Enterprises (Gross)Schedule 2 footnote ***
16. Total Expenditures
Schedule 2A footnote * The figures in this column should be identical to the appropriate ones in column 5 (column total), schedule 2B. Return to Schedule 2A footnote * referrer Schedule 2A footnote ** Total should correspond with figures reported in the supporting schedule A. Return to Schedule 2A footnote ** referrer

Schedule 2B – Direct Instruction Expenditures by Program Cost Groups
Table Summary
This is an empty data table used by respondents to provide data to Statistics Canada. This table contains no data.

Types of Expenditures	Programs
	Postsecondary Programs		Trade and Vocational Programs ($'000)	Continuing Education Programs ($'000)	TotalSchedule 2B footnote * ($'000)
	University Transfer ($'000)	Career ($'000)
Salaries and Wages
1. Teachers
2. Other
3. Fringe Benefits
4. Operational Supplies and Expenses
5. Furniture and Equipment
6. Fees and Contracted Services
7. Miscellaneous
8. Transfers to/from
9. Total Instruction Expenditures
Schedule 2B footnote * The figures in this column should be identical to the appropriate ones in column 1 (column instruction and non-sponsored research), schedule 2A. Return to Schedule 2B footnote * referrer

Supporting Schedule A – Ancillary Enterprises
Table Summary
This is an empty data table used by respondents to provide data to Statistics Canada. This table contains no data.

	Total Income		Total Expenditures
	Operating ($'000)	Capital ($'000)	Operating ($'000)	Capital ($'000)
Bookstores
Food Services
Residences
Parking
Other
TotalSchedule A footnote *
Schedule A footnote * Total should correspond with figures reported in schedules 1 and 2A. Return to Schedule A footnote * referrer

Observations and Comments
Table Summary
This is an empty data table used by respondents to give their observations and comments. This table contains no data.

Description (Fund, Function, Type of Income, Expenditure)	Comments

As part of the redesign of Frontier Counts, the following changes have been introduced:

• Ports of entry align more closely with the Directory of Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) Offices and Services. Historical data was revised.
• Countries align with the Variant of the Standard Classification of Countries and Areas of Interest 2019 for Travel Statistics. Historical data was revised.
• Vehicle type for residents of countries other than Canada or the United States of America entering by land is available for all data sources. Prior to 2017, it was not available and from 2017-2021, it was available for only one data source.
• All ferry travellers are included in the water mode, in order to align with UN Tourism recommendations. Prior to 2022, most of these travellers were included in the land mode as either pedestrian or automobile travellers (the only exception was Fortune, in Newfoundland and Labrador).
• The maximum number of passengers allowed in an automobile before it is reclassified as a bus is 8, in order to align with UN Tourism recommendations. Prior to 2022, the maximum was 10.
• There are separate series for motorcycles and "other land vehicles". Prior to 2022, the series for motorcycles also contained "other land vehicles".
• An "other land vehicle" is no longer reclassified as an automobile or a bus based on the number of passengers. Prior to 2022, it was reclassified as an automobile if there were more than 4 passengers and as a bus if there were more than 10 passengers.
• If residents of countries other than Canada or the United States of America entering by air or water are recorded by CBSA as same-day, they will be published as excursionists (same-day visitors). Prior to 2022, they were reclassified as tourists (overnight visitors).
• If Canadian residents returning from countries other than the United States of America are recorded as same-day, they will be published as excursionists (same-day visitors). Prior to 2022, they were reclassified as tourists (overnight visitors).
• Travellers from Primary Inspection Kiosks (PIK) who declare their purpose of trip as "work" are classified as "other travellers" (not as visitors), in order to align with UN Tourism recommendations. Prior to 2022, they were considered as visitors.
• Non-resident travellers with a trip duration of 365 days or more are considered as "other travellers" (not as visitors). Prior to 2022, they were reclassified as Canadian-resident visitors.
• Crew residing in countries other than Canada or the United States of America entering by land are considered as crew ("other travellers"). Prior to 2022, they were considered tourists (overnight visitors).
• One passenger from each bus record is considered to be the driver (a crew member) and therefore, an "other traveller". Prior to 2022, there were no crew recorded from bus travellers.
• Prior to 2022, land immigration data from Citizenship and Immigration Canada were added as "other travellers". Since January 2022, as data from CBSA already include persons immigrating to Canada by land, only data from CBSA is retained to avoid overestimating the number of arrivals in Canada. However, these travellers are counted as visitors as the CBSA does not specifically identify them as immigrants in the data that is shared with Statistics Canada.
• Length of stay for vehicles is no longer published, as the data were mostly imputed and it is not a widely-used or well-established tourism concept. Historical data was revised.
• Trip duration for cruise ships is now collected, which provides data on same-day and overnight visitors. Prior to 2022, trip duration was imputed.

Information for respondents

Authority to publish

Section 17 of the Statistics Act allows for the disclosure of certain information relating to an organization. For this survey, Statistics Canada will release the names of federal departments and agencies whose science and technology (S&T) expenditures surpass 2% of the total federal S&T expenditures for the 2025/2026 reference year. This applies to departments that previously authorized publication in the 2024/2025 collection cycle. For each of these departments, data on expenditures and personnel will be published.

Respondent Information:

• Name of person who approved the data reported
• Signature
• Official position
• Program
• Department or agency
• E-mail address
• Telephone number

Enquiries to be directed to:

• Name
• Date
• Position title
• Telephone number
• Email address
• Fax number

Purpose

This survey collects financial and operating data on expenditures and full-time equivalent personnel on the scientific activities of Federal Government Public Administration in Canada.

Additional information

The data collected are used by federal, territorial and provincial science policy analysts, and are also part of the gross domestic expenditures on research and development (GERD). Your information may also be used by Statistics Canada for other statistical and research purposes.

Authority

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

Completion of this questionnaire is a legal requirement under this Act.

Confidentiality

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 the information from this survey for statistical purposes.

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 and territorial statistical agencies of Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, and the Yukon.

The shared data will be limited to information pertaining to federal departments and agencies located within the jurisdiction of the respective province or territory.

Section 12 of the Statistics Act provides for the sharing of information with federal, provincial or territorial government organizations. Under Section 12, you may refuse to share your information with any of these organizations by writing a letter of objection to the Chief Statistician and returning it with the completed questionnaire. Please specify the organizations with which you do not want to share your data.

For this survey, there are Section 12 agreements with the statistical agencies of Prince Edward Island, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Innovation Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED), as well as the Office of the Chief Science Advisor (OCSA) of ISED.

The shared data will be limited to information pertaining to federal departments and agencies located within the jurisdiction of the respective province or territory.

Record linkage

To enhance the data from this survey and to minimize the reporting burden, Statistics Canada may combine it with information from other surveys or from administrative sources.

Security of emails and faxes

Statistics Canada advises you that there could be a risk of disclosure during the transmission of information by facsimile or e-mail. However, upon receipt, Statistics Canada will provide the guaranteed level of protection afforded all information collected under the authority of the Statistics Act.

Return procedures

Please forward the completed questionnaire and listing of extramural performers through the Electronic File Transfer service (EFT).

For further inquiries:

• Phone Number: toll free at 1-888-659-8229
• Fax number: toll free at 1-800-755-5514
• Email: statcan.fsepsurv-enqdmsf.statcan@statcan.gc.ca

Thank you for your co-operation.

FSEP - Introduction

This introduction is intended to provide an overview of the process of collecting science expenditure data; definitions of and explanatory notes on natural sciences and engineering, social sciences, humanities and the arts, scientific and technological activities, performance sectors, and other terms used are given in subsequent sections.

The collection of science expenditure data is organized by the Centre for Innovation, Technology and Enterprise Statistics (CITES) of Statistics Canada. This exercise was formerly conducted under the aegis of the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat but is now solely a Statistics Canada survey.

Collection is undertaken to gather essential data describing the recent, current and proposed state of the federal resources allocated to science. Federal science expenditures data are provided to Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada who in turn use the data in the development of advice to the Assistant Deputy Ministers' Steering Committee on the Management of S&T, their Minister and the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, as well as in policy development and in monitoring the implementation of science policies. Statistics Canada maintains historical expenditure series in natural sciences and engineering dating back to 1963 and to 1971 in the social sciences, humanities and the arts. These data are available through the Centre for Innovation, Technology and Enterprise Statistics (CITES) or through special requests.

The basic reporting unit is the budgetary program of a department or agency. Each budgetary program forms the subject of separate scientific expenditure reports for the natural and for the social science activities within it. Both the program and the program activities within it may be scientific in whole or in part only. Only expenditures on the scientific components of a program or its activity are reported. In some programs it will be difficult to distinguish between the natural and social sciences. However, some allocation must be made and in determining this allocation, the dominant orientation of the projects and the area of expertise of the personnel involved must be considered. Detailed definitions are given on the following pages.

On the questionnaires, the identified expenditures are looked at from several different viewpoints and in various subdivisions. Expenditures on research and development (R&D) and related scientific activities (RSA) are subdivided to provide an indication of the "what" of a department's scientific effort. Expenditures in each category of scientific activity are further subdivided into "current" and "capital" segments. Current expenditures are additionally subdivided by sector, to indicate the "where" and "by whom" the activity is performed (e.g., in business enterprise, in higher education).

