Latest Developments in the Canadian Economic Accounts
Chronology

The System of National Accounts is constantly making important improvements. They are listed chronologically below. You can also jump to a specific date by using this drop-down menu.
Date Title Description
February 29, 2024 Revisions to Canada’s GDP

This article describes the reasons why updates (revisions) are made to Canada's GDP estimates. It provides an overview of the way that the monthly, quarterly, and annual GDP products are revised as more comprehensive data and better statistical methods are used to compile the statistics.

January 22, 2024 Guide to Canadian International Merchandise Trade Statistics

This guide presents information to enhance an understanding of Canadian International Merchandise Trade statistics. It provides essential definitions, describes key concepts and methodology, and outlines data processes. An overview of the published data, including descriptions of product, industry, and geographical classifications, is provided along with links to the products where these data are available.

December 13, 2023 An overview of revisions to the Financial and Wealth Accounts, 1990 to 2023

This article describes the revisions to the Financial Flow Accounts (FFA), the Other Changes in Assets Account (OCAA), and the National Balance Sheet Accounts (NBSA), collectively referred to as the Financial and Wealth Accounts (FWA), introduced as part of the 2023 Comprehensive Revision. These accounts are an integral part of the Canadian System of Macroeconomic Accounts (CSMA). This exercise was conducted to strengthen the overall quality and relevance of the FWA program and to introduce new concepts, methodologies, and classifications as recommended by international standards.

November 30, 2023 The 2020 to 2022 Revisions of the Income and Expenditure Accounts

This article presents revisions to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by Income and by Expenditure from the Income and Expenditure Accounts (IEA) for the 2020 to 2022 period. These revisions were reflected in the 2022 Provincial and Territorial Economic Accounts estimates, released on November 8, 2023.

September 28, 2023 The 1986 to 2022 revisions of the National Tourism Indicators

This article explains the impact of new and revised data on the National Tourism Indicators (NTI). With the release of the fourth quarter 2022 estimates of the NTI in March 2023, all data were revised from the first quarter of 1986 to the third quarter of 2022. Estimates for all of 2022 were revised again with the release of the first quarter of 2023 NTI in June 2023, now including the fourth quarter of 2022.

May 30, 2023 Enterprise surveys and the measurement of digital trade in services in Canada

Statistics Canada has been making digital activities visible and more robust in international trade in services through two new initiatives, which focus on the concept of digital intensity. This paper will provide information on how digital intensity of services exporters as an indicator is evolving within the International trade in services program, and will highlight developments in measuring imports into Canada from non-resident digital intermediaries. Key results on cross-border digital services in 2020 will be highlighted.

May 18, 2023 Canadian regional labour statistics and inter-regional movements of paid workers, 2001 to 2021

This paper focuses on the new regional labour statistics built based on the economic regions where people work. It reviews the methodology in creating these new experimental regional labour statistics. The data allow us to analyse regional labour markets as well as to track the flows of workers from one economic region to other regions.

This paper is the first that compares such statistics over an entire a decade (2010 with 2021) and investigates the extent that the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions affected employment and labour movements among regional economies.

January 19, 2023 An analysis of Canadian business support programs in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic

With the emergence of COVID-19, Canadian governments at all levels adopted policy initiatives to address the financial challenges faced by businesses. The policies were broad in both scope and variety and altogether represented billions of dollars in support. This article examines these programs including the characteristics of recipients using preliminary data from the Canadian COVID-19 Business Support Measures Database (CCBSM), a standardized set of data covering government support programs for businesses.

December 12, 2022 An overview of revisions to the Financial and Wealth Accounts, 1990 to 2022

This article describes the revisions to the Financial Flow Accounts (FFA), the Other Changes in Assets Account (OCAA), and the National Balance Sheet Accounts (NBSA), collectively referred to as the Financial and Wealth Accounts (FWA), introduced as part of the 2022 Comprehensive Revision. These accounts are an integral part of the Canadian System of Macroeconomic Accounts (CSMA). This exercise was conducted to strengthen the overall quality and relevance of the FWA program and to introduce new concepts, methodologies, and classifications as recommended by international standards.

November 29, 2022 The 2019 to 2021 Revisions of the Income and Expenditure Accounts

This article presents revisions to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by Income and by Expenditure from the Income and Expenditure Accounts (IEA) for the 2019 to 2021 period. These revisions were reflected in the 2021 Provincial and Territorial Economic Accounts estimates, released on November 8, 2022.

September 28, 2022 The 2018 to 2021 revisions of the National Tourism Indicators

This article explains the impact of new and revised data on the National Tourism Indicators (NTI). With the release of the fourth quarter 2021 estimates of the NTI in March 2022, all data were revised from the first quarter of 2018 to the third quarter of 2021. Estimates for all of 2021 were revised again with the release of the first quarter of 2022 NTI in July 2022, now including the fourth quarter of 2021.

September 12, 2022 A preview of revisions to the Financial and Wealth Accounts, 1990 to 2022

This article describes the revisions to the Financial Flow Accounts (FFA), the Other Changes in Assets Account (OCAA), and the National Balance Sheet Accounts (NBSA), collectively referred to as the Financial and Wealth Accounts (FWA), that will be introduced as part of the 2022 Comprehensive Revision (slated for release in December 2022). These accounts are an integral part of the Canadian System of Macroeconomic Accounts (CSMA). These planned revisions are intended to strengthen the overall quality and relevance of the FWA program and to introduce new concepts, methodologies, and classifications as recommended by international standards.

July 21, 2022 Measuring exposure and disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic to global value chains: an analysis based on imported specified intermediate goods in Canada

This paper builds on the Broad Economic Categories (BEC) classification to illustrate Canada’s participation in global value chains (GVCs) through an analysis of imported specified intermediate goods (SIG). A measure of exposure to imports of these goods from top country sources is calculated to shed lights on how this exposure evolved during the pandemic and how Canada adjusted to possible disruptions in GVCs. In addition, the measure of exposure is also computed at the broad economic category and at the product level to reveal some nuances in the interpretation of exposure to imported SIG.

July 5, 2022 An overview of the Non-Profit Sector in Canada, 2010 to 2020

This article outlines the Canadian non-profit sector's composition, demographic statistics, and contribution to the overall economy between the years 2010 and 2020. These data are integral to the non-profit sector, providing a depth of information related to economic and social trends on the sector, while utilizing data from the annual Satellite Account of Non-Profit Institutions and Volunteering (SANIV) and the Human Resources Module (HRM). This exercise was conducted to enrich the user’s comprehension of the national accounts non-profit data, by providing analysis on the trends and composition of the non-profit sector in Canada.

March 17, 2022 Estimating the economic value of unpaid household work in Canada, 2015 to 2019

The following paper summarizes a study completed by the National Economic Accounts Division at Statistics Canada, and funded by Wage and Gender Equality Canada (WAGE) to estimate the value of unpaid household work from 2015 to 2019. The paper outlines the concepts, data sources, methods and the main findings of the study, highlighting the economic contribution of unpaid household work as well as inequalities in the share and value of unpaid work performed by men and women.

December 10, 2021 An overview of revisions to the Financial and Wealth Accounts, 1990 to 2021

This article describes the revisions to the Financial Flow Accounts (FFA), the Other Changes in Assets Account (OCAA), and the National Balance Sheet Accounts (NBSA), collectively referred to as the Financial and Wealth Accounts (FWA), introduced as part of the 2021 Comprehensive Revision. These accounts are an integral part of the Canadian System of Macroeconomic Accounts (CSMA). This exercise was conducted to strengthen the overall quality and relevance of the FWA program and to introduce new concepts, methodologies, and classifications as recommended by international standards.

November 30, 2021 The 2018 to 2020 Revisions of the Income and Expenditure Accounts

This article presents revisions to the gross domestic product by income and by expenditure accounts for the 2018-to-2020 period. These revisions were also reflected in the 2020 Provincial and Territorial Economic Accounts estimates, which were released on November 9, 2021.

September 29, 2021 The 1986 to 2020 revisions of the National Tourism Indicators

This article explains the impact of new and revised data on the National Tourism Indicators. Indeed, with the release of the first quarter 2021 estimates of the National Tourism Indicators in June 2021, all data were revised from the first quarter of 1986 to the fourth quarter of 2020, updated benchmarks from the 2017 Provincial and Territorial Tourism Satellite Account were incorporated, and other sources of new and revised data and some methodological changes were introduced as well.

July 26, 2021 Trends in Canadian business debt financing: Before and during COVID-19

COVID-19's impact on the economy was far reaching. Canadian businesses borrowed money from multiple sources to help guide them through the pandemic. Using data derived from the National Economic Accounts Division, Bank of Canada, and International Accounts and Trade Division this paper examines trends observed in the business debt financing market leading up to and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

March 2, 2021 Recording new COVID-19 measures in the national accounts

With the conclusion of the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) and the Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance (CECRA) in September 2020, the federal government launched new assistance programs to ensure that Canadians continue to receive the financial support that they need during the pandemic.  Replacing the CERB are three programs:  the Canada Recovery Benefit (CRB), the Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit (CRSB) and the Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit (CRCB).  Replacing the CECRA is the Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy (CERS).  While the CERB replacement measures will be reflected as transfers to households, CERS will be impacting businesses, non-profits and charities and will be reflected as subsidies on production in the case of businesses and as transfers in the case of non-profits.  The impact of these four new programs will be reflected in the national accounts estimates starting with the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) release or the fourth quarter of 2020 on March 2, 2021.

An earlier document on the treatment of COVID-19 measures in the national accounts was published at the same time as the GDP release for the second quarter of 2020 on August 28, 2020. 

February 2, 2021 Impact of COVID-19 on merchandise imports: evidence based on end-use goods

This paper analyses the impact of the pandemic of COVID-19 on international merchandise imports, using monthly broad economic categories data and comparing the first half of 2019 with the first half of 2020.

December 18, 2020 Guide to the Monthly Credit Aggregates

In the past, the Bank of Canada (the Bank) and Statistics Canada both produced aggregate measures of borrowing, or credit, for sectors of the Canadian economy. The Statistics Canada measures were on a quarterly basis as part of the National Balance Sheet Accounts (NBSA) whereas the Bank of Canada published monthly statistics. While both estimates are drawn from the same data sources and paint a similar picture of the indebtedness of Canadian households and non-financial businesses, some reconcilable differences existed in the aggregate measures. Starting in December 2020 Statistics Canada will be producing monthly estimates that will be integrated into the larger NBSA framework. This will provide users with a single and consistent set of monthly estimates that align with the internationally recognized national accounting principles detailed in the United Nations System of National Accounts This guide will serve as a review of the historical differences between each organization's credit aggregates, the conceptual and statistical changes that will occur as a result of the integration of monthly estimates within the NBSA, and a detailed overview of the methods that will be employed to estimate the outstanding credit debt of households and non-financial private corporations by lending sector.

December 11, 2020 An overview of revisions to the Financial and Wealth Accounts, 1990 to 2020

This article describes the revisions to the Financial Flow Accounts (FFA), the Other Changes in Assets Account (OCAA), and the National Balance Sheet Accounts (NBSA), collectively referred to as the Financial and Wealth Accounts (FWA), introduced as part of the 2019 Comprehensive Revision. These accounts are an integral part of the Canadian System of Macroeconomic Accounts (CSMA). This exercise was conducted to strengthen the overall quality and relevance of the FWA program and to introduce new concepts, methodologies, and classifications as recommended by international standards.

December 10, 2020 Inter-generational comparisons of household economic well-being

This study of data from the Distributions of Household Economic Accounts compares households' economic well-being from a macro-economic accounts perspective, as measured by net saving and net worth for each generation when the major income earner for a household in one generation reached the same point in the life cycle as the major income earner for a household in another generation. The study finds that while younger generations have higher disposable income and higher consumption expenditure than older generations when they reached the same age, their net saving is relatively similar. As well, younger generations' economic well-being may be more at risk due to the COVID-19 pandemic since they depend more on employment as a primary source of income, they have higher debt relative to income, and they have less equity in financial and real estate assets from which to draw upon when needed.

December 7, 2020 Canada’s services exports through the lens of digital trade

Digital delivery is one of four primary modes of supplying services to another country, alongside in-person delivery, either through the customer or the supplier traveling to their counterpart, or by establishing a commercial presence in the other country. As part of Statistics Canada’s strategy to measure how digitalisation is enabling, transforming and disrupting international trade in services, enterprises in Canada were asked for the first time for reference year 2018 to provide the share of their exports of 15 distinct commercial services that had been delivered remotely, of which digital delivery is the primary mechanism. Provided to services exporters through a supplementary survey module within Statistics Canada’s International transactions in commercial services, this new data source for digital trade in services is the result of extensive collaboration between Statistics Canada and Canada’s export community, its US counterparts in economic statistics, such as the Bureau of Economic Analysis, and regional and international organizations—notably the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organisation and Eurostat.

This article discusses a primary metric derived from this new survey module - the digital intensity of Canada’s 2018 commercial services exports with analysis of exporters by service category, industry, size class, type of multinational, and trading partner. In doing so, Statistics Canada continues to make progress along the continuum of measuring digital trade and this paper on digital delivery of Canada’s services exports serves as a contribution on Canada’s measurement of trade in services by mode of supply.

