Public Sector Universe, 2019
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Released: 2020-11-18
The contribution of public sector institutions is vital to the social and economic well-being of Canadians. Together, these institutions support the generation and redistribution of income and wealth, offering a wide array of essential services such as health, education, public order and safety, and economic affairs.
The Public Sector Universe (PSU) is a comprehensive list of institutional units that define the coverage of Canadian macroeconomic statistics, including the Canadian Government Finance Statistics (CGFS), which were also released today. The list of reporting entities is an essential input into the production of detailed and meaningful CGFS and the Canadian Classification of Functions of Government. It is key for understanding and reconciling these with fiscal data published by governments.
The public sector consists of all resident institutional units controlled by resident government units, which includes all units of the general government sector and resident government business enterprises (GBEs), commonly referred to as public corporations. It is comprised of over 6,100 entities.
At first glance, the size of the PSU appears substantial, but the relevance of each of these institutions holds importance. Government involvement in the health, education and social services sectors is controlled primarily at the provincial–territorial level and fulfills key functions of government operations in the general interest of society. The nature and range of the industries in which the public sector is involved underline its economic breadth and influence in Canada.
The distribution of public sector entities can be viewed from sectoral, provincial–territorial and industrial dimensions.
In 2019, 76% of public institutional units were related to local governments (municipalities) and school boards, followed by provincial–territorial governments (9%). Federal, provincial–territorial and local GBEs represented 5% of the public sector, while the federal government, universities, colleges, health institutions, Canada Pension Plan and Quebec Pension Plan made up the remaining portion (10%).
Governments weigh heavily on the Canadian economy and this is reflected in the main CGFS aggregates expressed as a percentage gross domestic product (GDP). Revenues and expenses of the general government represented about 40% of GDP in 2019. The size of the general government in Canada is attributable in large part to extensive social protection programs combined with universal health care and public education systems.
Although it does not have the largest number of units, the provincial and territorial governments represented the largest subsector of all CGFS main aggregates (revenues, expenses, assets and liabilities) in 2019. This subsector is characterized by extended responsibilities in the areas of health, education, social services, economic affairs and the management of natural resources.
GBEs also play an important role in the Canadian economy and represent an extension of government fiscal policy. In particular, they provide key goods and services to the community and manage some government strategic assets and liabilities, which—on a consolidated basis—add around 23% of GDP to both aggregates.
Besides government, public sector entities in Canada were active in various industries, such as utilities (e.g., hydro), retail trade (e.g., liquor authorities), transportation (e.g., ports), finance (e.g., deposit insurance) and education (e.g., school boards).
Linking the PSU with government finance statistics allows for an interesting analysis. For example, in 2019, nearly two-thirds of all revenue ($163 billion) reported by GBEs in Canada were accounted for by the 92 provincially and territorially controlled GBEs ($100 billion), with utility enterprises alone recording more than $43 billion in revenue.
GBEs controlled by local (municipal) governments were by far the most numerous (200, or 62% of all GBEs), generating 19% ($31 billion) of total GBE revenue. Local GBEs are active primarily in the utilities and public transit industries.
Federal GBEs generated more revenue ($32 billion) than local GBEs, despite the fact that there are only 32. Federal GBEs generated over half ($19 billion) of their revenue from finance and insurance activities (e.g., Bank of Canada, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation), with another $11 billion generated by the transportation industry, which was related to operating VIA Rail and port authorities across Canada.
Note to readers
The 2019 list of entities in the public sector universe (PSU) is now available. This year's product presents public sector entities from 2008 to 2019.
From 2021, new classification decisions for public sector entities will be made available to the general public to increase the transparency of the sectoral classification process of entities and to enrich the content of the CGFS program's metadata. For more in-depth information on the public sector metadata on classification decisions, please refer to the paper "Best practices for defining the Canadian public sector."
Canada's public sector—governments and the business enterprises they control—provides information on the thousands of institutional units present throughout Canada, including the legal name of the unit, date of entry into or exit from the public sector, and geographical perspectives. This list of institutional entities constitutes the universe from Statistics Canada presents the measurement of Canadian government statistics.
An institutional unit is defined as an economic entity that is capable—in its own right—of owning assets, incurring liabilities, and engaging in economic activities and transactions with other entities.
Ministries, departments, agencies, boards, commissions, judicial authorities, legislative bodies and other entities that make up a government are not institutional units if they do not have the authority to own assets, incur liabilities or engage in transactions in their own right. In general, all entities funded by appropriations in accordance with a budget controlled by the legislature are not separate institutional units and are treated as constituting a single institutional unit. Government business enterprises are government controlled, public financial and non-financial corporations engaged in commercial operations involving the sale of goods and services to the public in the market place at economically significant prices.
The last component of Canada's PSU (Indigenous governments) will be introduced in future releases of the PSU list.
Calculations as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) are based on the GDP at current market prices, and expenditure-based estimates for Canada, the provinces and the territories, available in Table 36-10-0222-01.
Products
The publication Public Sector Universe (68-516-X) is now available in HTML format.
Contact information
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; STATCAN.infostats-infostats.STATCAN@canada.ca) or Media Relations (613-951-4636; STATCAN.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.STATCAN@canada.ca).
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