The human resources allocated to scientific activities are summarized in terms of the involved categories of personnel (scientific and professional, technical, etc.) and the principal focus of their efforts (R&D, RSA and, administration of extramural programs).

When completed, checked for consistency with previous reports, entered into the database and totaled along the various dimensions, these data provide snapshots of the federal resources allocated to science, supporting not only the work of central agencies but also the submissions of departments and agencies requesting resources.

Purpose

This survey collects financial and operating data on expenditures and full-time equivalent personnel on the scientific activities of Federal Government Public Administration in Canada.

Question 1: Expenditures by activity and performer

General

The social sciences, humanities and the arts consist of disciplines involving the study of human actions and conditions and the social, economic and institutional mechanisms affecting humans. Included are such disciplines as arts, economics and business, education, history and archaeology, law, language and linguistics, media and communications, philosophy, ethics and religion, psychology and cognitive sciences, social and economic geography, and sociology.

Expenditures by activity and performer

Scientific and technological (S&T) activities can be defined as all systematic activities which are closely concerned with the generation, advancement, dissemination and application of scientific and technology knowledge in all fields of science and technology, that is the natural sciences and engineering, and the social sciences, humanities and the arts.

The central activity is scientific research and experimental development (R&D). In addition there are a number of activities closely related to R&D, and are termed related scientific activities (RSA). Those identified as being appropriate for the federal government in the social sciences, humanities and the arts are: general purpose data collection, information services, special services and studies and education support.

The performer is equivalent to the sector in which the scientific activity is conducted. The basic distinction is between intramural and extramural performance. Extramural payments are classified on the basis of the performance sectors to which they are made. The appropriate extramural performers are business enterprise, higher education, Canadian non-profit institutions, provincial, territorial and municipal government, and foreign performers.

I. Performers

lntramural activities include all current expenditures incurred for scientific activities carried out by in-house personnel of units assigned to the program; the related gross fixed capital expenditures (acquisition of land, buildings, machinery and equipment for scientific activities); the administration of scientific activities by program employees; and, the purchase of goods and services to support in-house scientific activities (include royalties or licences for the use of patents and other intellectual property rights, the lease of capital goods (machinery and equipment, etc.) and the rental of buildings to support scientific activities performed by the statistical unit in the reference year).

The intramural expenditures reported for scientific activities are those direct costs, including salaries, associated with scientific programs. The costs should include that portion of a program's contribution to employee benefit plans (e.g., superannuation and compensation) which is applicable to the scientific personnel within the program. The summation of intramural R&D activity is synonymous with the performance of R&D for the entire economy (GERD).

Extramural performers are groups being funded by the federal government sector for S&T activities. In this survey the extramural performers include:

• Business enterprise – business and government enterprises including public utilities and government-owned firms. Both financial and non-financial corporations are included. Incorporated consultants or unincorporated individuals providing scientific and engineering services are also included. Industrial research institutes located at Canadian universities are considered to be in the higher education sector.
• Higher education – comprises all universities, colleges of technology and other institutes of post-secondary education, whatever their source of finance or legal status. It also includes teaching hospitals (non-teaching hospitals are in the Canadian non-profit sector), all research institutes, centers, experimental stations and clinics that have their scientific activities under the direct control of, or administered by, or associated with, the higher education establishments.
• Canadian non-profit institutions – charitable foundations, voluntary health organizations, scientific and professional societies, non-teaching hospitals (teaching hospitals are in the higher education sector) and other organizations not established to earn profits. Non-profit institutions primarily serving or controlled by another sector should be included in the controlling sector.
• Provincial, territorial and municipal governments – departments and agencies of these governments as well as provincial research organizations and self-governing First Nations and Tribal Councils. Government enterprises, such as provincial utilities are included in the business enterprise sector, and non-teaching hospitals in the Canadian non-profit institutions sector.
• Foreign performers – all foreign government agencies, foreign companies (including foreign subsidiaries of Canadian firms), international organizations, non-resident foreign nationals and Canadians studying or teaching abroad.

II. Research and experimental development (R&D)

Research and experimental development (R&D) - comprise creative and systematic work undertaken in order to increase the stock of knowledge - including knowledge of humankind, culture and society - and to devise new applications of available knowledge.

R&D activities may be aimed at achieving either specific or general objectives. R&D is always aimed at new findings, based on original concepts (and their interpretation) or hypotheses. It is largely uncertain about its final outcome (or at least about the quantity of time and resources needed to achieve it), it is planned for and budgeted (even when carried out by individuals), and it is aimed at producing results that could be either freely transferred or traded in a marketplace.

For an activity to be an R&D activity, it must satisfy five core criteria:

• To be aimed at new findings (novel);
• To be based on original, not obvious, concepts and hypothesis (creative);
• To be uncertain about the final outcome (uncertainty);
• To be planned and budgeted (systematic);
• To lead to results that could be possibly reproduced (transferable/or reproducible).

Examples of R&D:

• A review of theories on the factors determining regional disparities in economic growth.
• Understanding the fundamental dynamics of spatial interactions.
• Comparative evaluations of national education programs aimed at reducing the learning gap experienced by disadvantaged communities.
• Research studies analyzing the spatial-temporal patterns in the transmission and diffusion of an infectious disease outbreak.

Both "research" and "development" are often used with different meanings in the government. For example, it is increasingly common to hear that a person is "researching" something (i.e. the person is looking for information about something). Similarly, there are many units with either "research" or "development" or both terms in their titles which are concerned primarily with information gathering, speech writing, and preparation of position papers. These should be excluded from the scientific activity of R&D. On the other hand, a case study on unemployment in a specific region, if applying original techniques in interviewing survey respondents could include such data collection in its R&D effort. From a broad perspective, to the extent that the social sciences are using empirical data, the same guidelines have to be applied as for the natural sciences (although excluding the testing of their results on an experimental basis).

Many social scientists perform work in which they bring the established methodologies and facts of the social sciences to bear upon a particular problem, but which cannot be classified as research. The following are examples of work which might be included in this category and are not R&D: interpretative commentary on the probable economic effects of a change in the tax structure using existing economic data; forecasting future changes in the pattern of the demand for social services within a given area arising from an altered demographic structure; operations research as a contribution to decision-making, e.g. planning the optimal distribution system for a factory; the use of standard techniques in applied psychology to select and classify industrial and military personnel, students, etc., and to test children with reading or other disabilities.

1. In-house R&D – R&D performed by personnel of the reporting program. It may include R&D carried out on behalf of another program or federal government department.

2. R&D contracts – R&D contracts to an outside institution or individual to fund R&D performed by the institution or individual. The criterion is: would the performer report the R&D contract as in-house (intramural) R&D that is government-funded? If the answer is yes the activity would be an R&D contract. If no, and the funding is to provide goods and services necessary to support the in-house R&D of the federal government it should be reported as In-house R&D.

3. R&D grants, contributions and fellowships – awards to organizations or individuals for the conduct of R&D and intended to benefit the recipients rather than provide the program with goods, services or information. These funds are normally identical to that portion of the budgetary "grants, contributions and fellowships" line object of expenditure which is devoted to R&D activities.

4. Research fellowships – awards to individuals for advanced research training and experience. Awards intended primarily to support the education of the recipients should be reported as "education support".

5. Administration of extramural programs – the costs of identifiable units engaged in the administration of contracts and grants and contributions for scientific activities that are to be performed outside the federal government. These expenditures should be broken down by the type of scientific activity supported, i.e. R&D or RSA.

6. Capital expenditures – the annual gross amount paid for the acquisition of fixed assets that are used repeatedly or continuously in the performance of scientific activities for more than one year. They should be reported in full for the period when they took place, whether acquired or developed in house, and should not be registered as an element of depreciation.

The most relevant types of assets used for capital expenditures are:

• Land and buildings
• Machinery and equipment
• Capitalized computer software
• Other intellectual property products

III. Related scientific activities (RSA)

Related scientific activities (RSA) are all systematic activities which are closely concerned with the generation, advancement, dissemination and application of scientific and technological knowledge. The types of related scientific activities for the social sciences, humanities and the arts are described below.

7. In-house RSA – RSA performed by personnel of the reporting program. It may include RSA carried out on behalf of another program or federal government department.

In-house RSA activities include all current expenditures incurred for scientific activities carried out by in-house personnel of units assigned to the program; the purchase of goods and services to support in-house scientific activities (include royalties or licences for the use of patents and other intellectual property rights, and the rental of buildings to support scientific activities performed by the statistical unit in the reference year). Also include expenses of persons who provide ancillary services such as security, cleaning and maintenance work, finance and administration that are proportional to the RSA being conducted. However, the personnel providing these services are not to be included in the in-house personnel counts (see Section 2. Personnel).

The intramural expenditures reported to RSA are those direct costs, including salaries, associated with scientific programs. The cost should include that portion of a program's contribution to employee benefit plans (e.g., superannuation and compensation) which is applicable to the scientific personnel within the program. Also include the costs of self-employed individuals, consultants and researchers who are working on-site on the departments' RSA projects.