December 1, 2020 The 2017 to 2019 revisions of the Income and Expenditure Accounts

This article describes revisions to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by Income and by Expenditure Accounts for the 2017-to-2019 period. These data were released at the same time as the 2019 Provincial and Territorial Economic Accounts estimates, which include revisions to the time series.

The first two quarters of 2020 are also revised. However, in accordance with standard revision practice, these estimates will continue to be revised during upcoming cycles. Therefore, they are not included in the analysis in this article.

November 30, 2020 Methodology for exports of energy products within the International Merchandise Trade Program

An overview of the methods used to compile statistics on exports of energy products within the International Merchandise Trade Program, specifically for the continuous transmission commodities crude oil, natural gas and electricity. Some exceptional processes are followed for these products, and this paper summarizes the methods used, and explains the factors behind the methods selected.

July 28, 2020 Satellite Accounting in Canada

The concept of satellite accounting was introduced as part of the United-Nations-endorsed System of National Accounts (SNA) in 1993. It provides a way for national accounts statisticians to develop alternative statistics on selected topics that are not represented as such in the SNA. Examples include tourism, the environment, the digital economy, and cooking, childcare and other non-market work done in the home. This paper describes the satellite accounting concept, discusses its strengths and limitations, refers briefly to international experience and provides summaries of eleven satellite accounts that have been built in Canada over the last three decades. Extensive references to more detailed documentation are also provided.

May 29, 2020 Recording COVID-19 measures in the national accounts

Since March, Canadian governments, federal, provincial and local, along with their associated government business enterprises, have been implementing a wide range of policy measures to address the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of these measures are economic in nature, taking the form of financial transfers and concessional loans to individuals, businesses and other groups. These actions will be reflected in the national accounts estimates for March and subsequent months, quarters and years. This paper outlines the main policy measures of an economic nature and identifies where their effects will be seen in the accounts.

July 10, 2019 The value of data in Canada: Experimental estimates

In this paper a preliminary set of statistical estimates of the amounts invested in Canadian data, databases and data science in recent years are presented. The results indicate rapid growth in investment in data, databases and data science over the last three decades and a significant accumulation of these kinds of capital over time.

June 24, 2019 Measuring investment in data, databases and data science: Conceptual framework

This paper aims to expand the current national accounting concepts and statistical methods for measuring data in order to shed light on some highly consequential changes in society that are related to the rising usage of data. The paper concludes by discussing possible methods that can be used to assign an economic value to the various elements in the information chain and tests these concepts and methods by presenting results for Canada as a first attempt to measure the value of data.

May 30, 2019 A preview of the 2019 revision of the Canadian System of Macroeconomic Accounts

This article describes the upcoming revisions (November 2019) in the Canadian Macroeconomic Accounts resulting from the inclusion of illegal cannabis production, consumption and distribution as well as statistical revisions of the international travel services. The paper highlights the impact of these revisions on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and the balance of international payments (BOP).

May 21, 2019 Estimating cannabis consumption using markers in wastewater: methodological paper This paper examines the parameters needed to calculate the mass of cannabis metabolites in wastewater, and the additional parameters needed to estimate the total quantity of cannabis consumed.
May 3, 2019 Measuring digital economic activities in Canada: initial estimates As technological advancement continues and digitalization rapidly expands to affect more segments of the economy, there is an increasing need to accurately measure and assess its impacts. Statistics Canada is responding to this challenge by working towards defining and measuring the economic value of the digital economic activities in Canada, the provinces and territories. This paper presents Statistics Canada’s working definition of the digital economy as well as initial estimates on the output, gross domestic product (GDP) and jobs associated with those activities.
April 16, 2019 Enhancing Canada’s statistics on securities

Over the past decade, particularly in the wake of the global financial crisis, there has been increasing pressure for national statistical offices and central banks to enhance their financial statistics. The last global financial crisis revealed some important data gaps in countries’ statistics to properly assess the build-up of risk and the interconnectedness in financial markets.

March 28, 2019 The 2015 to 2018 revisions of the National Tourism Indicators

The revisions to the National Tourism Indicators are the result of new benchmarks from the 2015 supply and use tables and revisions to the Canadian System of Macroeconomic Accounts. Constant dollar estimates were also updated to base year 2012.

March 14, 2019 Measuring private short-term accommodation in Canada

Statistics Canada continuously works to ensure that economic measures reflect our reality, including new and emerging activities such as the private short-term accommodation market. The Canadian Macroeconomic Accounts have developed provisional estimates of the private short-term accommodation market in Canada, the provinces and territories. This paper outlines an innovative approach to measuring this activity using web-scrapped data. In addition to providing provisional estimates of the overall market, this paper contains detailed analysis of the largest private accommodation digital platform used in Canada. Finally, it summarizes the approach taken for incorporating the data into various macroeconomic measures, such as gross domestic product (GDP).

March 1, 2019 Incorporating the cannabis market in the national economic accounts, fourth quarter 2018

The fourth quarter 2018 release of the national economic accounts includes estimates of the legal and illegal economic activities related to cannabis production, distribution and consumption for non-medical and medical use. Prior to this release, only the production, distribution and consumption activities related to legal use for medical purposes were recorded.