8. RSA contracts – contracts to an outside institution or individual to fund RSA performed by the institution or individual. The criterion is: would the performer report the RSA contract as in-house (intramural) RSA that is government-funded? If the answer is yes the activity would be an RSA contract. If no, and the funding is for the purchase goods and services to support the in-house RSA of the federal government department, it should be reported as In-house RSA (Item 7).
Contracts to other federal government departments should be reported as a transfer of funds in question 3A (i) and 3A (ii) of the questionnaire.

9. RSA grants and contributions – awards to organizations or individuals for the conduct of RSA and intended to benefit the recipients rather than provide the program with goods, services or information. These funds are normally identical to that portion of the budgetary "grants and contributions" line object of expenditure which is devoted to RSA.

In-house RSA, RSA Contracts and RSA grants and contributions can include the following items:

• General purpose data collection – the routine gathering, processing, collating and analyzing and publication of information on human phenomena using survey, regular and special investigations and compilations of existing records. It excludes data collected primarily for internal administrative purpose (e.g. departmental personnel statistics) as well as the collection of data as part of an R&D project.
  Data collected as part of an existing or proposed research project are charged to research. Similarly, the costs of analyzing existing data as part of a research project are R&D costs, even when the data were originally collected for some other purpose. The institutions involved are generally the statistical bureaus of Canadian governments and the statistical sections of departments and agencies. If there are units whose principal activity is R&D, their costs and personnel should be assigned to R&D; specialized libraries with separate budgets should be assigned to information services.
• Information services – all work directed to collecting, coding, analyzing, evaluating, recording, classifying, translating and disseminating scientific and technological information as well as museum services. Included are the operations of scientific and technical libraries, S&T consulting and advisory services, the Patent Office, the publication of scientific journals and monographs, and the organizing of scientific conferences. Grants for the publication of scholarly works are also included.
  General purpose information services or information services directed primarily towards the general public are excluded, as are general departmental and public libraries. When individual budgets exist, the costs of libraries which belong to institutions otherwise entirely classified to another activity, such as R&D, should be assigned to information services. The costs of printing and distributing reports from another activity, such as R&D, are normally attributed to that activity.
• Sub category under Information services:
  • Museum services – the collecting, cataloguing and displaying of specimens and representations relating to human history, social organization and creations. The activity involves a systematic attempt to preserve and display the works of human beings and to provide information on their works, history, and nature. The scientific activities of historical museums, archeological displays, and art galleries are included. In all cases the costs of providing entertainment and recreation to visitors should be excluded (e.g. restaurants, children's gardens and museums).
    When a museum also covers aspects of natural history, the museum's operations should be divided between the social and natural sciences. However, museums of science and technology, war, etc., which display synthetic or artificial objects and may also illustrate the operations of certain technologies, should be considered as engaged in museum services in social sciences.
  • Special services and studies - systematic investigations carried out in order to provide information needed for planning or policy formulation. Demonstration projects are also included.
    The work is usually carried out by specialized units in some government departments, by consultants, by royal commissions, and by task forces. The activity is similar to R&D since it may require innovative analyses and a high degree of scientific ability. However, such studies are not intended to acquire new knowledge but to provide specific answers to specific problems (generally immediate, localized and perhaps temporary). The day-to-day operations of units concerned with departmental planning, organization or management are not normally included (i.e. administrative records kept by departments of education) but special projects may be relevant.
• Sub categories under Special services and studies include:
  • Economic and feasibility studies – the investigation of the socio-economic characteristics and implications of specific situations (e.g. a study of the variability of a petrochemical complex in a certain region). Note that feasibility studies on research projects are part of R&D.
  • Operations and policy-related studies – covers a range of activities, such as the analysis and assessment of the existing programs, policies and operations of government departments and other institutions; the work of units concerned with the continuing analysis and monitoring of external phenomena (e.g. defence and security analysis); and the work of legislative commissions of inquiry concerned with general government or departmental policy or operations.
    Any activity aimed at providing close support to policy actions, as well as to legislative activity, should be included as a related scientific activity (RSA). This includes policy advice and relations with the media, legal advice, public relations or even technical support for the administrative activity (e.g. accounting).
    Research activities aimed at providing the decision makers with a thorough knowledge of social, economic or natural phenomena have to be included in R&D. These R&D activities are usually performed by skilled personnel - researchers - in small teams of experts and consultants and meet the standard academic criteria for scientific work (in addition to the R&D criteria).
  • Education support – grants to individuals or institutions on behalf of individuals which are intended to support the post-secondary education of students in technology and the social sciences. General purpose grants to educational institutions are excluded. The activity includes the support of foreign students in their studies of the social sciences at Canadian or foreign institutions. Grants intended primarily to support the research of individuals at universities are either R&D grants or research fellowships.

10. Administration of extramural programs – the costs of identifiable units engaged in the administration of contracts and grants and contributions for scientific activities that are to be performed outside the federal government. These expenditures should be broken down by the type of scientific activity supported, i.e. R&D or RSA.

11. Capital expenditures – the annual gross amount paid for the acquisition of fixed assets that are used repeatedly or continuously in the performance of scientific activities for more than one year. They should be reported in full for the period when they took place, whether acquired or developed in house, and should not be registered as an element of depreciation.

The most relevant types of assets used for capital expenditures are:

• Land and buildings
• Machinery and equipment
• Capitalized computer software
• Other intellectual property product

Question 2: Personnel

Full-time equivalent (FTE) – the ratio of working hours actually spent on scientific activities during a specific reference period divided by the total number of hours conventionally worked in the same period by an individual or a group. For example, an employee who is engaged in scientific activities for half a year has a full-time equivalence of 0.5. Personnel data reported should be consistent with expenditures data.

Scientific and professional – researchers and professionals engaged in the conception or creation of new knowledge. They conduct research and improve or develop concepts, theories, models, techniques instrumentation, software or operational methods. They require at least one academic degree or a nationally recognized professional qualification, as well as those with equivalent experience.

Technical – technicians and equivalent staff are persons whose main tasks require technical knowledge and experience in one or more fields of engineering, the physical and life sciences, or the social sciences, humanities and the arts. They perform scientific and technical tasks involving the application of concepts and operational methods and the use of research equipment, normally under the supervision of researchers.

Other – other supporting staff includes skilled and unskilled craftsmen, and administrative, secretarial and clerical staff participating in science and technology projects or directly associated with such projects.

Question 2: Personnel by gender

Gender – refers to current gender which may be different from sex assigned at birth and may be different from what is indicated on legal documents. Categories include: man, woman, and non-binary person.

Man – this category includes persons whose reported gender is male. It includes cisgender (cis) and transgender (trans) men.

Woman – this category includes persons whose reported gender is female. It includes cisgender (cis) and transgender (trans) women.

Non-binary person – this category includes persons whose reported gender is not exclusively male or female.

Question 3: Sources of funds

Question 3A (i). Transfers for social sciences, humanities and the arts activities

Include payments and recipients for contracts, transfers and joint programs from/to other federal government departments. Please identify the amount and names of the origination and recipient programs.

Question 3A (ii). Sources of funds for total scientific and technological activities

This question identifies the sources of funds for expenditures on scientific activities reported for all three years. It will help to ensure that work funded from outside the department is not overlooked.

• Departmental S&T budget – that portion of the total departmental budget which was spent on social sciences, humanities and the arts activities.
• Revenues to / from other federal departments – money transferred from this program to another federal department or money transferred into this program from another federal department for activities in the social sciences, humanities and the arts.
• Provincial government departments – all funds from the provincial government used for social sciences, humanities and the arts activities. The funds are referred to as payments, contributions, transfers, etc. Also include provincial portions of federal-provincial cost sharing programs performed by the department program.
• Business enterprises – all funds from business enterprises used for social sciences, humanities and the arts activities performed by the department.
• Other – all funds for social sciences, humanities and the arts activities from sources not specified above.

Question 4: Socio-economic objectives

Intramural and extramural scientific and technological expenditures by socio-economic objective for the reporting year by activity (research and experimental development, related scientific activities, and total).

• 1. Exploration and exploitation of the Earth
• 2. Environment
• 3. Exploration and exploitation of space
• 4. Transport, telecommunication and other infrastructures
• 5. Energy
• 6. Industrial production and technology
• 7. Health
• 8. Agriculture (include forestry and fisheries)
  • 8.1: Agriculture
  • 8.2: Fishing
  • 8.3: Forestry
• 9. Education
• 10. Culture, recreation, religion and mass media
• 11. Political and social systems, structures and processes
• 12. Defence

1. Exploration and exploitation of the Earth – scientific activities with objectives related to the exploration of the Earth's crust and mantle, seas, oceans and atmosphere, as well as on their exploitation. It also includes climatic and meteorological research, polar exploration (under various headings, as appropriate) and hydrology. It does not include scientific activities related to soil improvement (objective 4), land use or fishing (objective 8), or pollution (objective 2).

Examples:

• General scientific activities
• Mineral, oil and natural gas prospecting
• Exploration and exploitation of the sea-bed
• Earth's crust and mantle excluding sea-bed and studies of soil for agriculture (objective 8)
• Hydrology - excludes scientific activities on: water supplied and disposal (objective 4) and water pollution (objective 2)
• Sea and oceans
• Atmosphere
• Other scientific activities on the exploration and exploitation of the earth

Excludes: scientific activities on pollution (objective 2), soil improvement (objective 4), land-use and fishing (objective 8).

2. Environment - covers scientific activities aimed at improving the control of pollution, including the identification and analysis of the sources of pollution and their causes, and all pollutants, including their dispersal in the environment and the effects on humans, species (fauna, flora, micro-organisms) and the biosphere.

The development of monitoring facilities for the measurement of all kinds of pollution is included, as is scientific activities for the elimination and prevention of all forms of pollution in all types of environment.

3. Exploration and exploitation of space – covers all civil space scientific activities relating to the scientific exploration of space, space laboratories, space travel and launch systems. Although civil space scientific activities is not in general concerned with particular objectives, it frequently has a specific goal, such as the advancement of knowledge (e.g. astronomy) or relates to particular applications (e.g. telecommunications satellites or earth observation). This chapter does not include corresponding scientific activities for defence purposes.

4. Transport, telecommunication and other infrastructures – Transport, telecommunication and other infrastructures - covers scientific activities aimed at infrastructure and land development, including the construction of buildings. More generally, this objective covers all scientific activities relating to the general planning of land use. This includes scientific activities into protection against harmful effects in town and country planning but not research into other types of pollution (objective 2). This objective also includes scientific activities related to transport systems; telecommunication systems; general planning of land use; the construction and planning of buildings; civil engineering; and water supply.

5. Energy – covers scientific activities aimed at improving the production, storage, transportation, distribution and rational use of all forms of energy. It also includes scientific activities on processes designed to increase the efficiency of energy production and distribution, and the study of energy conservation. It does not include scientific activities related to prospecting (objective 1) or scientific activities into vehicle and engine propulsion (objective 6).

Examples:

• Fossil fuels and their derivatives
• Nuclear fission
• Radioactive waste management including decommissioning with regard to fuel/energy
• Nuclear fusion
• Renewable energy sources
• Rational utilization of energy

6. Industrial production and technology – covers scientific activities on the improvement of industrial production and technology. It includes scientific activities on industrial products and their manufacturing processes except where they form an integral part of the pursuit of other objectives (e.g. defence, space, energy, agriculture).

Examples:

• Increasing economic efficiency and competitiveness
• Manufacturing and processing techniques
• Petrochemical and coal by-products
• Pharmaceutical products
• Manufacture of motor vehicles and other means of transport
• Aerospace equipment manufacturing and repairing
• Electronic and related industries
• Manufacture of electrical machinery and apparatus
• Manufacture of non-electronic and non-electronical machinery
• Manufacture of medical and surgical equipment and orthopaedic appliances
• Manufacture of food products and beverages
• Manufacture of clothing and textiles and leather goods
• Recycling

7. Health - covers scientific activities aimed at protecting, promoting and restoring human health broadly interpreted to include health aspects of nutrition and food hygiene. It ranges from preventive medicine, including all aspects of medical and surgical treatment, both for individuals and groups, and the provision of hospital and home care, to social medicine and paediatric and geriatric research.

Examples:

• General scientific activities
• Medical scientific activities, hospital treatment, surgery
• Preventive medicine
• Biomedical engineering and medicines
• Occupational medicine
• Nutrition and food hygiene
• Drug abuse and addition
• Social medicine
• Hospital structure and organization of medical care
• Other medical scientific activities

8. Agriculture (include forestry and fisheries) – covers all scientific activities on the promotion of agriculture, forestry, fisheries and foodstuff production, or further knowledge on chemical fertilizers, biocides, biological pest control and the mechanization of agriculture, as well as concerning the impact of agricultural and forestry activities on the environment. Also covers scientific activities on improving food productivity and technology.

8.1 Agriculture – covers scientific activities on animal products, veterinary medicine, crops, food technology and other scientific activities on agricultural production and technology.

8.2 Fishing – covers scientific activities on fishing, salting, drying, and initial freezing of products (but not on preparation and canning (objective 6)), scientific activities on fish-farming, exploration of new fishing grounds, exploration and development of new and unconventional sources of seafood.

8.3 Forestry – covers scientific activities into the ecological and economic aspects of forestry and timber production.

9. Education – covers scientific activities aimed at supporting general or special education, including training, pedagogy, didactics, and targeted methods for specially gifted persons or those with learning disabilities. Applied to all levels of education as well as to subsidiary services to education.

10. Culture, recreation, religion and mass media – covers scientific activities aimed at improving the understanding of social phenomena related to culture activities, religion and leisure activities so as to define their impact on life in society, as well as to racial and cultural integration and on socio-cultural changes in these areas. The concept of "culture" covers sociology of science, religion, art, sport and leisure, and also comprises inter alia R&D on the media, the mastery of language and social integration, libraries, archives and external cultural policy.

11. Political and social system, structures and processes – covers scientific activities aimed at improving the understanding and supporting the political structure of society, public administration issues and economic policy, regional studies and multi-level governance, social change, social processes and social conflicts, the development of social security and social assistance systems, and the social aspects of the organization of work.

12. Defence – covers scientific activities for military purposes. It also includes basic research and nuclear and space research financed by the Department of National defence. Civil scientific activities financed by ministries of defence, for example, in the fields of meteorology, telecommunications and health, should be classified in the relevant objectives.

Question 5: Expenditures and personnel by region

Scientific and technological expenditures and personnel of federal organizations for the reference year, including current and capital expenditures for intramural R&D and RSA and by scientific and professional and total personnel for R&D and RSA.

• Newfoundland and Labrador
• Prince Edward Island
• Nova Scotia
• New Brunswick
• Quebec (excluding NCR - Quebec)
• National Capital Region (NCR) - Quebec
• Ontario (excluding NCR - Ontario)
• National Capital Region (NCR) - Ontario
• Manitoba
• Saskatchewan
• Alberta
• British Columbia
• Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut
• Canada Total

Information for respondents

Authority to publish

Section 17 of the Statistics Act allows for the disclosure of certain information relating to an organization. For this survey, Statistics Canada will release the names of federal departments and agencies whose science and technology (S&T) expenditures surpass 2% of the total federal S&T expenditures for the 2025/2026 reference year. This applies to departments that previously authorized publication in the 2024/2025 collection cycle. For each of these departments, data on expenditures and personnel will be published.

Respondent Information:

• Name of person who approved the data reported
• Signature
• Official position
• Program
• Department or agency
• E-mail address
• Telephone number

Enquiries to be directed to:

• Name
• Date
• Position title
• Telephone number
• Email address
• Fax number

Purpose

This survey collects financial and operating data on expenditures and full-time equivalent personnel on the scientific activities of Federal Government Public Administration in Canada.

Additional information

The data collected are used by federal, territorial and provincial science policy analysts, and are also part of the gross domestic expenditures on research and development (GERD). Your information may also be used by Statistics Canada for other statistical and research purposes.

Authority

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

Completion of this questionnaire is a legal requirement under this Act.

Confidentiality

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 the information from this survey for statistical purposes.

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 and territorial statistical agencies of Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, and the Yukon.

The shared data will be limited to information pertaining to federal departments and agencies located within the jurisdiction of the respective province or territory.

Section 12 of the Statistics Act provides for the sharing of information with federal, provincial or territorial government organizations. Under Section 12, you may refuse to share your information with any of these organizations by writing a letter of objection to the Chief Statistician and returning it with the completed questionnaire. Please specify the organizations with which you do not want to share your data.

For this survey, there are Section 12 agreements with the statistical agencies of Prince Edward Island, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Innovation Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED), as well as the Office of the Chief Science Advisor (OCSA) of ISED.

The shared data will be limited to information pertaining to federal departments and agencies located within the jurisdiction of the respective province or territory.

Record linkage

To enhance the data from this survey and to minimize the reporting burden, Statistics Canada may combine it with information from other surveys or from administrative sources.

Security of emails and faxes

Statistics Canada advises you that there could be a risk of disclosure during the transmission of information by facsimile or e-mail. However, upon receipt, Statistics Canada will provide the guaranteed level of protection afforded all information collected under the authority of the Statistics Act.

Return procedures

Please forward the completed questionnaire and listing of extramural performers through the Electronic File Transfer service (EFT).
For further inquiries:

• Phone Number: toll free at 1-888-659-8229
• Fax number: toll free at 1-800-755-5514
• Email: statcan.fsepsurv-enqdmsf.statcan@statcan.gc.ca

Thank you for your co-operation.

FSEP - Introduction

This introduction is intended to provide an overview of the process of collecting science expenditure data; definitions of and explanatory notes on natural sciences and engineering, social sciences, humanities and the arts, scientific and technological activities, performance sectors, and other terms used are given in subsequent sections.

The collection of science expenditure data is organized by the Centre for Innovation, Technology and Enterprise Statistics (CITES) of Statistics Canada. This exercise was formerly conducted under the aegis of the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat but is now solely a Statistics Canada survey.

Collection is undertaken to gather essential data describing the recent, current and proposed state of the federal resources allocated to science. Federal science expenditures data are provided to Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada who in turn use the data in the development of advice to the Assistant Deputy Ministers' Steering Committee on the Management of S&T, their Minister and the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, as well as in policy development and in monitoring the implementation of science policies. Statistics Canada maintains historical expenditure series in natural sciences and engineering dating back to 1963 and to 1971 in the social sciences, humanities and the arts. These data are available through the Centre for Innovation, Technology and Enterprise Statistics (CITES) or through special requests.