December 21, 2018 Financial and Wealth Accounts on a from-whom-to-whom basis: selected financial instruments The 2008 financial crisis demonstrated how quickly economic shocks can spread between sectors and countries, making it apparent that the existing set of macroeconomic statistics contained gaps for identifying such systemic issues. Users therefore require new products from the System of National Accounts that demonstrate the financial linkages between sectors in the economy. The Special Data Dissemination Plus (SDDS+) and G20 Data Gaps initiatives were established by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to address some of these data gaps, and presented specific recommendations to G20 countries. One of these recommendations asks statistical agencies to begin compiling more detailed data on the interconnectedness of the economy by incorporating a From-Whom-To-Whom (FWTW) framework. This FWTW framework includes statistics that make counterparty information explicit, showing how various sectors of the economy are connected by financial interdependencies. In other words, the data presented on this new basis allows users to answer the question ‘whom is funding whom and with what financial instruments’. In this visualisation tool, we present six instruments on a FWTW basis in a fully customizable pivot table.
December 14, 2018 An Economic Account for Non-bank Financial Intermediation as an Extension of the National Balance Sheet Accounts The goal of this paper is to explain the methodology and data sources used to construct a comprehensive economic account covering entities that fall within the definition of non-bank financial intermediation (NBFI), previously referred to as “shadow banking”. For policy-makers, researchers, and regulators, understanding the vulnerabilities that exist in the financial system does not stop at the traditional entities where oversight and risk assessment is well established. The activities of NBFIs are an important part of the financial system and, due to the many inter-linkages between NBFIs and the more formal system, it is crucial to develop the estimates needed to better monitor risk throughout the entire system. This economic account seeks, in part, to address that objective.
December 14, 2018 Seasonal adjustment of stocks and flows in the Financial and Wealth Accounts: towards an integrated approach The principal motivation in producing estimates of seasonally adjusted household sector borrowing arose as a result of the observed seasonality present in the unadjusted credit market debt estimates. For example, Canadians tend to borrow more in the form of consumer credit in the fourth quarter, with the arrival of significant retail activity tied to the holidays, and then subsequently retrench in the first quarter. Moreover, mortgage borrowing has a tendency to slow down in the first quarter, but then pick up in the second and third quarters as winter recedes in many areas of Canada and resale activity picks up and families look to secure housing before the start of the upcoming school year. This phenomena of sub-annual cyclical patterns is not constrained to the household sector and can be seen in other areas such as government borrowing. Consequently, seasonal adjustment in this context enhances the interpretability of estimates that possess a strong cyclical component, eliminating the variation due to predictable and recurrent events, and provides data users, policy makers, and researchers with more accurate quarter-to-quarter movements that reveal the underlying trends in the data. While only household borrowing is the current sector of interest, seasonal adjustment will be eventually expanded to encompass other pertinent sectors in the Financial and Wealth Accounts.
December 14, 2018 Understanding business credit measures: a joint study by the Bank of Canada and Statistics Canada The Bank of Canada (the Bank) and Statistics Canada both produce aggregate measures of borrowing, or credit, for sectors of the Canadian economy. The Statistics Canada measures are part of the National Balance Sheet Accounts (NBSA), which cover the entire economy and directly align with the internationally recognized national accounting principles detailed in the United Nations System of National Accounts. The Bank’s data are presented based on the issuer of credit, i.e., the holder of the financial assets, and do not display liabilities. Both measures are constructed primarily from records of Canadian financial institutions and provide thorough coverage of lending by those institutions. They show a similar picture of the indebtedness of Canadian non-financial businesses, currently and in the past. However, the use of differing classification systems, methodologies and definitions result in some reconcilable differences in the aggregate measures. Therefore, the Bank and Statistics Canada conducted a joint study to understand and identify key differences between their respective measures of business credit loans, including non-mortgage business loans, non-residential mortgages and commercial paper.
December 7, 2018 Integrating the production, distribution and consumption of cannabis in the Canadian national economic accounts Statistics Canada is responsible for compiling and disseminating Canada's key macroeconomic indicators such as gross domestic product, household spending, investment, exports, imports, government revenue and expenditure, and industrial output. With the approval of Bill C-45, a significant portion of cannabis production and consumption is moving from the illegal to the legal market. This now-legal activity is in scope for inclusion in Canada's estimates of gross domestic product just like other legal economic activities. The change in legal status makes it much easier for Statistics Canada to gather credible data to measure the size of the market. This paper outlines how the Canadian national economic accounts will be adjusted to incorporate both the illegal and the now-legal production and consumption of non-medical cannabis for the period 1961 forward.
November 30, 2018 The 2015 to 2017 revisions of the Income and Expenditure Accounts Revised estimates of the Income and Expenditure Accounts (IEA) covering the period 2015 to 2017 have been released. These revised estimates incorporate the most current source data and seasonal patterns.
October 19, 2018 Trade in services by mode of supply: definitions, collection strategies and preliminary results International trade in services is covered by a set of rules documented in the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). The GATS is a multilaterally agreed legal framework for trade in services, which provides a system of enforceable obligations and commitments for services trade that apply to all members of the World Trade Organization. The GATS defines trade in services as the supply of a service through any of the four modes of supply: cross border, consumption abroad, commercial presence, and the presence of natural persons.
October 19, 2018 Canada's international trade in information and communications technologies (ICT) and ICT-enabled services Information and communications technologies (ICT) play an important role in facilitating trade in services. The reduction in costs of ICT, technological advances and computerization of work have enabled services to increasingly be traded. Many services can now be instantaneously delivered online to businesses and consumers around the world.
October 10, 2018 Access by Canadians to regulated liquor and cannabis retail outlets Statistics Canada has done some calculations to determine the accessibility of regulated products—liquor and cannabis—to Canadian households in bricks-and-mortar outlets. Using the agency's geographic databases, the location of each Canadian household is identified, and the distance from that location to the nearest legal retail outlet is calculated. Averages of these distances are then calculated to determine how generally accessible these products are to Canadians. It must be noted this takes no account of online or illegal retailers.
September 21, 2018 Estimating the demand for cannabis It is a matter of some speculation what the demand for cannabis will be after the substance becomes available for non-medical use. Statistics Canada has released estimates of household consumption expenditure over the past several decades based largely self-reported use, but this demand is mostly for illegal cannabis used for non-medical purposes. To what extent will the new legal market displace the long-existing illegal market and how large will new demand be, coming from consumers who are not presently using illegal products?
August 29, 2018 Comparing Canada’s and China’s Bilateral Trade Data Bilateral trade between Canada and China has grown significantly over the past years, and differences in the trade statistics of the two countries have widened in step with this growth. In theory, Canada’s statistics for imports and exports with China should match China’s statistics for exports and imports with Canada. This is not the case in practice, as trade values differ between the two countries’ data. Since 2016, Statistics Canada and the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China have worked together to account for differences in their bilateral trade in goods and services statistics. This paper presents the results of the comparison of Canada’s and China’s bilateral merchandise and services trade statistics.
April 26, 2018 A snapshot of licensed cannabis producers Statistics Canada conducted a survey Canada's licensed cannabis producers in the fourth quarter of 2017 and early 2018. Businesses in this survey are cannabis producers that are licensed by Health Canada as of September 2017. The survey collected information on production, inventories, revenue, expenses, employment and capital expenditures for the years 2015 and 2016. Additional information was obtained from the Canada Revenue Agency's corporate income tax and payroll deduction records and from Health Canada's regulatory data.
March 22, 2018 Distributions of Household Economic Accounts, estimates of asset, liability and net worth distributions, 2010 to 2017, technical methodology and quality report Statistics Canada regularly publishes macroeconomic indicators on household assets, liabilities and net worth as part of the quarterly National Balance Sheet Accounts (NBSA). These accounts are aligned with the most recent international standards and are the source of estimates of national wealth for all sectors of the economy, including households, non-profit institutions, governments and corporations along with Canada’s wealth position vis-à-vis the rest of the world. While the NBSA provide high quality information on the overall position of households relative to other economic sectors, they lack the granularity required to understand vulnerabilities of specific groups and the resulting implications for economic wellbeing and financial stability.
March 15, 2018 Understanding household credit measures, a joint study by the Bank of Canada and Statistics CanadaThe Bank of Canada and Statistics Canada both produce aggregate measures of borrowing, or credit, for sectors of the Canadian economy. The Statistics Canada measures are part of the National Balance Sheet Accounts (NBSA), which cover the entire economy and directly align with the internationally recognized national accounting principles detailed in the United Nations System of National Accounts. They are available by sector as currently defined in the Canadian System of Macroeconomic Accounts. The NBSA are created using a balance sheet approach, which involves presenting the assets and liabilities for all instruments and sectors of the economy. In other words, for each instrument all holders of financial assets must have corresponding counterparties who hold the financial liabilities, and as such, the sum of these are equal in the aggregate. The Bank of Canada’s data are presented based on the issuer of credit, i.e., the holder of the financial assets, and do not display liabilities.
March 14, 2018 Currency composition of Canada's international investment positionDespite ongoing current account deficits and the corresponding need to borrow funds from abroad, Canada’s net international investment position (IIP) has increased to unprecedented levels in recent years. This suggests that the change in the net IIP has been driven by factors other than current account deficits. Among these factors is the revaluation effect related to exchange rate fluctuations. This article describes in details the currency composition of Canada's international financial assets and liabilities as well as the impact of exchange rate fluctuations on the value of these financial instruments. It also includes information on how Canada compares with other countries with respect to the currency exposure of its international assets and liabilities.
February 27, 2018 The 2010 to 2014 revisions of the provincial and territorial culture indicatorsWith the release of the 2015 and 2016 estimates of the Provincial and Territorial Culture Indicators in February of 2018, data were revised for 2010 to 2014. The 2013 Provincial and Territorial Culture Satellite Account was incorporated as the new benchmark and other new and revised macroeconomic data were also introduced.
February 22, 2018 Using municipal wastewater to measure Canadian's consumption of cannabis and opioidsOver the last number of months, Statistics Canada has been updating the national statistical system to measure the production, consumption and distribution of non-medical cannabis. To date, this work has involved updating classification standards (such as the North American Product Classification), developing models that take existing information (mainly from health and social surveys) and transform it into estimates of consumption and expenditure, as well as undertaking new surveys on cannabis consumption.
December 11, 2017 Measuring Canadian export diversificationCanada exports over $500 billion worth of merchandise trade annually. This reliance on foreign markets contributes undeniably to Canadian economic activity. However, there are a number of ways of analyzing Canada's international trade, beyond simply measuring dollar values. One way, that often receives little attention, is to look at the degree of export diversification. Simply put, does an economy have one large customer or multiple customers, or does a country export one product or multiple products? Looking at international trade data through this lens provides additional information on the exposure of our domestic producers to risk beyond our borders, such as competitive pressures, commodity price and exchange rate volatility, as well as economic and political risk.
December 11, 2017 Canada's external trade classified by Broad Economic Categories This study presents Canadian international trade data aggregated according to the Classification by Broad Economic Categories (BEC). The BEC classification provides users with a new perspective on Canada's imports and exports. A key feature of the BEC classification is an end-use aggregation structure that is consistent with the three basic classes of goods in the System of National Accounts (SNA), namely, capital goods, intermediate goods and consumption goods.
December 1, 2017 The 2014 to 2016 revisions of the Income and Expenditure AccountsThis article describes the revisions to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by Income and by Expenditure Accounts for the period from 2014 to 2016. These data follow the November 2017 release of the 2016 Provincial and Territorial Economic Accounts estimates, which include revisions to the 2014 and 2015 period.
November 21, 2017 A cannabis economic account - The frameworkCanada's society and economy continue to grow and evolve. Statistics Canada strives to keep its programs up to date with changing trends and circumstances to ensure Canadians are well informed about current developments. This means Statistics Canada has to innovate and invest in the statistical system continuously. The prospective legalization of cannabis means Statistics Canada needs to start preparing Canada's statistical system to capture the associated economic and social implications.
October 2, 2017 Foreign direct investment in Canada by ultimate investing countryWith Canadian companies increasingly engaged in the global economy there is a growing demand for more detailed information on their international activities to better understand how Canadian businesses are expanding internationally and what the benefits and consequences are for Canada.
September 28, 2017 The 1986 to 2016 revisions of the National Tourism Indicators Updated benchmarks from the 2012 Canadian Tourism Satellite Account (CTSA) were incorporated. Other sources of new and revised data and selected methodological changes were also introduced. This article will focus mostly on revisions beginning in 2012, the reference year of the most recent CTSA.
September 15, 2017 Preparing the statistical system for the legalization of cannabis Statistics Canada is presently preparing the statistical system to be able to gauge the impact of the transition from illegal to legal recreational cannabis use and to shed light on the economic and social activities related to the use of cannabis thereafter. This paper provides a summary of the work that is now under way toward these ends.
August 31, 2017 Revision to quarterly Income and Expenditure Accounts: 1961 to 1980 Users of macroeconomic statistics require long time series in order to understand economic cycles, forecast and conduct economic modeling. In general the longer the time series the better users are able to understand the economy. Statistics Canada has been producing macroeconomic account statistics since the 1930s. Over the last 80 plus years these statistics have evolved due to the changing nature of the economy, the development of international macroeconomic accounting standards and the development of new statistical methods and processes.
June 19, 2017 Canada's merchandise trade with the U.S. by state Trade patterns with the United States on a regional basis highlight the integration of industries between the two countries. Proximity, transport infrastructure and government policies have all contributed to these interdependencies. In 2016, 14 of Canada's top 20 trading partners were US states.
June 19, 2017 The Natural Resources Satellite Account – Sources and methods The natural resources sector is an important part of the Canadian economic landscape. It plays a significant role in Canada's economic growth, employment and investment. The development of new mines, energy sources, oil and gas reserves, as well as forest products, have led to the sector's increasingly important role in Canada's overall economic development. The sector is often an important driver of economic growth and is a key influence on regional economic performance. Given the importance of this sector, policymakers, researchers, businesses and households require comprehensive and timely statistics in order to assess the evolution, structure, role and contribution of this sector to the Canadian economy.
May 31, 2017 Carbon Pricing in the Canadian System of Macroeconomic Accounts The Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change (the Pan-Canadian Framework) was introduced by the Government of Canada in 2016, in an effort to combat climate change (Environment and Climate Change Canada). Under the Framework, Canadian jurisdictions are required to price carbon emissions by 2018. Pricing is to be applied to a broad set of emission sources, so that Canada can meet its target for reductions in emissions of greenhouse gasses (GHGs), and to support innovation and clean growth. As per the Framework, the price should start at a minimum of $10 per tonne in 2018, and rise by $10 per tonne each year, so that it reaches $50 per tonne by 2022.
May 30, 2017 Treatment of duties applied to imports of Canadian softwood lumber products into the U.S. in the Canadian System of Macroeconomic Accounts The Committee Overseeing Action for Lumber International Trade Investigations or Negotiations filed countervailing and anti-dumping duty petitions against Canadian softwood lumber producers with the United States (U.S.) Department of Commerce and the United States (U.S.) International Trade Commission on November 25, 2016. The petitions allege that Canadian softwood lumber producers benefit from government subsidies, particularly from harvesting trees from crown land below market value.
May 15, 2017 Remaining useful service life ratios of non-residential capital stock This paper describes new estimates that are an extension of the existing Stock and Consumption of Fixed Capital Program (SCFC) and provide a short historical time series on a variety of asset classes. The main benefit of this product is that it provides information on the relationship between the timing and average age of infrastructure investments and their associated expected service lives, providing additional information on Canada's infrastructure. It is not an all-inclusive assessment of the state of the infrastructure stock in Canada and data gaps remain. However, if interpreted correctly, they can provide useful information about requirements for infrastructure and non-infrastructure asset investment. Used as a benchmark to understand capital spending deficits or surpluses, changes over time can indicate when and where investment is required, in the context of the fiscal, economic and demographic landscape.
April 25, 2017 Annual Household Distribution Tables, Provisional estimates of asset, liability and net worth distributions, 2010 to 2016: Technical methodology and quality report Statistics Canada regularly publishes macroeconomic indicators on household assets, liabilities and net worth as part of the quarterly National Balance Sheet Accounts (NBSA). These accounts are aligned with the most recent international standards and are the source of estimates of national wealth for all sectors of the economy, including households, non-profit institutions, governments and corporations along with Canada's wealth position vis-a-vis the rest of the world. While the NBSA provide high quality information on the overall position of households relative to other economic sectors, they lack the granularity required to understand vulnerabilities of specific groups and the resulting implications for economic wellbeing and financial stability.
March 30, 2017 Canadian Tourism Satellite Account, 2012 The Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) measures the economic importance of tourism in Canada. The TSA extracts economic information on tourism from the Canadian System of Macroeconomic Accounts (CSMA). It uses the same measures of inputs, outputs, GDP and employment as the CSMA, and reorganizes information on tourism following the Tourism Satellite Account: Recommended Methodological Framework.
February 21, 2017 Measuring the sharing economy in the Canadian Macroeconomic Accounts The “sharing economy” (SE) and “sharing economy” digital platforms have received a lot of attention lately from policy makers, businesses, the media and the public. The concept of the sharing economy is not new—people have been bartering and sharing goods and services throughout human history. Enabled by technology and social trends, the sharing economy is transforming the ways in which economic agents can produce and consume goods and services.
November 30, 2016 The 2013 to 2015 revisions of the Income and Expenditure Accounts This article describes the revisions of the Gross Domestic Product by Income and by Expenditure Accounts for the period from 2013 to 2015. These follow the November 9, 2016 release of the 2015 Provincial and Territorial Economic Accounts estimates, which included revisions to the 2013 and 2014 period.
October 21, 2016 The Natural Resources Satellite Account: Feasibility study This paper examines the feasibility of developing a Natural Resources Satellite Account (NRSA) consistent with the Canadian System of National Accounts. The NRSA is an expandable framework that can be used to present Statistics Canada's existing data holdings for the natural resource sector as well provide increased detail for data users. This feasibility study starts by discussing satellite accounts within the framework of the System of National Accounts (SNA).The definition of natural resources is addressed. Experimental results are then provided for the years 2009 to 2012, based on the proposed definition. Further developments and potential extensions are discussed in a concluding section.
May 16, 2016 Deriving revenue, expenditure and budgetary balance of the government sector by province and territory As an extension of the Provincial and Territorial Economic Accounts, the Canadian System of Macroeconomic Accounts now includes detailed estimates of revenues, expenditures, surplus/deficit and net lending for all government sub-sectors, for each province and territory. This note explains the general approach taken to derive a provincial distribution of those sub-sectors which exist and operate in more than one provincial or territorial jurisdiction.
May 11, 2016 Provincial and Territorial Culture Indicators, 2010 to 2014 The Provincial and Territorial Culture Indicators (PTCI) are timely economic estimates of culture and sport in Canada. The PTCI are an extension of the more comprehensive Provincial and Territorial Culture Satellite Account and measure the economic importance of culture and sport in terms of output, gross domestic product and employment across Canada for reference years 2010 to 2014.
December 14, 2015 Adjustments applied to capital expenditure estimates to achieve gross fixed capital formation Statistics Canada releases an estimate of capital expenditure from the Capital and Repair Expenditure Survey and an estimate of gross fixed capital formation as part of the Canadian System of Macroeconomic Accounts. This note will explain and provide the adjustments applied to the capital expenditure estimate to achieve the measure of gross fixed capital formation.
December 14, 2015 Reconciling Canadian-U.S. measures of household disposable income and household debt: Update This note provides users with a reconciliation between Canadian and U.S. measures of household disposable income, debt and the household credit market debt to disposable income ratio.
December 11, 2015 Revisions to Canada's International Investment Position This article describes the revisions to the international investment position data as part of the 2015 Comprehensive Revision of the Canadian System of Macroeconomic Accounts (CSMA). This exercise is conducted to improve the overall quality of the international accounts program and to introduce new concepts and classifications as recommended by updated international standards. The revisions are also harmonized with those of the corresponding accounts in the CSMA.
December 1 and December 14, 2015 Results from the 2015 Comprehensive Revision to the Canadian System of Macroeconomic Accounts This article describes the revisions to the gross domestic product by income and by expenditure accounts, the financial flow accounts and the national balance sheet accounts introduced as part of the 2015 Comprehensive Revision of the Canadian System of Macroeconomic Accounts (CSMA). This exercise is conducted to strengthen the overall quality of the national accounts program and to introduce new concepts and classifications as recommended by updated international standards. The revisions are also harmonized with those of the corresponding accounts in the CSMA.
November 30, 2015 Revisions to Canada's Balance of International Payments This article describes the revisions to the balance of payments data and related statistical products introduced as part of the 2015 Comprehensive Revision of the Canadian System of Macroeconomic Accounts (CSMA). This exercise is conducted to strengthen the overall quality of the international accounts program and to introduce new concepts and classifications as recommended by updated international standards. The revisions are also harmonized with those of the corresponding accounts in the CSMA.
November 17, 2015 Natural resource wealth statistics in the National Balance Sheet Accounts This paper outlines the methodology being used to integrate the value of selected natural resource assets into the quarterly sectored national balance sheet accounts. It responds to recommendations in the revised United Nations System of National Accounts to include these values in the balance sheet. The addition of these asset values will significantly increase and improve measures of sectoral net worth.
September 15, 2015 Activities of Canadian majority-owned affiliates abroad, expanded measures – Provisional estimates for reference year 2012 This paper presents some data development work on the expansion of the outward Foreign Affiliate Statistics program at Statistics Canada, the considerations and strategy for improvement, and provides a first look at the expanded details in the form of provisional estimates for reference year 2012.
September 2, 2015 Activities of foreign majority owned affiliates in Canada – Provisional estimates for reference year 2011 Foreign Affiliate Statistics are an extension of statistics on Foreign Direction Investment. They provide additional insight of the effect on economic agents in national economies in terms of earnings, employment, trade and foreign exposures resulting from an increasingly inter-connected and integrated global economy. This paper presents some data development work on inward foreign affiliate statistics that contribute to the understanding of globalization in the Canadian economy.
September 1, 2015 Household debt service ratio – Interest and principal This article describes new quarterly estimates of household sector debt payments (mortgage and non-mortgage), including both interest and principal components, from 1990 to the present.
June 9, 2015 Provincial and Territorial Culture Satellite Account, 2010The Provincial and Territorial Culture Satellite Account (PTCSA) measures the economic importance of culture and sport in terms of output, gross domestic product and employment across Canada for reference year 2010. The PTCSA is a product of both the 2011 Canadian Framework for Culture Statistics (CFCS) and the Canadian System of National Accounts (CSNA). The CFCS provides the guiding principles to define and identify cultural economic activity, whereas the CSNA provides the mechanism and data to derive the estimates. The PTCSA is an extension of the Canadian Culture Satellite Account.
May 29, 2015 Gross Domestic Product Excluding Expenditures on Energy Related Products This article provides an estimate of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) excluding expenditures on energy related products and compares it to total GDP.
May 26, 2015 Reconciliation of capital expenditure and gross fixed capital formation Results of the redesigned Capital and Repair Expenditures Survey were released on May 26, 2015. With this redesign, macroeconomic accounting adjustments that were previously applied to the survey results, to better align with System of National Accounts (SNA) concepts, will no longer be made. This note provides users with an overview of the concepts of capital expenditure and gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) and the adjustments that are needed in order to bring capital expenditure in line with the SNA concept of GFCF.
May 22, 2015 Global Production Arrangements in Canada – Initial Evidence from the Survey of Innovation and Business Strategy The increased pace of globalization has brought about many changes in both the Canadian and world economies. One important change has been the increased prevalence of global value chains which sees production processes spread out around the globe, across vertically integrated multinationals or via arm's length trade. This paper focuses on two types of global production arrangements, namely, the case of merchanting and of goods send abroad for processing, with the limiting case of factoryless goods producers. Using the results of the 2009 and 2012 Survey of Innovation and Business Strategy, this report aims to provide an indication of the degree and nature of outsourcing among Canadian firms, with respect to these global production arrangements.
April 29, 2015 Methodology for measuring the underground economy by province and territory Estimates of the underground economy by province and territory for the period 2007 to 2012 are now available for the first time. The objective of this technical note is to explain how the methodology employed to derive upper-bound estimates of the underground economy for the provinces and territories differs from that used to derive national estimates.
March 31, 2015 A preview of the 2015 comprehensive revision of the Canadian System of Macroeconomic Accounts The Canadian System of Macroeconomic Accounts (CSMA) is a source of invaluable information for business, governments and citizens. These accounts provide users with important insights into the inner-workings of the economy, current economic trends and interactions between the various sectors of the economy. In order for these accounts to remain relevant, the underlying concepts, methods, classification systems and data sources need to be periodically updated.
March 3, 2015 Quarterly estimation of investments of the oil and gas extraction industry Oil and gas exploration, development and production activities continue to grow in importance, making it essential that the appropriate level and growth of these activities are included in the measure of gross domestic product (GDP). Statistics Canada recently began incorporating results from the Quarterly Survey of Capital Expenditures – Oil and Gas Activities in sub-annual GDP statistics (for years 2011, 2013, 2014). This note provides a brief overview of the survey and the incorporation of its results when estimating quarterly investment.
February 12, 2015 Constructing Provincial Time Series: A Discussion of Data Sources and Methods This new dataset increases the information available for comparing the performance of provinces and territories across a range of measures. It combines often fragmented provincial time series data that, as such, are of limited utility for examining the evolution of provincial economies over extended periods. More advanced statistical methods, and models with greater breadth and depth, are difficult to apply to existing fragmented Canadian data. The longitudinal nature of the new provincial dataset remedies this shortcoming. This report explains the construction of the latest vintage of the dataset. The dataset contains the most up-to-date information available.
February 4, 2015 Provisional estimates of the Canadian Government Finance Statistics: financial flows and balance sheet This article describes the major series and trends in the balance sheet and financial flows of the general government and government business enterprises for the period 2007 to 2012 according to the Canadian Government Finance Statistics (CGFS) framework.
November 7, 2014 Overview of the Canadian Government Finance StatisticsAn overview of the Canadian Government Finance Statistics (GFS) framework; how it relates to other government statistics such as the Canadian System of Macroeconomic Accounts and the Public Accounts; and the new GFS data products available to users.
November 5, 2014 The 2011 to 2013 revisions of the Income and Expenditure Accounts This article describes the revisions to the Gross Domestic Product by Income and by Expenditure Accounts for the period from 2011 to 2013. These data are released at the same time as the 2013 Provincial and Territorial Economic Accounts estimates, which include revisions to the 2011 and 2012 period.
November 4, 2014 Balance of Payments Trade in Goods at Statistics Canada: Expanding geographic detail to 27 Principal Trading Partners (PTPs) Beginning in November 2014, International Trade in goods data will be provided on a Balance of Payments (BOP) basis for additional country detail. In publishing this data, BOP-based exports to and imports from 27 countries, referred to as Canada's Principal Trading Partners (PTPs), will be highlighted for the first time. In response to substantial demand for information on these countries in recent years, BOP-based trade in goods data will be available for countries such as China and Mexico, Brazil and India, South Korea, and our largest European Union trading partners.
October 17, 2014 Changes to the flows and stocks of fixed capital The methodology for estimating the flows and stocks of fixed capital has been redeveloped to ensure greater coherence of the capital stock program within the Canadian System of Macroeconomic Accounts (CSMA). This is done by incorporating investment flows directly from the CSMA. on a detailed industry/asset basis. The data released will be based on the input-output final demand classification, with updated per asset depreciation profiles and prices.
October 8, 2014 Estimates of Cross-border Shopping, 2006 to 2012 This article provides estimates on the value of cross-border shopping in the United States from 2006 to 2012, on an annual and quarterly basis. The study provides detailed values for overnight and same-day spending in the United States, postal and courier imports and motor vehicle imports. Total cross-border expenditures are compared to the Canadian retail trade sales, to provide a basis of comparison on the magnitude of these expenditures. The extent to which cross-border spending varies with movements in the Canadian/United States exchange rate is also examined. The cross-border estimates are derived from the Canadian System of National Accounts and their underlying survey and administrative data sources. The estimates are based on three different scenarios (low, medium and high) with each scenario based on different statistical assumptions. The low scenario represents the lower-bound estimates for cross-border shopping, while the high scenario represents the upper-bound estimates. The medium scenario is based on assumptions deemed to be the most plausible. All assumptions reflect professional judgement and build upon previous analysis.
October 3, 2014 Revisions to trade data for crude oil and natural gas Canadian international merchandise trade data are released monthly and may be revised in subsequent releases as new information becomes available. These data are released approximately 35 days following the close of the reference period and represent one of the timeliest economic indicators produced by Statistics Canada. Given their timeliness, some of the data are not received in time and need to be estimated or modelled. This is the case for imports and exports of crude petroleum and natural gas. More specifically, at the time of release, energy trade data are based on an incomplete set of information and are revised as Statistics Canada and National Energy Board information becomes available in the subsequent months. Due to the increasing importance of energy imports and exports and the timeliness of the data, the revisions to energy prices and volumes are having an increasingly significant impact on the monthly revision to Canada's trade balance. This note explains how the estimates in the initial release are made when data sources are not yet available, and how the original data are adjusted in subsequent releases.
September 10, 2014 Canadian Culture Satellite Account, 2010 The Culture Satellite Account (CSA) measures the economic importance of culture and sport in Canada. The CSA extracts economic information on culture and sport from the System of National Accounts (SNA). It uses the same measures of inputs, outputs, and GDP as the System of National Accounts, and reorganizes information on culture following the Canadian Framework for Culture Statistics 2011 (CFCS).
June 16, 2014 Provincial-Territorial Human Resource Module of the Tourism Satellite Account, 2012 This paper reports on the Provincial-Territorial Human Resource Module of the Tourism Satellite Account, 2012 developed by Statistics Canada. This study provides detailed information on employment related to tourism in Canada by province and territory. Information on wages and salaries, number of jobs and hours worked by occupation is included. The data are also disaggregated by age, sex and immigration status. This study provides a resource for training and planning for tourism in Canada. The report is based upon data published as of November 20, 2013.

This study was prepared by Terrence Martin of the Satellite Accounts and Special Studies Section, National Economic Accounts Division, Statistics Canada. The study was funded through a partnership agreement with the Canadian Tourism Human Resource Council.
February 28, 2014 Canadian System of Macroeconomic Accounts revision process and calendar: an overview Statistical revisions are carried out regularly in the Canadian System of National Accounts (CSNA) in order to incorporate the most current information from censuses, annual surveys, administrative statistics, public accounts, etc., and to implement improved estimation methods.
January 30, 2014 The Underground Economy in Canada, 1992 to 2011 This study provides upperbound estimates of the Canadian underground economic activity that could be missing from official gross domestic product (GDP) estimates. Canadian estimates are available for the period 1992 to 2011, for the three different methods of measuring GDP-income-based, expenditure-based and industry-based.
September 27, 2013 The 2009 to 2012 revisions of the National Tourism Indicators Revised estimates of the National Tourism Indicators (NTI) covering the period 2009 to 2012 were released along with those for the first quarter of 2013. These revised estimates incorporated the most current source data.
July 5, 2013 Human Resource Module of the Tourism Satellite Account, 2012 This paper reports on the Human Resource Module of the Tourism Satellite Account, 2012 developed by Statistics Canada. This study provides detailed information on employment related to tourism in Canada. Information on wages and salaries, number of jobs and hours worked by occupation are included. The data are also disaggregated by age, gender and immigration status. This study provides a resource for training and planning for tourism in Canada. This paper is based upon data published as of May 19, 2013.
June 7, 2013 The 1981 to 2012 revisions of the Income and Expenditure Accounts Revised estimates of the Income and Expenditure Accounts (IEA) covering the period 1981 to 2012 have been released along with those for the first quarter of 2013. These revised estimates incorporate the most current source data and seasonal patterns.
June 7, 2013 Revisions to international merchandise trade statistics This is an update to the 2009 article Revisions to international merchandise trade statistics, accounting for changes resulting from increased timeliness in the release of merchandise trade statistics.
May 21, 2013 An overview of the upcoming planned revisions to the Canadian System of Macroeconomic Accounts Statistical revisions are regularly applied to the Canadian System of Macroeconomic Accounts in order to incorporate the most current information from censuses, annual surveys, administrative statistics, public accounts, etc., and to implement improved estimation methods. Statistics Canada also conducts more comprehensive revisions to the Canadian System of Macroeconomic Accounts, which generally reflect new concepts, accounting treatments or methods. This paper outlines the scheduled revisions planned for 2013 to 2015.
April 25, 2013 Measuring the stock of residential real estate This note outlines the different ways to measure the value of the stock of residential real estate, compares the different methods and provides guidance to users as to when they should use a particular estimate.
March 15, 2013 Reconciliation of the United States-Canadian Current Account, 2010 and 2011 This article presents the results of a reconciliation of the bilateral current account statistics of Canada and the United States for 2010 and 2011. Bilateral reconciliation exercises are useful for identifying potential improvements in measures of international transactions between trading partners.
February 28, 2013 Government Revenue Attributable to Tourism, 2011 This publication presents estimates of government revenues attributable to tourism for the years 2007 to 2011. Estimates of the revenue attributable to tourism spending by non-residents (i.e. tourism exports) and by residents (i.e. tourism domestic demand) are also included. The main data sources are the Canadian Tourism Satellite Account, National Tourism Indicators, the Income and Expenditure Accounts, the Input-Output tables and T-4 tax remittance files.