The basic reporting unit is the budgetary program of a department or agency. Each budgetary program forms the subject of separate scientific expenditure reports for the natural and for the social science activities within it. Both the program and the program activities within it may be scientific in whole or in part only. Only expenditures on the scientific components of a program or its activity are reported. In some programs it will be difficult to distinguish between the natural and social sciences. However, some allocation must be made and in determining this allocation, the dominant orientation of the projects and the area of expertise of the personnel involved must be considered. Detailed definitions are given on the following pages.

On the questionnaires, the identified expenditures are looked at from several different viewpoints and in various subdivisions. Expenditures on research and development (R&D) and related scientific activities (RSA) are subdivided to provide an indication of the "what" of a department's scientific effort. Expenditures in each category of scientific activity are further subdivided into "current" and "capital" segments. Current expenditures are additionally subdivided by sector, to indicate the "where" and "by whom" the activity is performed (e.g., in business enterprise, in higher education).

The human resources allocated to scientific activities are summarized in terms of the involved categories of personnel (scientific and professional, technical, etc.) and the principal focus of their efforts (R&D, RSA and, administration of extramural programs).

When completed, checked for consistency with previous reports, entered into the database and totaled along the various dimensions, these data provide snapshots of the federal resources allocated to science, supporting not only the work of central agencies but also the submissions of departments and agencies requesting resources.

Purpose

This survey collects financial and operating data on expenditures and full-time equivalent personnel on the scientific activities of Federal Government Public Administration in Canada.

Question 1: Expenditures by activity and performer

General

The natural sciences and engineering consist of disciplines concerned with understanding, exploring, developing or utilizing the natural world. Included are the engineering and technology, mathematical, computer and information sciences, physical sciences, medical and health sciences, and agricultural sciences, veterinary sciences and forestry.

Expenditures by activity and performer

Scientific and technological (S&T) activities can be defined as all systematic activities which are closely concerned with the generation, advancement, dissemination and application of scientific and technology knowledge in all fields of science and technology, that is the natural sciences and engineering, and the social sciences, humanities and the arts.

The central activity is scientific research and experimental development (R&D). In addition there are a number of activities closely related to R&D, and are termed related scientific activities (RSA). Those identified as being appropriate for the federal government in the natural sciences are: scientific data collection, information services, special services and studies and education support.

The performer is equivalent to the sector in which the scientific activity is conducted. The basic distinction is between intramural and extramural performance. Extramural payments are classified on the basis of the performance sectors to which they are made. The appropriate extramural performers are business enterprise, higher education, Canadian non-profit institutions, provincial, territorial and municipal government, and foreign performers.

I. Performers

lntramural activities include all current expenditures incurred for scientific activities carried out by in-house personnel of units assigned to the program; the related gross fixed capital expenditures (acquisition of land, buildings, machinery and equipment for scientific activities); the administration of scientific activities by program employees; and, the purchase of goods and services to support in-house scientific activities (include royalties or licences for the use of patents and other intellectual property rights, the lease of capital goods (machinery and equipment, etc.) and the rental of buildings to support scientific activities performed by the statistical unit in the reference year).

The intramural expenditures reported for scientific activities are those direct costs, including salaries, associated with scientific programs. The costs should include that portion of a program's contribution to employee benefit plans (e.g., superannuation and compensation) which is applicable to the scientific personnel within the program. The summation of intramural R&D activity is synonymous with the performance of R&D for the entire economy (GERD).

Extramural performers are groups being funded by the federal government sector for S&T activities. In this survey the extramural performers include:

• Business enterprise – business and government enterprises including public utilities and government-owned firms. Both financial and non-financial corporations are included. Incorporated consultants or unincorporated individuals providing scientific and engineering services are also included. Industrial research institutes located at Canadian universities are considered to be in the higher education sector.
• Higher education – comprises all universities, colleges of technology and other institutes of post-secondary education, whatever their source of finance or legal status. It also includes teaching hospitals (non-teaching hospitals are in the Canadian non-profit sector), all research institutes, centers, experimental stations and clinics that have their scientific activities under the direct control of, or administered by, or associated with, the higher education establishments.
• Canadian non-profit institutions – charitable foundations, voluntary health organizations, scientific and professional societies, non-teaching hospitals (teaching hospitals are in the higher education sector) and other organizations not established to earn profits. Non-profit institutions primarily serving or controlled by another sector should be included in the controlling sector.
• Provincial, territorial and municipal governments – departments and agencies of these governments as well as provincial research organizations and self-governing First Nations and Tribal Councils. Government enterprises, such as provincial utilities are included in the business enterprise sector, and non-teaching hospitals in the Canadian non-profit institutions sector.
• Foreign performers – all foreign government agencies, foreign companies (including foreign subsidiaries of Canadian firms), international organizations, non-resident foreign nationals and Canadians studying or teaching abroad.

II. Research and experimental development (R&D)

Research and experimental development (R&D) - comprise creative and systematic work undertaken in order to increase the stock of knowledge - including knowledge of humankind, culture and society - and to devise new applications of available knowledge.

R&D activities may be aimed at achieving either specific or general objectives. R&D is always aimed at new findings, based on original concepts (and their interpretation) or hypotheses. It is largely uncertain about its final outcome (or at least about the quantity of time and resources needed to achieve it), it is planned for and budgeted (even when carried out by individuals), and it is aimed at producing results that could be either freely transferred or traded in a marketplace.

For an activity to be an R&D activity, it must satisfy five core criteria:

• To be aimed at new findings (novel);
• To be based on original, not obvious, concepts and hypothesis (creative);
• To be uncertain about the final outcome (uncertainty);
• To be planned and budgeted (systematic);
• To lead to results that could be possibly reproduced (transferable/or reproducible).

Examples of R&D:

• A special investigation of a particular mortality in order to establish the side effects of certain cancer treatment is R&D.
• The investigation of new methods of measuring temperature is R&D, as is the study and development of new models for weather prediction.
• Investigation on the genetics of the species of plants in a forest in an attempt to understand natural controls for disease or pest resistance.
• The development of new application software and substantial improvements to operating systems and application programs.

R&D is generally carried out by specialized R&D units. However, an R&D project may also involve the use of non R&D facilities (e.g., testing grounds), the purchase or construction of specialized equipment and materials, and the assistance of other units. Costs of such items, attributable to the project, are to be considered R&D costs.

R&D may also be carried out by units normally engaged in other functions (e.g. a marine survey ship used for hydrological research, a geological survey team may be directed to work in a certain area in order to provide data for a geophysical research project). Such effort is part of an R&D project and, again, so far as is practical, the costs should be assigned to R&D expenditures.

On the other hand, R&D units may also be engaged in non R&D activities such as technical advisory services, testing, and construction of special equipment for other units. So far as is practical, the effort devoted to such operations should be included in the related scientific activities (RSA).

1. In-house R&D – R&D performed by personnel of the reporting program. It may include R&D carried out on behalf of another program or federal government department.

2. R&D contracts – contracts to an outside institution or individual to fund R&D performed by the institution or individual. The criterion is: would the performer report the R&D contract as in-house (intramural) R&D that is government-funded? If the answer is yes the activity would be an R&D contract. If no, and the funding is for the purchase of goods and services to support the in-house R&D of the federal government department, it should be reported as In-house R&D (Item 7).

3. R&D grants, contributions and fellowships – awards to organizations or individuals for the conduct of R&D and intended to benefit the recipients rather than provide the program with goods, services or information. These funds are normally identical to that portion of the budgetary "grants, contributions and fellowships" line object of expenditure which is devoted to R&D activities.

4. Research fellowships – awards to individuals for advanced research training and experience. Awards intended primarily to support the education of the recipients should be reported as "education support".

5. Administration of extramural programs – the costs of identifiable units engaged in the administration of contracts and grants and contributions for scientific activities that are to be performed outside the federal government. These expenditures should be broken down by the type of scientific activity supported, i.e. R&D or RSA.

6. Capital expenditures – the annual gross amount paid for the acquisition of fixed assets that are used repeatedly or continuously in the performance of scientific activities for more than one year. They should be reported in full for the period when they took place, whether acquired or developed in house, and should not be registered as an element of depreciation.

The most relevant types of assets used for capital expenditures are:

• Land and buildings
• Machinery and equipment
• Capitalized computer software
• Other intellectual property products

III. Related scientific activities (RSA)

Related scientific activities (RSA) are all systematic activities which are closely concerned with the generation, advancement, dissemination and application of scientific and technological knowledge. The types of related scientific activities for the natural sciences and engineering are described below.

7. In-house RSA – RSA performed by personnel of the reporting program. It may include RSA carried out on behalf of another program or federal government department.

In-house RSA activities include all current expenditures incurred for scientific activities carried out by in-house personnel of units assigned to the program; the purchase of goods and services to support in-house scientific activities (include royalties or licences for the use of patents and other intellectual property rights, and the rental of buildings to support scientific activities performed by the statistical unit in the reference year). Also include expenses of persons who provide ancillary services such as security, cleaning and maintenance work, finance and administration that are proportional to the RSA being conducted. However, the personnel providing these services are not to be included in the in-house personnel counts (see Section 2. Personnel).

The intramural expenditures reported to RSA are those direct costs, including salaries, associated with scientific programs. The cost should include that portion of a program's contribution to employee benefit plans (e.g., superannuation and compensation) which is applicable to the scientific personnel within the program. Also include the costs of self-employed individuals, consultants and researchers who are working on-site on the departments' RSA projects.

8. RSA contracts – contracts to an outside institution or individual to fund RSA performed by the institution or individual. The criterion is: would the performer report the RSA contract as in-house (intramural) RSA that is government-funded? If the answer is yes the activity would be an RSA contract. If no, and the funding is for the purchase of goods and services to support the in-house RSA of the federal government department, it should be reported as In-house RSA (Item 7).

Contracts to other federal government departments should be reported as a transfer of funds in question 3A (i) and 3A (ii) of the questionnaire.

9. RSA grants and contributions – awards to organizations or individuals for the conduct of RSA and intended to benefit the recipients rather than provide the program with goods, services or information. These funds are normally identical to that portion of the budgetary "grants and contributions" line object of expenditure which is devoted to RSA.

In-house RSA, RSA Contracts and RSA grants and contributions can include the following items:

• Scientific data collection – the gathering, processing, collating and analyzing of data on natural phenomena. These data are normally the results of surveys, routine laboratory analyses or compilations of operating records.
  Data collected as part of an existing or proposed research project are charged to research. Similarly, the costs of analyzing existing data as part of a research project are R&D costs, even when the data were originally collected for some other purpose. The development of new techniques for data collection is also to be considered a research activity. Examples of RSA scientific data collection are: routine geological, hydrographic, oceanographic and topographic surveys; routine astronomical observations; maintenance of meteorological records; and wildlife and fisheries surveys.
• Information services – all work directed to collecting, coding, analyzing, evaluating, recording, classifying, translating and disseminating scientific and technological information as well as museum services. Included are the operations of scientific and technical libraries, S&T consulting and advisory services, the Patent Office, the publication of scientific journals and monographs, and the organizing of scientific conferences. Grants for the publication of scholarly works are also included.
  General purpose information services or information services directed primarily towards the general public are excluded, as are general departmental and public libraries. When individual budgets exist, the costs of libraries which belong to institutions otherwise entirely classified to another activity, such as R&D, should be assigned to information services. The costs of printing and distributing reports from another activity, such as R&D, are normally attributed to that activity.
• Sub category under Information services:
  • Museum services – the collecting, cataloguing and displaying of specimens of the natural world or of representations of natural phenomena. The activity involves a systematic attempt to preserve and display items from the natural world; in some ways it could be considered an extension of information services. The scientific activities of natural history museums, zoological and botanical gardens, aquaria, planetaria and nature reserves are included. Parks which are not primarily restricted reserves for certain fauna or flora are excluded. In all cases the costs of providing entertainment and recreation to visitors should be excluded (e.g. restaurants, children's gardens and museums).
    When a museum also covers not only natural history but also aspects of human cultural activities, the museum's resources should be appropriated between the natural and social sciences. However, museums of science and technology, war, etc., which display synthetic or artificial objects and may also illustrate the operations of certain technologies, should be considered as engaged in museum services in social sciences.
  • Special services and studies – work directed towards the establishment of national and provincial standards for materials, devices, products and processes; the calibration of secondary standards; non-routine quality testing; feasibility studies and demonstration projects.
• Sub categories under Special services and studies include:
  • Testing and standardization – concerns the maintenance of national standards, the calibration of secondary standards and the non-routine testing and analysis of materials, components, products, processes, soils, atmosphere, etc. These activities are related scientific activities (RSA). The development of new measures for standards, or of new methods of measuring or testing, is R&D. Exclude routine testing such as monitoring radioactivity levels or soil tests before construction.
  • Feasibility studies – technical investigations of proposed engineering projects to provide additional information required to reach decisions on implementation. Besides feasibility studies, the related activity of demonstration projects are to be included. Demonstration projects involve the operation of scaled-up versions of a facility or process, or data on factors such as costs, operational characteristics, market demand and public acceptance. Projects called "demonstration projects" but which conform to the definition of R&D should be considered R&D. Once a facility or process is operated primarily to provide a service or to gain revenue, rather than as a demonstration, it should no longer be included with feasibility studies. In all demonstration projects, only the net costs should be considered.
  • Education support – grants to individuals or institutions on behalf of individuals which are intended to support the post-secondary education of students in technology and the natural sciences. General operating or capital grants are excluded. The activity includes the support of foreign students in their studies of the natural sciences at Canadian or foreign institutions. Grants intended primarily to support the research of individuals at universities are either R&D grants or research fellowships.
    Awards intended primarily to support the education of the recipients should be reported as "education support".

10. Administration of extramural programs – the costs of identifiable units engaged in the administration of contracts and grants and contributions for scientific activities that are to be performed outside the federal government. These expenditures should be broken down by the type of scientific activity supported, i.e. R&D or RSA.

11. Capital expenditures – the annual gross amount paid for the acquisition of fixed assets that are used repeatedly or continuously in the performance of scientific activities for more than one year. They should be reported in full for the period when they took place, whether acquired or developed in house, and should not be registered as an element of depreciation.

The most relevant types of assets used for capital expenditures are:

• Land and buildings
• Machinery and equipment
• Capitalized computer software
• Other intellectual property products

Question 2: Personnel

Full-time equivalent (FTE) – the ratio of working hours actually spent on scientific activities during a specific reference period divided by the total number of hours conventionally worked in the same period by an individual or a group. For example, an employee who is engaged in scientific activities for half a year has a full-time equivalence of 0.5. Personnel data reported should be consistent with expenditures data.

Scientific and professional – researchers and professionals engaged in the conception or creation of new knowledge. They conduct research and improve or develop concepts, theories, models, techniques instrumentation, software or operational methods. They require at least one academic degree or a nationally recognized professional qualification, as well as those with equivalent experience.

Technical – technicians and equivalent staff are persons whose main tasks require technical knowledge and experience in one or more fields of engineering, the physical and life sciences, or the social sciences, humanities and the arts. They perform scientific and technical tasks involving the application of concepts and operational methods and the use of research equipment, normally under the supervision of researchers.

Other – other supporting staff includes skilled and unskilled craftsmen, and administrative, secretarial and clerical staff participating in science and technology projects or directly associated with such projects.

Question 2: Personnel by gender

Gender – refers to current gender which may be different from sex assigned at birth and may be different from what is indicated on legal documents. Categories include: man, woman, and non-binary person.

Man – this category includes persons whose reported gender is male. It includes cisgender (cis) and transgender (trans) men. 

Woman – this category includes persons whose reported gender is female. It includes cisgender (cis) and transgender (trans) women. 

Non-binary person – this category includes persons whose reported gender is not exclusively male or female.

Question 3: Sources of funds

Question 3A (i). Transfers for natural sciences and engineering activities

Include payments and recipients for contracts, transfers and joint programs from/to other federal government departments. Please identify the amount and names of the origination and recipient programs.

Question 3A (ii). Sources of funds for total scientific and technological activities

This question identifies the sources of funds for expenditures on scientific activities reported for all three years. It will help to ensure that work funded from outside the department is not overlooked.

• Departmental S&T budget – that portion of the total departmental budget which was spent on natural science and engineering activities.
• Revenues to / from other federal departments – money transferred from this program to another federal department or money transferred into this program from another federal department for activities in the natural sciences and engineering.
• Provincial government departments – all funds from the provincial government used for natural science and engineering activities. The funds are referred to as payments, contributions, transfers, etc. Also include provincial portions of federal-provincial cost sharing programs performed by the department program.
• Business enterprises – all funds from business enterprises used for natural science and engineering activities performed by the department.
• Other – all funds for natural sciences and engineering activities from other sources not specified above.

Question 4: Socio-economic objectives

Intramural and extramural scientific and technological expenditures by socio-economic objective for the reporting year by activity (research and experimental development, related scientific activities, and total).

• 1. Exploration and exploitation of the Earth
• 2. Environment 
• 3. Exploration and exploitation of space
• 4. Transport, telecommunication and other infrastructures
• 5. Energy
• 6. Industrial production and technology
• 7. Health
• 8. Agriculture (include forestry and fisheries)
  • 8.1: Agriculture
  • 8.2: Fishing
  • 8.3: Forestry
• 9. Education 
• 10. Culture, recreation, religion and mass media
• 11. Political and social systems, structures and processes
• 12. Defence

1. Exploration and exploitation of the Earth – scientific activities with objectives related to the exploration of the Earth's crust and mantle, seas, oceans and atmosphere, as well as on their exploitation. It also includes climatic and meteorological research, polar exploration (under various headings, as appropriate) and hydrology. It does not include scientific activities related to soil improvement (objective 4), land use or fishing (objective 8), or pollution (objective 2).

Examples:

• General scientific activities
• Mineral, oil and natural gas prospecting
• Exploration and exploitation of the sea-bed
• Earth's crust and mantle excluding sea-bed and studies of soil for agriculture (objective 8)
• Hydrology - excludes scientific activities on: water supplied and disposal (objective 4) and water pollution (objective 2)
• Sea and oceans
• Atmosphere
• Other scientific activities on the exploration and exploitation of the earth

Excludes: scientific activities on pollution (objective 2), soil improvement (objective 4), land-use and fishing (objective 8).