Government revenue covers receipts from taxes on incomes (i.e., on employment earnings, corporate profits, net income of unincorporated business and government business enterprises), contributions to social insurance plans (i.e., premiums for Canada/Quebec Pension Plan, Employment Insurance and workers compensation), taxes on production and products (such as sales and property taxes), and from sales of government goods and services. These revenues are broken down into parts that can be attributed to tourism spending, tourism domestic demand and tourism exports for government as a whole and for the three levels of government (federal, provincial/territorial and municipal) separately. Estimates of the government revenue generated per $100 of tourism spending overall and by residents and non-residents are reported as well. The publication contains several charts and summary tables showing revenues attributable to tourism by level of government and by source of revenue. It also contains a discussion of the concepts, definitions, data sources and methods used in the study.
December 3, 2012 Reconciling Canadian-U.S. measures of household disposable income and household debt This note provides users with a reconciliation between Canadian and U.S. measures of household disposable income, debt and the household credit market debt to disposable income ratio.
October 25, 2012 Canada's Net Foreign Debt at Market Value Canada's balance sheet with non-residents is reported in the quarterly release, Canada's International Investment Position (IIP), which covers four major investment categories: direct investment, portfolio investment, other investment, and official reserves. With the release of the 2012 revision to the Canadian System of National Accounts, a full set of market value international investment position estimates is now available for the first time. The market values of Canada's direct investment asset and liability positions were calculated and combined with existing market value estimates of portfolio positions. The effects of unrealized capital gains or losses have now been combined with foreign currency revaluations and other changes in the volume of assets such as write downs/ups in Canada's external investment position.
October 15, 2012 Revisions analysis – National Balance Sheet Account 2012 This article has been prepared to help users understand the changes introduced as a result of the historical revision of the National Balance Sheet Account, due to the implementation of the new international standards published in System of National Accounts 2008.
October 15, 2012 Financial indicators from the National Balance Sheet Accounts A look at the National Balance Sheet Account financial indicators for the household and non-profit institutions serving households sectors, as well the corporate and government sectors.
October 12, 2012 Impact of the 2012 CSNA revisions on the Quarterly Labour Productivity Accounts This report highlights the revisions to the quarterly estimates of labour productivity and associated variables in the business sector resulting from the historical revision of the national gross domestic product by income and by expenditure accounts (NIEA) released on October 1st , 2012.
October 1, 2012 Revisions analysis – Canadian System of National Accounts 2012 This article is the sixth of a series of articles helping users understand the changes introduced as a result of the historical revision of the Canadian System of National Accounts (CSNA). It provides users with a reconciliation between the previously published figures and the revised figures.
October 1, 2012 Summary of revisions to the International Accounts of the Canadian System of National Accounts 2012 This article has been prepared to help users understand the changes introduced as a result of the historical revision of the international accounts of the Canadian System of National Accounts (CSNA), due to the implementation of the new international standards published in System of National Accounts 2008 and in Balance of Payments Manual, Sixth Edition.
May 30, 2012 A new presentation for the quarterly National AccountsThe purpose of this document is to introduce a new presentation of the quarterly National Accounts (Income and Expenditure Accounts (IEA), Financial Flow Accounts (FFA) and National Balance Sheet Accounts (NBSA)) that will be published with the conversion of the Canadian National Accounts to the latest international standard—System of National Accounts 2008 (SNA2008).
May 25, 2012 Human Resource Module of the Tourism Satellite Account, 2011 This paper reports on the Human Resource Module of the Tourism Satellite Account, 2011 developed by Statistics Canada. This study provides detailed information on employment related to tourism in Canada. Information on wages and salaries, number of jobs and hours worked by occupation are included. The data are also disaggregated by age, gender and immigration status. This study provides a resource for training and planning for tourism in Canada. This paper is based upon data published as of March 31, 2012.

This study was prepared by Terrence Martin of the Research and Development Projects and Analysis Section, National Accounts Integration and Development Division, Statistics Canada. The study was funded through a partnership agreement with the Canadian Tourism Human Resource Council.
February 29, 2012 Is Canada Losing Its Status As a Debtor Nation? Foreign investments in Canada often garner headlines and spark debates over whether injections of foreign debt and equity into Canadian companies will have positive impacts on the ability of Canadian industries to grow, create jobs, and develop innovative products. Such debates have an enduring place in the nation's economic history, reflecting the fact that, from the earliest days, foreign capital has been an important source of funds for Canada's industries. The extent to which Canadian businesses, households and governments also invest in foreign economies is less recognized, and the overall value of these investments has increased in recent decades. This, in turn, has had a pronounced impact on Canada's net financial position in relation to the rest of the world.
February 29, 2012 Canada's International Investment Position: Recent Trends and Implications for Aggregate Measures of Income and Wealth This paper highlights the large progressive decline in Canada's net financial liabilities to non-residents that has occurred over the last fifteen years. It reports tabulations on changes in Canada's international investment position and the associated cross-border income flows, and evaluates the extent to which these investment income flows have affected the size of Canada's gross national income relative to its gross domestic income. The paper also examines the extent to which changes in Canada's net international investment position have increased the national net worth of Canadians relative to the country's stock of national wealth.
June 20, 2011 A preview of the historical revision of the Canadian System of National Accounts This paper provides a preview of the historical (comprehensive) revision of the Canadian System National Accounts to be released beginning in May 2012. The last revision of this scope took place in 1997. The paper highlights the changes resulting from the adoption of SNA2008 which is the revised international standard for national accounting, along with statistical revisions arising from new and improved source data and methodologies. Updates to the classification systems used in the Canadian System of National Accounts are also presented along with a list of changes planned for 2014.
June 20, 2011 Impact of new accounting standards on the Financial and Wealth Accounts This note provides a brief explanation of the impact that the transition from reporting financial statements under Canadian Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (CGAAP) to the new, internationally unified financial accounting framework of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) will have on the Canadian Financial Flow Accounts and the National Balance Sheet Accounts estimates.
June 10, 2011 Human Resource Module of the Tourism Satellite Account, 2010 This paper reports on the Human Resource Module of the Tourism Satellite Account, 2010 developed by Statistics Canada. This study provides detailed information on employment related to tourism in Canada. Information on wages and salaries, number of jobs and hours worked by occupation are included. The data are also disaggregated by age, gender and immigration status. This study provides a resource for training and planning for tourism in Canada. This study was prepared by Diane Lake of the Research and Development Projects and Analysis Section, Income and Expenditure Accounts Division, Statistics Canada. The study was funded through a partnership agreement with the Canadian Tourism Human Resource Council.
May 30, 2011 The 2008 to 2010 revisions of the Income and Expenditure Accounts Revised estimates of the Income and Expenditure Accounts (IEA) covering the period 2008 to 2010 have been released along with those for the first quarter of 2011. These revised estimates incorporate the most current source data and seasonal patterns.
May 30, 2011 Revision to the real import and export adjustments to account for exchange rate fluctuations This paper presents the background, methodological change and implementation of the revised real import and export adjustments that account for exchange rate fluctuations.
May 18, 2011 Canadian System of National Accounts Revision Policy Statistical revisions are carried out regularly in the Canadian System of National Accounts (CSNA) in order to incorporate the most current information from censuses, annual surveys, administrative statistics, public accounts, etc., and to implement improved estimation methods.
March 31, 2011 Revisions and the Income and Expenditure Accounts This paper provides some background information on revisions within the Income and Expenditure Accounts as well as a detailed revisions analysis of the quarterly real growth rate of GDP. The analysis of revisions strives to ascertain if preliminary estimates have been significantly different from the final estimate, thereby indicating reliability needs to be improved. The revisions analysis presented here looks at the behaviour of the revisions to quarterly real GDP growth rate for the period 1981 to 2007 with the objective of determining if a significant bias exists.
January 28, 2011 Purchasing Power Parities and Real Expenditures, United States and Canada, 2002 to 2009 This paper provides the latest annual results for the U.S./Canada purchasing power parities (PPPs) and real expenditure indexes in the U.S. compared with Canada for the period 2002 to 2009. Revisions to previously published data and an update using the most recent US and Canada expenditure data from the National Accounts and in-depth price comparisons for 2005 are incorporated. The paper provides a primer on purchasing power parities and related measures and why they are important in international comparisons of economic performance. It also describes a new projection methodology for total economy measures that are now based on Gross Domestic Income and shows the impact of this change on the data.
November 10, 2010 Government Revenue Attributable to Tourism, 2009 This publication presents estimates of government revenues attributable to tourism for the years 2003 to 2009. Estimates of the revenue attributable to tourism spending by non-residents (i.e. tourism exports) and by residents (i.e. tourism domestic demand) are also included. The main data sources are the Canadian Tourism Satellite Account, National Tourism Indicators, the Income and Expenditure Accounts, the Input-Output tables and T-4 tax remittance files.

Government revenue covers receipts from taxes on incomes (i.e., on employment earnings, corporate profits, net income of unincorporated business and government business enterprises), contributions to social insurance plans (i.e., premiums for Canada/Quebec Pension Plan, Employment Insurance and workers compensation), taxes on production and products (such as sales and property taxes), and from sales of government goods and services. These revenues are broken down into parts that can be attributed to tourism spending, tourism domestic demand and tourism exports for government as a whole and for the three levels of government (federal, provincial/territorial and municipal) separately. Estimates of the government revenue generated per $100 of tourism spending overall and by residents and non-residents are reported as well. The publication contains several charts and summary tables showing revenues attributable to tourism by level of government and by source of revenue. It also contains a discussion of the concepts, definitions, data sources and methods used in the study.
September 16, 2010 The evolution of the global financial crisis and cross-border financial activity, 2007-2010 Cross-border financial transactions have been an important element of Canada's balance of payments statistics for a number of years, and a main factor in the evolution of Canada's international investment position. For many years, Canada was a net borrower from abroad to finance both the current account and government deficits. In addition, the established pattern from the post-war years until the mid-1990s was a net inflow of direct investment from abroad.
May 31, 2010 The 2006 to 2009 revisions of the Income and Expenditure Accounts Revised estimates of the Income and Expenditure Accounts (IEA) covering the period 2006 to 2009 have been released along with those for the first quarter of 2010. These revised estimates incorporate the most current source data and seasonal patterns.
May 28, 2010 Human Resource Module of the Tourism Satellite Account, 2009 This paper reports on the Human Resource Module of the Tourism Satellite Account, 2009 developed by Statistics Canada. This study provides detailed information on employment related to tourism in Canada. Information on wages and salaries, number of jobs and hours worked by occupation are included. The data are also disaggregated by age, gender and immigration status. This study provides a resource for training and planning for tourism in Canada.

This study was prepared by Monique Bisaillon of the Research and Development Projects and Analysis Section, Income and Expenditure Accounts Division, Statistics Canada. The study was funded through a partnership agreement with the Canadian Tourism Human Resource Council.
May 5, 2010Renewing the Canadian System of National Accounts The majority of Canada's national, provincial and territorial macroeconomic indicators originate from the Canadian System of National Accounts (CSNA). These indicators include such things as Gross Domestic Product, Net Worth, Savings, Personal Disposable Income and Government Debt. Statistics Canada is launching a project that will make key changes to these macroeconomic indicators.
May 5, 2010 Moving from the Financial Management System to Government Finance Statistics The government finance statistical program is designed to measure and analyze the economic dimensions of the public sector of Canada. The economic dimensions measured are: revenue, expenditures and the resulting surplus or deficit, assets and liabilities, net worth or net debt position.
March 16, 2010 Human Resource Module of the Tourism Satellite Account: A Pilot Study for Ontario This paper reports on the Human Resource Module (HRM) of the Tourism Satellite Account: A Pilot Study for Ontario developed by Statistics Canada. This pilot study provides detailed information on employment related to tourism in Ontario. Information on wages and salaries, number of jobs and hours worked by occupation are included. The data are also disaggregated by age, gender and immigration status. This study provides a resource for training and planning for tourism in Ontario.

This study was prepared by Monique Bisaillon of the Research and Development Projects and Analysis Section, Income and Expenditure Accounts Division, Statistics Canada. The study was funded through a partnership agreement with the Canadian Tourism Human Resource Council and the Ontario Ministry of Tourism.
December 24, 2009 Canadian Tourism Satellite Account, 2004 This paper highlights the Canadian Tourism Satellite Account (CTSA) developed by Statistics Canada. The CTSA provides an economic measure of the importance of tourism in terms of expenditures, Gross Domestic Product and employment for Canada. It permits a comparison of tourism with other industries within Canada since the concepts and methods used are based on the framework of the Canadian System of National Accounts. The study revealed that tourism is an important part of Canada's well diversified economy. This paper presents the results of the CTSA for reference year 2004.

This study was prepared by staff of the Research and Development Projects and Analysis Section, Income and Expenditure Accounts Division, Statistics Canada. The study was funded by the Canadian Tourism Commission.
December 10, 2009New projection methodology for purchasing power parities Purchasing power parities (PPPs) are estimates of relative purchasing power between two or more currencies. By adjusting to a common currency and a common set of prices, they can be used to make international comparisons of the relative volumes of goods and services invested in or consumed.
December 4, 2009 Real Import and Export Adjustments to Account for Exchange Rate Fluctuations Statistics Canada produces monthly import and export merchandise trade price indexes. For the majority of these prices, Statistics Canada uses a variety of proxy measures to derive the price index in lieu of collecting observed import and export prices. The ability of these proxy measures to reflect international trade price movements during times of exchange rate volatility is limited. For this reason, the constant dollar trade estimates derived using these proxy price indexes have been refined with constant dollar adjustments following the appreciation of the Canadian exchange rate beginning at the end of 2002. This paper explains the rational and methodology behind these adjustments, as well as the impact on published trade and GDP estimates.
December 1 and December 14, 2009 Financial and Wealth Accounts Re-sectoring With the release of the Financial Flow Accounts (FFA) on December 1st and the National Balance Sheet Accounts (NBSA) on December 14th, the Income and Expenditure Accounts Division will be publishing revised sector and category detail on CANSIM.  These changes are briefly described below.
July 27, 2009 Financial Management System (FMS) Government financial reports are based on the organisation of each individual government and on their accounting and reporting practices. There is therefore little uniformity from one level of government to another or from one province to another. The Financial Management System (FMS) is an analytical framework designed to produce statistical series that are both consistent and compatible.