2. Environment - covers scientific activities aimed at improving the control of pollution, including the identification and analysis of the sources of pollution and their causes, and all pollutants, including their dispersal in the environment and the effects on humans, species (fauna, flora, micro-organisms) and the biosphere.

The development of monitoring facilities for the measurement of all kinds of pollution is included, as is scientific activities for the elimination and prevention of all forms of pollution in all types of environment.

3. Exploration and exploitation of space – covers all civil space scientific activities relating to the scientific exploration of space, space laboratories, space travel and launch systems. Although civil space scientific activities is not in general concerned with particular objectives, it frequently has a specific goal, such as the advancement of knowledge (e.g. astronomy) or relates to particular applications (e.g. telecommunications satellites or earth observation). This chapter does not include corresponding scientific activities for defence purposes.

4. Transport, telecommunication and other infrastructures – Transport, telecommunication and other infrastructures - covers scientific activities aimed at infrastructure and land development, including the construction of buildings. More generally, this objective covers all scientific activities relating to the general planning of land use. This includes scientific activities into protection against harmful effects in town and country planning but not research into other types of pollution (objective 2). This objective also includes scientific activities related to transport systems; telecommunication systems; general planning of land use; the construction and planning of buildings; civil engineering; and water supply.

5. Energy – covers scientific activities aimed at improving the production, storage, transportation, distribution and rational use of all forms of energy. It also includes scientific activities on processes designed to increase the efficiency of energy production and distribution, and the study of energy conservation. It does not include scientific activities related to prospecting (objective 1) or scientific activities into vehicle and engine propulsion (objective 6).

Examples:

• Fossil fuels and their derivatives
• Nuclear fission
• Radioactive waste management including decommissioning with regard to fuel/energy
• Nuclear fusion
• Renewable energy sources
• Rational utilization of energy

6. Industrial production and technology – covers scientific activities on the improvement of industrial production and technology. It includes scientific activities on industrial products and their manufacturing processes except where they form an integral part of the pursuit of other objectives (e.g. defence, space, energy, agriculture).

Examples:

• Increasing economic efficiency and competitiveness
• Manufacturing and processing techniques
• Petrochemical and coal by-products
• Pharmaceutical products
• Manufacture of motor vehicles and other means of transport
• Aerospace equipment manufacturing and repairing
• Electronic and related industries
• Manufacture of electrical machinery and apparatus
• Manufacture of non-electronic and non-electronical machinery
• Manufacture of medical and surgical equipment and orthopaedic appliances
• Manufacture of food products and beverages
• Manufacture of clothing and textiles and leather goods
• Recycling

7. Health - covers scientific activities aimed at protecting, promoting and restoring human health broadly interpreted to include health aspects of nutrition and food hygiene. It ranges from preventive medicine, including all aspects of medical and surgical treatment, both for individuals and groups, and the provision of hospital and home care, to social medicine and paediatric and geriatric research.

Examples:

• General scientific activities
• Medical scientific activities, hospital treatment, surgery
• Preventive medicine
• Biomedical engineering and medicines
• Occupational medicine
• Nutrition and food hygiene
• Drug abuse and addition
• Social medicine
• Hospital structure and organization of medical care
• Other medical scientific activities

8. Agriculture (include forestry and fisheries) – covers all scientific activities on the promotion of agriculture, forestry, fisheries and foodstuff production, or further knowledge on chemical fertilizers, biocides, biological pest control and the mechanization of agriculture, as well as concerning the impact of agricultural and forestry activities on the environment. Also covers scientific activities on improving food productivity and technology.

8.1 Agriculture – covers scientific activities on animal products, veterinary medicine, crops, food technology and other scientific activities on agricultural production and technology.

8.2 Fishing – covers scientific activities on fishing, salting, drying, and initial freezing of products (but not on preparation and canning (objective 6)), scientific activities on fish-farming, exploration of new fishing grounds, exploration and development of new and unconventional sources of seafood.

8.3 Forestry – covers scientific activities into the ecological and economic aspects of forestry and timber production.

9. Education – covers scientific activities aimed at supporting general or special education, including training, pedagogy, didactics, and targeted methods for specially gifted persons or those with learning disabilities. Applied to all levels of education as well as to subsidiary services to education.

10. Culture, recreation, religion and mass media – covers scientific activities aimed at improving the understanding of social phenomena related to culture activities, religion and leisure activities so as to define their impact on life in society, as well as to racial and cultural integration and on socio-cultural changes in these areas. The concept of "culture" covers sociology of science, religion, art, sport and leisure, and also comprises inter alia R&D on the media, the mastery of language and social integration, libraries, archives and external cultural policy.

11. Political and social system, structures and processes – covers scientific activities aimed at improving the understanding and supporting the political structure of society, public administration issues and economic policy, regional studies and multi-level governance, social change, social processes and social conflicts, the development of social security and social assistance systems, and the social aspects of the organization of work.

12. Defence – covers scientific activities for military purposes. It also includes basic research and nuclear and space research financed by the Department of National defence. Civil scientific activities financed by ministries of defence, for example, in the fields of meteorology, telecommunications and health, should be classified in the relevant objectives.

Question 5: Expenditures and personnel by region

Scientific and technological expenditures and personnel of federal organizations for the reference year, including current and capital expenditures for intramural R&D and RSA and by scientific and professional and total personnel for R&D and RSA.

Regions include:

• Newfoundland and Labrador
• Prince Edward Island
• Nova Scotia
• New Brunswick
• Quebec (excluding NCR - Quebec)
• National Capital Region (NCR) - Quebec
• Ontario (excluding NCR - Ontario)
• National Capital Region (NCR) - Ontario
• Manitoba
• Saskatchewan
• Alberta
• British Columbia
• Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut
• Canada Total

By Andy Fan, Rafael Moraes; Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

Introduction

Born out of the winning entry of the inaugural Canadian Public Service Data Challenge, we have had the incredible opportunity to build AgPal Chat, a generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) search tool that provides helpful federal, provincial, and territorial agricultural information to Canadians in a conversational manner. It is available on the AgPal.ca website as a new, complementary way to connect users with relevant Canadian agricultural information. It is the result of an incredible cross-functional effort across industry, academia, and other government departments to improve service delivery to Canadians.

In this article, we focus on sharing our lessons learned on the technical and policy aspects of implementation of AgPal Chat. Some of our key findings and recommendations include: the use of Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) to enhance AI accuracy, the necessity of guardrails to ensure ethical and safe AI interactions, and the role of strong data governance and policy compliance in creating responsible AI systems.

Prompt Engineering

Prompt engineering is a fascinating and intricate field at the intersection of human expertise and AI. Its central goal is to fine tune queries in a way that elicits the most accurate, unbiased, and relevant responses from AI systems, especially those based on language models. This practice is of utmost importance because, unlike traditional software interfaces, natural language systems rely heavily on the subtleties of human language with all its nuances and complexities. Therefore, designing effective prompts is both an art and a science, one that requires a deep understanding of the underlying AI technology, as well as the particularities of human language and cognition.

It is also a continuous, iterative process that involves testing and refining prompts to ensure AI systems generate accurate, unbiased, and relevant responses. This ongoing adjustment is crucial to avoid introducing unintended biases, as even small changes in wording can significantly impact AI behavior. Regular assessment and careful balancing of technical and linguistic elements help maintain the reliability and impartiality of AI outputs.

It's important to recognize that each large language model (LLM) will have its own optimal prompt that elicits the best performance, as different models may respond differently to the same prompt due to variations in their architecture and training data. However, the process of discovering this optimal prompt remains consistent across models. It involves the same iterative cycle of experimentation, evaluation, and refinement to ensure the prompts guide the AI in producing accurate and unbiased outputs.

Retrieval-Augmented Generation Technique

"Retrieval-Augmented Generation" or RAG is a framework that combines the retrieval of information from a knowledge source (like a database or a collection of documents) with the generative capabilities of a language model. Without it, there is a higher chance even fine-tuned LLMs will output “hallucinations” when asked about topics they have not seen extensively in their training set. To ensure that an AI provides more precise information, RAG must be implemented within the prompt construction process. Figure 1 below showcases an example of the RAG process. Open-source libraries like Langchain or Llama Index, as well as proprietary solutions (such as Azure Cognitive Search) can be employed if you want to use RAG without building it from scratch. In AgPal Chat’s case, we decided to build the RAG pattern ourselves. This led to a more flexible solution that fits our specific needs.

Here is how the RAG technique generally works:

1. Retrieval Step: Given a chat history, the RAG system first retrieves relevant documents or pieces of information from a database or a corpus. This is usually done using a retrieval model or search algorithm optimized to quickly find the most relevant content from large collections of information.
2. Augmentation: The retrieved documents are then used to augment the input to the generative model. This means that the language model receives both the chat history and the content of the retrieved documents as context.
3. Generation Step: A generative language model then generates a response based on this augmented input. The model uses the additional information to produce more accurate, detailed, and contextually relevant answers.

RAG frameworks are particularly useful for tasks where a language model needs access to external information or must answer questions based on factual data that may not be stored within its parameters. Examples of such tasks include open-domain question answering and fact-checking. The retrieval step allows the system to pull in up-to-date or specific information that the language model alone would not have access to, based upon its training data.

Guardrails

Guardrails are pre-defined rules or constraints that are put in place to prevent an AI system from generating inappropriate, biased, or unbalanced content. They work by guiding the generation process away from certain topics or phrases and by post-processing the AI's output to remove or revise problematic content. These guardrails are crucial for several reasons:

1. Content Control: They prevent the generation of inappropriate, offensive, or harmful content. This includes hate speech, sexually explicit material, and other types of content that might not be suitable for all audiences.
2. Ethical Guidelines: Guardrails help ensure that LLMs and chatbots abide by ethical guidelines. They can prevent the endorsement of illegal activities or those that might cause harm to users or third parties.
3. Bias Mitigation: Despite best efforts, LLMs can sometimes perpetuate or even amplify biases present in their training data. Guardrails can be designed to identify and mitigate such biases, ensuring more fair and balanced interactions.
4. Safety: By keeping the AI's behavior within certain limits, guardrails enhance user safety by not allowing the system to provide dangerous or incorrect information. This is particularly important in high-stakes domains like healthcare or legal advice, where incorrect information can have serious consequences.
5. User Trust and Compliance: Ensuring that the system behaves predictably and within the bounds of socially acceptable norms helps to build user trust. Guardrails also help in compliance with various regulatory standards and legal requirements, which is essential for the deployment of chatbots in different industries.
6. Prevention of Misuse: Guardrails are also important for preventing users from manipulating or 'tricking' the AI into behaving in unintended ways, such as generating malicious content or participating in deceptive practices.
7. Maintaining Focus: They help the system stay on topic and relevant to the user's intent, improving user experience by preventing the chatbot from producing irrelevant or nonsensical responses.

To incorporate guardrails effectively, one must first identify the potential vulnerabilities that could instigate the model to have a bias and understand the context in which impartiality might be compromised. For example, if an AI model is generating objective news summaries, it should treat different entities and subjects objectively and not provide an opinion. Guardrails for this scenario could range from eliminating certain opinion laden words to implementing more sophisticated sentiment analysis checks that flag excessively positive or negative language around specific topics. Lastly, ensuring that an AI tool responds solely to pertinent inquiries is a matter of both discrimination and focus within the guardrail system. The AI should discern between questions that it should answer and those that are either irrelevant, inappropriate, or outside the scope of its functionality. Again, guardrails play a crucial role here. By giving clear instructions and examples for what constitutes a pertinent inquiry, the AI can deflect or refuse to answer questions that do not meet those criteria.

For example, in building AgPal Chat, queries about only Canadian agricultural information in the AgPal system would be pertinent. Guardrails were therefore set up to provide comprehensive and focused responses to agricultural- related questions, while avoiding or redirecting those concerning other unrelated data. A simplified example of the implementation was including a line in the system prompt stating, "Do not answer questions that are not related to data provided by the AgPal system".

In practice, guardrails can take many forms. Based on our experience in building AgPal Chat, we would recommend having at least:

• Filtering systems that detect and block unwanted types of content.
• Rate-limiting features to prevent spamming or abuse of the system.
• Explicit prompting of "do not say" lists or behavior rules.
• Review processes or human-in-the-loop mechanisms (e.g., logging and monitoring user prompts and answers) Microsoft has a great example of a guardrail prompt (Figure 2):

Implementing guardrails in AI systems is crucial but challenging. It requires careful design to ensure they handle diverse inputs while maintaining accuracy. Ongoing maintenance is also necessary to keep guardrails effective as language models and content evolve. Despite these challenges, guardrails are essential for ensuring safe and responsible AI interactions.

Data Management and Data Governance

The output of the retrieval augment generation pattern is directly correlated with quality of the underlying data that is being used. AgPal Chat leverages the result of years of strong data management and governance practices from the AgPal team, who provided a foundation of high quality, well-curated data on Agricultural programs and services on the AgPal website. In this context, having good data management and governance practices can improve the accuracy and relevance of the generated texts by ensuring that the data sources are reliable, consistent, and up to date. Some recommendations to help realize the benefits of data management and governance include:

1. Establishing a clear and comprehensive data strategy that defines the vision, goals, and principles of data management and governance.
2. Implementing a robust and flexible data architecture that supports the integration, interoperability, and accessibility of different data sources.
3. Adopting a data quality framework (see related TBS guidance) that ensures the validity, completeness, timeliness, and accuracy of data sources.
4. Applying a data security model that protects the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data sources and generated texts.
5. Creating a data governance structure that assigns roles, responsibilities, and accountabilities for data management and governance.
6. Monitoring and evaluating the data management and governance performance and outcomes, and making continuous improvements based on feedback and best practices.

Policy Related Considerations

When building AI applications in a federal public sector context, in addition to existing policies and guidelines (Directive on Automated Decision-making, Scope of the Directive, Guide on the use of Generative AI), some policy considerations should be made to ensure they are built in a responsible and ethical manner. We have found that these considerations were crucial in helping shape our design and approach to developing AgPal Chat and would highly recommend consulting them during the design phase.

Broader policy considerations on this front include:

• Compliance: Ensure that the chatbot’s design and deployment are in line with existing applicable policies and legislation, and follow any best practices, suggested guidance from other public authorities and industry-specific regulations. Additionally, ensure that all internal or departmental policies and guidelines are adhered to. In addition to compliance, ensure that appropriate measures are in place to mitigate any legal and regulatory risks. This may involve seeking legal advice, implementing compliance processes, and staying up to date with developments in the legal and regulatory landscape.
• Risk Evaluation: Evaluate and address potential cybersecurity threats, biases, violations of privacy, and the possibility of generating hallucinations or inaccurate information. If the system interfaces with the public, consider the public sentiment or current events that could impact the way that the tool may be perceived.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Proactively engage with key stakeholders, such as legal counsel, privacy and security experts, Gender-based Analysis (GBA) Plus focal points, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) representatives, other partners (e.g., Indigenous Communities), and internal process authorities (e.g., enterprise architecture, project governance) as early as possible to ensure a coordinated, compliant, and holistic approach.
• Transparency: It is essential to notify users that they are communicating with an AI tool, rather than a human, to avoid any confusion or misunderstanding. Sharing additional information about the system such as a description of how it works, the data it is using, and the steps taken to ensure its quality can also be helpful to increase trust.
• Bias and Discrimination Monitoring: Monitor the performance of the AI tools in guarding against bias or discrimination, ensuring that the technology is used responsibly and equitably. Capture the user queries and the system responses to review them on a scheduled basis across the lifecycle.
• Education: Offer clear instructions to users on the optimal way to interact with the chatbot, including guidance on formatting their prompts or queries and what information should be included. Ensure that chatbot developers have access to training and resources to help them become skilled in using the technology and understand its capabilities, limitations, and best practices for its responsible use.
• Iterative Development: Recognize the need for ongoing iteration to keep pace with regulatory and technological changes. Adopting an agile approach is one potential solution.
• Sustainability: Ensure the design and implementation of AI tools are guided by a commitment to environmental sustainability to support long-term viability and mitigate any negative impacts on the environment or on the people and communities.

Conclusion

Prompt engineering, as a discipline, sits at the critical juncture of ensuring that AI-powered systems provide users with responses that are not only accurate and factually correct but also impartial, ethical, and contextually relevant. The introduction of RAG has marked a significant step forward in achieving this, by providing a mechanism for AI to dynamically access and incorporate external information. This process enhances the reliability and factual basis of the AI's responses, particularly in situations where the AI must draw from a vast and ever-evolving pool of knowledge.

The implementation of ethical guardrails, strong data management practices, and compliance to existing policies, laws and regulations can help AI systems better respect social norms and user trust, contributing to a more beneficial interaction for all parties involved.

Future research and improvements for AgPal Chat could focus on refining prompt engineering to improve contextual relevance, expanding the use of Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) for more dynamic data integration, and enhancing the AI's scalability and efficiency, enhancing service delivery to users while retaining safety and reliability.

As AI continues to advance and become an integral part of personal and professional environments alike, the work put into prompt engineering will undeniably play a pivotal role in shaping the future of human-AI interactions. Ensuring that prompt engineering techniques continue to evolve alongside AI models will be vital in upholding the principles of accuracy, impartiality, and relevance. The proper application of prompt engineering and guardrails will enable AI to reach its full potential as a tool for enhancing human knowledge, decision-making, and productivity, without sacrificing ethical integrity or user trust.

If you have any questions about my article or would like to discuss this further, I invite you to Meet the Data Scientist, an event where authors meet the readers, present their topic, and discuss their findings.

Register for the Meet the Data Scientist event. We hope to see you there!

References

• Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. (2024). Retrieved from AgPal: https://agpal.ca/en/home
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• IBM. (2024). What is prompt engineering? Retrieved from IMB Topics: https://www.ibm.com/topics/prompt-engineering
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• Treasury Board Secretariat. (2023, April 25). Directive on Automated Decision-Making. Retrieved from TBS-SCT: https://www.tbs-sct.canada.ca/pol/doc-eng.aspx?id=32592