Written in plain English, the Financial Management System (FMS) manual was designed to assist you in better understanding the framework of the Financial Management System (FMS). It will explain the strengths and caveats of the FMS and will provide you with clear explanations of what is included in each revenue source and each expenditure function.
June 1, 2009 The 2005 to 2008 revisions to the Income and Expenditure Accounts Revised estimates of the Income and Expenditure Accounts (IEA) covering the period 2005 to 2008 have been released along with those for the first quarter of 2009. These revised estimates incorporate the most current source data and seasonal patterns.
June 1, 2009 Revisions to international merchandise trade statistics Quarterly international merchandise trade statistics are published approximately six weeks after the reference period. Two weeks later, these data are incorporated into the Income and Expenditure Accounts, at which point they are subject to revision. This note outlines the primary sources of the revisions.
May 15, 2009 Human Resource Module of the Tourism Satellite Account, 2007 This paper reports on the update to 2007 of the Human Resource Module (HRM) of the Tourism Satellite Account developed by Statistics Canada. The HRM provides detailed information on employment related to tourism. Information on wages and salaries, number of jobs and hours worked by occupation are included. The data are also disaggregated by age, gender and immigration status. This study provides a resource for training and planning for tourism.
November 12, 2008 Government Revenue Attributable to Tourism, 2007 This publication presents estimates of government revenues attributable to tourism for the years 2000 to 2007. Estimates of the revenue attributable to tourism spending by non-residents (i.e. tourism exports) and by residents (i.e. tourism domestic demand) are also included for the first time. The main data sources are the Canadian Tourism Satellite Account, National Tourism Indicators, the Income and Expenditure Accounts, the Input-Output tables and T4 tax remittance files.

Government revenue covers receipts from taxes on incomes (i.e., on employment earnings, corporate profits, net income of unincorporated business and government business enterprises), contributions to social insurance plans (i.e., premiums for Canada/Quebec Pension Plan, Employment Insurance and workers compensation), taxes on production and products (such as sales and property taxes), and from sales of government goods and services. These revenues are broken down into parts that can be attributed to tourism spending, tourism domestic demand and tourism exports for government as a whole and for the three levels of government (federal, provincial/territorial and municipal) separately. Estimates of the government revenue generated per $100 of tourism spending overall and by residents and non-residents are reported as well. The publication contains several charts and summary tables showing revenues attributable to tourism by level of government and by source of revenue. It also contains a discussion of the concepts, definitions, data sources and methods used in the study.
September 26, 2008 Guide to the Public Sector of Canada This free publication presents the concepts and criteria utilized to determine the entities that comprise the public sector of Canada.

The resulting statistical universe provides the framework to observe the extent of governments' involvement in the production of goods and services and the associated resource allocation process in the Canadian economy.

The concepts and criteria contained in the guide are consistent with two internationally accepted classification standards: the System of National Accounts (SNA 2008) guide; and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Government Finance Statistics Manual 2001.

As well, the guide delineates the various public sector components that are used in compiling and aggregating public sector data. This structure also enables comparisons of Canadian government finance data with international macroeconomic statistical systems.
June 24, 2008 Preliminary results of the Pension Satellite Account, 1990 to 2007 The Pension Satellite Account covers the entire universe of the retirement regime in Canada which includes government-sponsored social security, employer-sponsored pension plans and voluntary individual retirement savings plans. In this preliminary release, a time series of pension assets by type from 1990 to 2007 is published as a supplement to the National Balance Sheet.
May 30, 2008 The 2004 to 2007 revisions of the Income and Expenditure Accounts Revised estimates of the Income and Expenditure Accounts covering the period 2004 to 2007 have been released along with those for the first quarter of 2008. The current revisions to GDP resulted from the inclusion of the most current estimates from data sources, including survey results, administrative data and public accounts.
May 30, 2008 The Canadian Research and Development Satellite Account, 1997 to 2004 This paper highlights the newly constructed Research and Development Satellite Account (RDSA) developed by Statistics Canada. The RDSA provides an analysis for the capitalization of research and development (R&D) as proposed by international guidelines for the System of National Accounts. The account calculates several methods to measure the impact on Gross Domestic Product of R&D expenditures. This paper presents the results of the RDSA for the years 1997 to 2004.
April 21, 2008 Human Resource Module of the Tourism Satellite Account, Update to 2006 This paper reports on the update to 2006 of the Human Resource Module (HRM) of the Tourism Satellite Account developed by Statistics Canada. The HRM provides detailed information on employment related to tourism. Information on wages and salaries, number of jobs and hours worked by occupation are included. The data are also disaggregated by age, gender and immigration status. This study provides a resource for training and planning for tourism.
December 14, 2007 Canadian Tourism Satellite Account Handbook This Canadian Tourism Satellite Account Handbook developed by Statistics Canada is intended as a guide to how the Canadian Tourism Satellite Account (CTSA) is compiled. The Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) has become the internationally recognized framework and a vital tool by which to measure tourism activity in an economy. The goal of this handbook is to make the CTSA and its inner workings as transparent as possible by bringing previous internal documentation into the public realm along side previously published documents and new documentation. By sharing the Canadian practical experiences in development of the TSA, it should benefit other countries and other interested practitioners in the process of developing and understanding TSAs.

This handbook covers information on the relevant tourism and national accounting concepts and definitions related to the CTSA. Detailed explanations of the various survey data sources and the methods used to move this data into the TSA framework are discussed.
December 13, 2007 Re-referencing and change of industry classification system With the release of the third quarter of 2007 Canadian productivity accounts on December 13, 2007, quarterly estimates will be revised from 1997 to 2007. Labour productivity and associated variables will be converted from a 1997 reference year to a 2002 reference year for their index number estimates.
November 22, 2007 Canadian and U.S. Real Income Growth Pre and Post 2000: A Reversal of Fortunes Evaluations of an economy's economic performance are often made using a measure of real gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, which represents the average remuneration (labour income plus capital services) that an economy generates through domestic production.
November 8, 2007 Re-referencing and change of industry classification systemEffective with the 2006 Provincial Economic Accounts release on November 8, 2007, the expenditure-based gross domestic product (GDP) and associated components will be converted from a 1997 reference year to a 2002 reference year for its volume and price estimates. Also effective with this release, industry data will be converted from North American Industry Classification System, NAICS 1997 to NAICS 2002.
October 31, 2007 Re-referencing and change of industry classification systemOn October 31, 2007, with the release of the data for August 2007, the monthly gross domestic product (GDP) by industry estimates will use the North American Industry Classification System, NAICS 2002 instead of NAICS 1997, and will convert to reference year 2002 instead of 1997 for its volume estimates.
October 16, 2007 Canadian Tourism Satellite Account, 2002 This paper highlights the Canadian Tourism Satellite Account (CTSA) developed by Statistics Canada. The CTSA provides an economic measure of the importance of tourism in terms of expenditures, Gross Domestic Product and employment for Canada. It permits a comparison of tourism with other industries within Canada since the concepts and methods used are based on the framework of the Canadian System of National Accounts. The study revealed that tourism is an important part of Canada's well diversified economy. This paper presents the results of the CTSA for reference year 2002.
September 10, 2007 Government Revenue Attributable to Tourism, 2000 to 2006 This publication presents estimates of government revenues attributable to tourism for years 2000 to 2006. The main data sources are the Canadian Tourism Satellite Account, National tourism indicators, the Income and expenditure accounts, the Input-Output tables and T-4 tax remittance files.

Government revenue covers receipts from taxes on incomes (i.e., on employment earnings, corporate profits, net income of unincorporated business and government business enterprises), contributions to social insurance plans (i.e., premiums for Canada/Quebec Pension Plan, Employment Insurance and Workers Compensation), taxes on production and products (such as sales and property taxes), and from sales of government goods and services. These revenue sources are broken down into parts that can and cannot be attributed to tourism, for government as a whole and for the three levels of government (federal, provincial/territorial and municipal) separately. Estimates of the government revenue generated per dollar of tourism spending are reported as well.

The publication contains several summary tables showing revenues attributable to tourism by level of government and by source of revenue, as well as several appendix tables showing results by detailed industry and commodity. It also contains a discussion of the concepts, definitions, data sources and methods used in the study.
June 25, 2007 Industry productivity database Statistics Canada released a new experimental industry database that, for the first time, provides a series for multifactor productivity (MFP), output and inputs that include capital (K), labour (L), energy (E), materials (M) and purchased services (S) in the new North American Industry Classification system back to 1961.
May 31, 2007 The 2003-2006 revisions of the Income and Expenditure Accounts Revised estimates of the Income and Expenditure Accounts covering the period 2003 to 2006 have been released along with those for the first quarter of 2007. The current revisions to GDP resulted from the inclusion of the most current estimates from data sources, including survey results, administrative data and public accounts.
May 28, 2007 The 2001-2006 revisions and rebasing to 2002 of the National Tourism Indicators The National Tourism Indicators will be revised back to 2001 and their volume and price estimates converted to a 2002 reference year, effective June 29, 2007.
May 16, 2007 Canadian Economic Accounts re-referencing Effective with the first quarter 2007 Income and Expenditure Accounts release on May 31, 2007, the expenditure-based gross domestic product (GDP) and associated components will be converted from a 1997 reference year to a 2002 reference year for its volume and price estimates.
March 20, 2007 Human Resource Module of the Tourism Satellite Account, Update to 2005 This paper reports on the update to 2005 of the Human Resource Module (HRM) of the Tourism Satellite Account developed by Statistics Canada. The HRM provides detailed information on employment related to tourism. Information on wages and salaries, number of jobs and hours worked by occupation are included. Occupational data is further disaggregated by age, gender and immigration status. This study provides a resource for training and planning for tourism.
March 1, 2007 Softwood Lumber Agreement between Canada and the United States: National Accounts treatment Background and notes on the treatment in the National Accounts, including the Balance of Payments, of transactions resulting from the Softwood Lumber Agreement between Canada and the United States that was signed in October of 2006. Due to the unique nature of these transactions the note explains how funds were transacted and treated in various accounts of Canadian macro economic accounts.
February 23, 2007 Recent Trends in Output and Employment This paper examines some of the reasons behind the slowdown of output growth relative to employment during 2006. It finds the two have converged frequently in recent years, including most of 2002 and 2003. After reviewing the sources of last year's productivity slowdown by industry, it looks at the negative impact of labour shortages on the quality of labour, especially in western Canada.
February 15, 2007 Federal government revenue and spending by province : A scoreboard of winners and losers in Confederation? A guide to the pitfalls of using the federal sector of the Provincial Accounts in assessing which provinces benefit the most from federal activities.
February 12, 2007 Purchasing Power Parities and Real Expenditures, United States and Canada, 1992 to 2005 The latest annual results for the US/Canada purchasing power parities (PPPs) and real expenditure indexes in the US compared with Canada are published in this paper for the period 1992 to 2005. Revisions to previously published data and an update using the latest US and Canada expenditure data from the National Accounts and in-depth price comparisons for 2002 are incorporated, and a new type-of-product presentation is included. The paper provides a primer on purchasing power parities and related measures and why they are important in international comparisons of economic performance.
May 31, 2006 The 2002-2005 revisions of the Income and Expenditure Accounts Revised estimates of the Income and Expenditure Accounts covering the period 2002 to 2005 have been released along with those for the first quarter of 2006. The current revisions to GDP resulted from the inclusion of the most current estimates from data sources, including survey results, administrative data and public accounts.
May 24, 2006 Market value of foreign direct investment position The market value of foreign direct investment position is presented for the first time along with an explanation of the methodology developed to produce these first estimates.
March 31, 2006 Human Resource Module of the Tourism Satellite Account, 1997-2002 This paper highlights the new Human Resource Module (HRM) of the Tourism Satellite Account developed by Statistics Canada. The HRM provides detailed information on employment related to tourism for the years 1997 to 2002. Information on wages and salaries, number of jobs and hours worked by occupation are included. Occupational data is further disaggregated by age, gender and immigration status. Seasonal patterns within tourism employment are also analyzed. This study provides a resource for training and planning for tourism.
March 27, 2006 National Accounts Advisory Committee: Overview of activities 2005 The National Accounts Advisory Committee reviews and gives advice on the concepts, methods, plans, standards as well as results associated with Statistics Canada's System of National Accounts.
March 17, 2006 Recent Trends in Corporate Finance: Some Evidence from the Canadian System of National Accounts Corporations have been posting record profits over much of the last decade. Meanwhile, business fixed capital investment has been relatively sluggish in recent years. This situation has led to a significant shift in the corporate sectors' net lending/borrowing position - from one of a chronic deficit position to one of sustained surplus. After having run deficits for almost 30 years, corporations have emerged with significant surplus positions in the last decade. This has placed the corporate sector in a new role - that of increasingly supplying funds to the rest of the economy.

This note looks at this development from a few angles, focusing on non-financial corporations. It identifies the underlying causes for, and the major effects of, the development of an expanding corporate surplus position. In short, non-financial corporations have taken advantage of record profits, historically low interest rates and relatively buoyant stock markets to substantially re-structure their balance sheets. It has reached the point where corporate finances, in aggregate, are the healthiest they have been in the last thirty years.
February 28, 2006 Gross Domestic Product by Industry: Sources and Methods with Industry Details This document describes all aspects of output-based Gross Domestic Product (GDP), also known as GDP by industry or simply monthly GDP. It contains a comprehensive record of specific methodologies and data sources, on an industry by industry basis.

It is meant to complement a previous Statistics Canada publication, released in November 2002, entitled Gross Domestic Product by Industry, Sources and Methods (Catalogue no. 15-547), which discusses in general terms the concepts, definitions, classifications and statistical methods underlying the monthly GDP measures.
November 30, 2005 Trends in Saving and Net Lending in the National Accounts This note examines the substantial shifts in sector saving and the resulting swings in sector surplus/deficit positions in the national accounts over the last 10 years. It also serves to introduce a new conceptual measure in the Canadian System of National Accounts -- National saving and the national saving rate.
October 3, 2005 Canadian Tourism Satellite Account, 2000 This paper highlights the new Canadian Tourism Satellite Accounts (CTSA) developed by Statistics Canada. The CTSA provides an economic measure of the importance of tourism in terms of expenditures, Gross Domestic Product and employment for Canada. It permits a comparison of tourism with other industries within Canada since the concepts and methods used are based on the framework of the Canadian System of National Accounts. The study revealed that the importance of tourism increased in Canada and that international visitors have become increasingly more important to Canadian tourism since the publication of the first Tourism Satellite Account for the year 1988. This paper presents the results of the CTSA for reference year 2000.
May 31, 2005 The 2001-2004 revisions of the Income and Expenditure Accounts Revised estimates of the Income and Expenditure Accounts covering the period 2001 to 2004 have been released along with those for the first quarter of 2005. The current revisions to GDP resulted from the inclusion of the most current estimates from data sources, including survey results, administrative data and public accounts.
April 11, 2005 National Accounts Advisory Committee: Overview of activities 2004 The National Accounts Advisory Committee reviews and gives advice on the concepts, methods, plans, standards as well as results associated with Statistics Canada's System of National Accounts.
January 28, 2005 Revisions of the Canadian National Tourism Indicators This paper discusses the revision policy of Canada's National Tourism Indicators (NTI) and summarizes results from some recent studies of data revisions to the NTI. The discussion is timely, as the adoption of explicit data revision policies has been emphasized recently as an essential element in the good governance of statistical systems.

The paper starts with a brief description of the NTI, their underlying conceptual framework, and their sources and methods. Next comes a discussion of the need for data revisions, and an outline of various types of revisions. Then a few sections are devoted to the new NTI revision policy adopted with the first quarter 2004 estimates, and the associated costs and benefits. Revision studies, which have been used to assess quality of national accounts estimates, and the database established to track data revisions to the NTI are described next. Last, results from some recent NTI data revision exercises and studies are summarized.
January 26, 2005 The tourism trade balance between Canada and the United States, 1991-2003 This article presents a trend analysis of the tourism trade balance between Canada and the United States using data from the International Travel Survey. Specifically, the article is an attempt to identify the factors or travel characteristics that had the greatest effect on the tourism trade balance since 1991. Pre-1991 data are not considered. The study focuses exclusively on travel between Canada and the United States because the U.S. contributes more than any other country to Canada's international travel receipts and is the country where Canadian travellers spend the most outside Canada.
December 22, 2004 ARCHIVED – Reconciliation of the Canadian - U.S. Current Account, 2002 and 2003, no. 22 The results of the reconciliation of the bilateral current account estimates of Canada and the United States for 2002 and 2003 are presented in this article. The details of the current account reconciliation for 2002 and 2003 are presented in the tables that follow this article. Tables 2 and 3 present the published estimates, the estimates on a common basis (after the estimates have been adjusted for definitional and methodological differences), the reconciled estimates, and the amounts of the adjustments for each major current account component. Tables 4 and 5 show the details of the major types of reconciliation adjustments - definitional, methodological, and statistical - that were made to the major current account components. Tables 6 to 15 present the reconciliation details for goods, services, and investment income.
December 16, 2004 National versus domestic output: A measure of economic maturity? Recent media reports suggest that the ratio of gross national income (formerly gross national product) to gross domestic product reflects a nation's 'economic maturity'. Nations at a higher stage of economic development generally have a GNI larger than GDP because of their past investments abroad. Less developed countries that depend on large inflows of foreign investment to finance their growth have a smaller GNI than GDP. This article analyzes how relevant these suggestions are for the Canadian economy. Since 1998, our ratio of GNI to GNP has risen 96% to 98%. In dollar terms, Canadians would have received $16.4 billion less income if GNI had grown only as fast as GDP, equivalent to $512 for every Canadian. Based on recent trends, Canada's GNI could outstrip its GDP for the first time on record before the end of the current decade.
November 9, 2004 Provincial and Territorial Economic Accounts, 2003 This overview examines recent economic developments and trends in the major aggregates that comprise GDP, both income and expenditure-based, and includes tables of key variables for each of the provinces and territories.
October 25, 2004 A Study of Data Revisions to the National Tourism Indicators How "good" are the National Tourism Indicators (NTI)? How can their quality be measured? This study looks to answer these questions by analysing the revisions to the NTI estimates for the period 1997 through 2001.
October 19, 2004 A The 1997-2003 Revisions of the National Tourism Indicators Starting with the first quarter 2004 release, revisions to the National Tourism Indicators (NTI) will be published once a year along with the first quarter data. Henceforth, NTI source data that are revised or come available several years after the fact will be incorporated regularly, allowing for systematic improvements to the time series.
August 13, 2004 National Accounts Advisory Committee: Overview of activities 2003 The National Accounts Advisory Committee reviews and gives advice on the concepts, methods, plans, standards as well as results associated with Statistics Canada’s System of National Accounts.
June 24, 2004 National Balance Sheet estimates at market value Key financial instruments in the National Balance Sheet Accounts are now measured at market value.
June 24, 2004Recent trends in household net worth With financial assets now estimated at market value, the role of wealth in the economy can now be examined. This note looks at the evolution of wealth and its components.
June 16, 2004 International Investment Position estimates at market value Key financial instruments in the International Investment Position are now measured at market value.
May 31, 2004 The 2000-2003 revisions of the Income and Expenditure Accounts Following usual practice, revised estimates covering the period 2000 to 2003 of the National Economic and Financial Accounts were released along with those for the first quarter of 2004. This revision cycle incorporated statistical revisions only. There were no conceptual or methodological changes.
May 25, 2004 Cross-border Acquisitions: A Canadian Perspective This paper presents data on cross-border mergers and acquisitions from a Canadian perspective, for 1997 to 2002.
November 24, 2003 Trends in Provincial and Territorial Economic Statistics: 1981 - 2002 This document contains five articles providing historical analysis of the provincial and territorial economies from 1981 to 2002. It looks at their structural changes from the perspectives of the evolution of industries and the different components of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
November 19, 2003 Energy industry in Canada: impact on provincial economies This document contains five articles providing historical analysis of the provincial and territorial economies from 1981 to 2002. It looks at their structural changes from the perspectives of the evolution of industries and the different components of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
November 6, 2003 Trends in provincial and territorial economic statistics: 1981 - 2002 This document contains five articles providing historical analysis of the provincial and territorial economies from 1981 to 2002.
November 6, 2003 The 1999-2000 revisions of the Provincial Input-Output Accounts This release of the Provincial Input-Output Accounts (PIOA) incorporates several changes for the manufacturing industries.
November 6, 2003 Chain Fisher Volume Index Methodology On May 31, 2001, the quarterly income and expenditure accounts adopted the Chain Fisher Index formula, chained quarterly, as the official measure of real gross domestic product (GDP) in terms of expenditures. This formula was also adopted for the Provincial Accounts on October 31, 2002.

There were two reasons for adopting this formula: to provide users with a more accurate measure of real GDP growth between two consecutive periods and to make the Canadian measure comparable with the Income and Product Accounts of the United States, which has used the Chain Fisher Index formula since 1996 to measure real GDP.
November 6, 2003 Review of personal disposable income This document contains historical analysis of the provincial and territorial economies from 1981 to 2002. It looks at their structural changes from the perspectives of the evolution of industries and the different components of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
November 6, 2003 Information communication technologies This document contains historical analysis of the provincial and territorial economies from 1981 to 2002. It looks at their structural changes from the perspectives of the evolution of industries and the different components of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
September 19, 2003 Government Revenue Attributable to Tourism, 1998 This publication presents estimates of government revenues attributable to 1998 tourism. The main data sources are the Provincial and Territorial Tourism Satellite Account, the Input-Output tables and T-4 tax remittance files.

Government revenue covers receipts from
  • taxes on incomes (i.e., on employment earnings, corporate profits, net income of unincorporated business and government business enterprises)
  • contributions to social insurance plans (i.e., premiums for Canada/Quebec Pension Plan, Employment Insurance and Workers Compensation)
  • taxes on production and products (such as sales and property taxes)
  • sales of government goods and services.

These revenue sources are broken down into parts that can and cannot be attributed to tourism, for government as a whole and for the three levels of government (federal, provincial/territorial and municipal) separately. Estimates of the government revenue generated per dollar of tourism spending are reported as well.

The publication contains several summary tables showing revenues attributable to tourism by level of government and by source of revenue, as well as several appendix tables showing results by detailed industry and commodity. It also contains a discussion of the concepts, definitions, data sources and methods used in the study.
June 25, 2003 The Provincial and Territorial Tourism Satellite Accounts for Canada, 1998 The measurement of tourism has been gaining world-wide interest in the last decade. The most common framework for this measurement has been the Tourism Satellite Account (TSA). The TSA measures tourism in terms of expenditures, gross domestic product (GDP) and employment. The Canadian TSA generally follows the guidelines adopted by several international organizations, including the United Nations Statistical Commission. Statistics Canada first published a TSA in 1994. Since then, several updates have been made and timely quarterly information is now available based on the TSA. According to the World Tourism Organization (WTO), over 35 countries have either completed a TSA or are in the process of developing one. Statistics Canada is one of only two countries, the other being Norway, to develop a regional TSA. This Provincial and Territorial Tourism Satellite Account (or PTSA) allows for a comparison of tourism among regions as well as among industries within a province or territory. This publication marks the release of the second PTSA by Statistics Canada. This release for 1998 follows a report published in 2002 for 1996. Tables in this report include both the new 1998 PTSA results and revised estimates for 1996. Concepts, definitions, sources and methods, including the changes in methods, are included in the appendix.
June 24, 2003 First release of the quarterly national balance sheet accounts This first release of the quarterly national balance sheet accounts is part of a joint effort with Canada's international investment position to provide users with more up to date and meaningful data.
June 20, 2003 The 1997 Historical Revision of the Canadian System of National Accounts This series includes four reports which are the first set of documents relating to the changes made in the The 1997 historical revision of the Canadian System of National Accounts.
June 17, 2003 First release of the quarterly international investment position This first release of the quarterly international investment position is part of a joint effort with the national balance sheet accounts to provide users with more up to date and meaningful data.
May 30, 2003 The 1999-2002 revisions of the National Economic and Financial Accounts Following usual practice, revised estimates covering the period 1999 to 2002 of the National Economic and Financial Accounts were released along with those for the first quarter of 2003. This revision cycle incorporated statistical revisions only. There were no conceptual or methodological changes.
February 28, 2003 Ontario electricity rate freeze and rebate As of February 28, 2003 the Canadian System of National Accounts will adopt the following treatment of the Ontario electricity rate freeze and rebate. Funds financing the subsidy coming from Ontario Power Generation are considered remitted profits and form part of government income. The first instalment rebate paid to households is treated as transfers to persons.
November 7, 2002 Chain Fisher Methodology As of November 7, 2002, the Provincial Economic Accounts will adopt the Fisher Volume Index, chained annually, as the official measure of real expenditure-based GDP. This change will be incorporated into the affected series back to 1981.
November 7, 2002 The 2002 Revisions of the National Economic and Financial Accounts As of November 7, 2002, a number of conceptual changes related to Licenses and Registration, Farm Inventories, Land Transfer Taxes, Spectrum Charges and Trade have been incorporated into the Provincial Economic Accounts. These changes have been incorporated into the affected series back to 1981 and are consistent with those changes which have been incorporated in the National Income and Expenditure Accounts since May 31, 2002. These National Income and Expenditure Accounts changes are described in an article "The 2002 Revisions of the National Economic and Financial Accounts"
September 30, 2002 Chain Fisher formula

As of September 30, 2002 the monthly GDP by industry estimates will incorporate a change that will be applied from January 1997 and will be pushed back to January 1961 within a year.

Chain Fisher CANSIM II vector IDs:

  • Detailed Industry vector codes (HTML) (PDF)
  • Aggregated Industry vector codes (HTML) (PDF)
September 30, 2002 Modification to the ICT sector The definition of the Information and communications technologies (ICT) sector will be modified to conform more closely to the international standard developed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Specifically, libraries and the retailing of ICT commodities will be removed from the aggregation, but due to data limitations we will not include the repair of ICT equipment in our aggregation. The estimates will be reworked back to January 1997.

ICT Sector - Industry codes (HTML) (PDF)
June 28, 2002 Purchasing Power Parities and Real Expenditures: United States/Canada - Updates, 1992-2001 The latest annual results for the US/Canada purchasing power parities (PPPs) and real expenditures per head in the US compared with Canada are published in this paper. The data were developed for the period 1992 to 2001, using the latest US and Canada expenditure data from the National Accounts and price comparisons for 1999. The paper contains summaries of differences between the results of the multilateral (OECD) study and the Statistics Canada bilateral study. Some differences in classifications have been incorporated, as well as normal national Accounts revisions. Ten tables are presented in an Appendix for 21 categories of expenditure for the GDP.
May 31, 2002 The 2002 revisions of the National Economic and Financial Accounts On May 31, 2002, the National Income and Expenditure Accounts will incorporate a number of conceptual changes. These changes relate to licenses and registrations, farm inventories, land transfer taxes and spectrum charges. These changes and other sources of revisions are described in an article "The 2002 revisions of the National Economic and Financial Accounts".

Revised series (HTML) (PDF)
April 29, 2002 The Provincial and Territorial Tourism Satellite Accounts for Canada, 1996 The measurement of the economic impact of tourism has attracted increasing world-wide interest in the past few years. The development of a national Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) in Canada (1994), as well as a set of current quarterly indicators (1996), was a result of a demand for this information. Statistics Canada has now taken the analysis of tourism a step further with the development of the Provincial and Territorial Tourism Satellite Accounts (PTTSA).

The development of these accounts has come primarily at the request of the tourism community in Canada. The new regional accounts increase the analytical capability and further the understanding of tourism across Canada. The PTTSA are designed to measure the importance of tourism in terms of expenditures, gross domestic product (GDP) and employment. The concepts and methods used in the PTTSA generally follow the set of international TSA guidelines adopted by the United Nations Statistical Commission and strictly adhere to the principles of the System of National Accounts (SNA).

As separate or satellite accounts, the PTTSA explicitly define the tourism industry within the national accounts statistical system and measure its economic contribution to the economy. With their foundation in the framework of the Canadian SNA, the PTTSA allow for a comparison of tourism with other industries within a province or territory, as well as showing the relative importance of tourism among provinces and territories. A tourism satellite account also provides the statistical basis for the development of tourism impact models. Thus, the PTTSA can contribute to government policy-making and business decisions concerning tourism.

This document discusses the concepts and definitions used, and it highlights the results of the PTTSA by region for the reference year 1996. The appendices include an overview of the methodology and data sources; the detailed tables showing tourism expenditures and GDP, as well as employment for each region; a list of tourism industries and commodities; and a glossary.
January 31, 2002Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) series As of January 31, 2002 the monthly GDP by industry estimates will include Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) series. Three new aggregation series for the Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) sector and its manufacturing and services components are available back to January 1997 on CANSIM II.
October 11, 2001 ARCHIVED – Foreign Affiliate Trade Statistics: Measuring Economic Globalization, no. 21 Over the past decade, economic globalization has had a significant impact on government policies and business practices around the world. In the realm of statistics, it has lead to the search for new and better means of measuring the integration of the world economy. This paper will examine one statistical initiative designed to keep pace with the changing global economy.
September 28, 2001 Capitalization of software A new accounting treatment of software as investment was implemented in the Canadian System of National Accounts during 2001and it is now part of the annual revision of monthly GDP by industry estimates as of September 28, 2001.
September 28, 2001 Change in valuation from factor cost to basic prices This change in valuation from factor cost to basic prices was added to the annual revision of monthly GDP by industry estimates as of September 28, 2001.
September 28, 2001 Adoption of NAICS The 1997 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS-1997) replaces the 1980 Standard Industrial Classification (SIC-1980) in the annual revision of monthly GDP by industry estimates as of September 28, 2001.
September 28, 2001 CANSIM II

The monthly Gross Domestic Product at basic prices data will only be updated on the new CANSIM II database as of September 28, 2001.
CANSIM II vector IDs:

  • Detailed Industry vector codes (HTML) (PDF)
  • Aggregated Industry vector codes (HTML) (PDF)
August 27, 2001 ARCHIVED – Foreign Direct Investment: A Driving Force in Economic Globalization, no. 20 Foreign direct investment is a key element in measuring market integration among economies. The result of such an integration is often referred to as "globalization of the economy". Statistics Canada has always played a leading role internationally in defining and measuring foreign direct investment. This paper will offer a Canadian viewpoint of globalization by presenting the concepts and main trends of foreign direct investment issues. It will set foreign direct investment against some other important analytical series (i.e. profits, portfolio investment). An overview of the geographic and industrial breakdown over a period of 10 to 15 years will give a flavor of the major trends in foreign direct investment, in relation to policy issues.
July 10, 2001 Service Industries in the Canadian Input-Output Accounts: Current Prices, Sources of Data and Methods of Estimation This publication outlines the conceptual and statistical framework of the services sector in the accounts. The methodology and data sources used to calculate estimates of services in the current-price input-output accounts are described. Specific sources and methods are outlined for determining inputs, outputs and gross domestic product of service industries in the business sector.
May 31, 2001 Chain Fisher formula The Chain Fisher formula will be part of the Quarterly Income and Expenditure Accounts as of May 31, 2001.
May 31, 2001 Capitalization of software Capitalization of software will be part of the Quarterly Income and Expenditure Accounts as of May 31, 2001.
May 31, 2001 Change in valuation from factor cost to basic prices Change in valuation from factor cost to basic prices will be part of the Quarterly Income and Expenditure Accounts as of May 31, 2001.
May 31, 2001 Adoption of NAICS for estimates of labour income Adoption of NAICS for estimates of labour income will be part of the Quarterly Income and Expenditure Accounts as of May 31, 2001.
May 31, 2001 Capitalization of Software in the National Accounts A new accounting approach treats software as an investment was implemented in the Canadian System of National Accounts (SNA) during 2001. Preliminary estimates of software capital stocks were included for the first time in the National Balance Sheet Accounts (NBSA) released in March 2001. Software investment was then included in the gross domestic product (GDP) with the first quarter 2001 release (May 31, 2001) of the National Economic and Financial Accounts (NEFA). Later in the year, it was included in the Input-Output (I/O) Accounts, Provincial Economic Accounts (PEA) and the Industry Measures Accounts (IMA) with the release of October 30, 2001.

This mini historical revision brings Canada in line with a number of countries, including the United States and other G-7 member nations, who introduced software into their GDP over the last few years. It also brings Canada in line with the 1993 SNA recommendation that business and government acquisition of software be treated in national accounts as an investment as opposed to a current expense. Software is now treated like any other capital input that is used repeatedly in production over a year or more whereas, formerly, it was treated as if it were fully used up during the production period like any other intermediate input. This new accounting for software has raised the level of GDP, although the effects on GDP growth turn out to be relatively small.
February 15, 2001 A Guide to Deflating the Input-Output Accounts: Sources and Methods This publication provides a description of the data sources and methods used to compile the input-output tables at constant prices. It includes a brief description of the accounting framework, an overview of the methods used for the major components of the tables and an outline of the techniques applied to each group of goods and services. It also distinguishes between the derivation of the gross domestic product by industry for the business sector and that of the non-business sector. Finally, it discusses some of the critical contemporary issues that are being addressed at the time of writing.
May 31, 2000 The revised sectoring of government employee pension plans With the release of the first quarter 2000 of the National Income and Expenditure Accounts the sectoring of federal and provincial government, non-autonomous pension plans has changed. These pension plans are now part of the personal sector. Previously these plans were included in either the federal or provincial government sector accounts.
November 30, 1999 Purchasing Power Parities and Real Expenditures, United States and Canada - An Update to 1998 Recent economic trends, including expanding globalization of trade (as evidenced by new trade agreements), volatility in market exchange rates, and greater interest in international comparisons of real income and productivity are generating increased interest in intercountry comparisons. These comparisons are made in real terms derived from purchasing power parities (PPPs). In Canada, a particularly important relationship with the United States focusses attention on US/Canada comparative price and volume measures. This article includes updated annual bilateral volume indexes of real gross domestic product (GDP) per capita and its components for the United States, compared with Canada, and the associated PPPs.
August 4, 1999 ARCHIVED – Issues in Provincializing Foreign Direct Investment, no. 19 Statistics Canada currently measures foreign direct investment,both flows and positions, at the national level only. Yet, there isa strong demand for estimates of direct investment by province.Requests come from many sources including federal and provincial governments and the private sector. The study demonstrates that linking provincial series is technically feasible but the resulting provincial allocators are not yet analytically useful. During the pilot project three issues came to the forefront which have an impact on the quality of the provincial allocators: the identification of transactors of direct investment; the consolidation of subsidiaries by the reporting corporations; and the appropriateness of the provincial series for allocating direct investment.
July 29, 1999 Historical statistics of Canada, section H: Government finance The data contained in this section for the most part relate only to the revenues, expenditures and debt of the federal, provincial and municipal governments proper. The first part of the chapter contains information on the finances of the federal government from Confederation to 1975. The second part contains information on the finances of all governments for various years since 1933 to 1975. The final part of the chapter contains miscellaneous data relating to various aspects of governmental finance.
April 20, 1999 ARCHIVED – Reconciliation of the Canada-United States Current Account, 1996 and 1997, no. 18 Canada's balance of payments with the United States should be in principle the mirror image of the U.S. balance of payments with Canada. In practice, however, there are conceptualmethodological and data differences between the statistics of the two countries.A reconciliation of the current account of the balance of payments of the two countries is undertaken annually to reflect how the estimates would appear if both countries used common definitions, methodologies and data sources. Such reconciliation is important because of extensive economic links between the two countries and the need to explain differences in their published official bilateral estimates.
May 14, 1998Historical revision of the Provincial Economic Accounts A major revision of the Provincial Economic Accounts (PEA) was published at the time of the official release. The revision covered the time period 1992 to 1997 and brought the PEA in line with the National Economic and Financial Accounts (NEFA) published early in March.
December 12, 1997Historical revision of the National Economic and Financial Accounts A historical revision of the National Economic and Financial Accounts was published on December 12, 1997. This historical revision had three goals.
September 23, 1997 ARCHIVED – Canada's Implementation of BPM-5, 1997, no. 17 In 1997, Canada released its balance of payments and international investment position statistics with changes extended as far back as 1926 in accordance with the standards of BPM5. This project was implemented in five stages over a four year period which ended with the publication of the data in June 1997. The fifth and final stage consisted of reformatting and recoding all the tables for publications, the matrices of CANSIM (the electronic dissemination database used at Statistics Canada) as well as the coding for data submissions to international agencies according to the new norms. It also involved extensive documentation of the changes as well as the of content of the new norms.The present document, which is part of stage five, summarizes the major changes which were implemented in the balance of payments and in the international investment position.
July 24, 1997 ARCHIVED – Canada's International Legal Services, 1995 to 1996, no. 15 Trade in legal services is an evolving,dynamic aspect of the new global economy. Emerging foreign markets together with the implementation of international trade agreements have facilitated trade in an area that has traditionally been domestic in nature.Statistics on Canada's trade in legal services, produced for the first time,indicate that the level of cross-border trade in this sector is significant - exports account for $263 million while imports are estimated at approximately $208 million.
July 24, 1997 ARCHIVED – Canada's International Management Consulting, 1990 to 1996, no. 16 International management consulting services - those typically provided to third parties rather than between affiliates - have been difficult to isolate. Partly this is due to intermingling within broad categories of consulting, professional services and management and administrative services as reported in the past, and to undercoverage of firms, some of which still remains. Further, the boundaries of the category may be difficult for the user to recognize, since certain specialized consulting under international standards is classified to the specific type of service, e.g. computer services and engineering, instead of the broader category of management consulting services. With a relatively strict working definition (where property management is an exclusion), Canadian firms are estimated to export some $215 million of management consulting services, with imports of just over $125 million. Industry-defined activity could be higher due to inclusion of computer software/hardware consulting.
May 13, 1997 ARCHIVED – Repo Transactions Between Residents of Canada and Non-residents, no. 14 Over the period 1985 to 1995, the value of transactions in securities between Canadian residents and non-residents increased dramatically. From about the same level as GDP in Canada's in 1985, this value climbed to nearly eight times that value in 1995, or $6,158 billion. This growth is largely due to the creation of the repurchase agreements (repos), in the early 1990s. This paper examines the growth in repo transactions between Canadian residents and non-residents since the beginning of the decade. It also presents why repos are so popular and how they are likely to continue in the furture. Finally, an Appendix shows the more technical aspects of repo transactions.
May 13, 1997 ARCHIVED – Implementation in Canada of the International Standards for Service Trade: On with the Fifth, no. 13 Until the appearance in 1993 of the 5th Edition of the International Monetary Fund Balance of Payments Manual, worldwide standards for the recording of data on international services trade were limited. The Balance of Payments Division in Canada restated and partly revised its data on services trade according to the new norms in 1996. This paper sets out the process undertaken at Statistics Canada to implement the new definitions for services trade as a key step to producing data that are more internationally comparable. It describes the basic sources of data, the work needed on survey redesign and data processing, and the progress both achieved and anticipated in the near future as a result of these efforts. Specific changes in the definitions and the status of breakouts are each detailed in appendices.
May 13, 1997 ARCHIVED – Measurement of Foreign Portfolio Investment in Canadian Bonds, no. 12 At the end of 1995, foreign investors held as much as 40% of all Canadian bonds outstanding. Hence, the importance of adequate and consistent statistics on these series. This is done with a processing system which takes into account the detailed characteristics of each bond. The processing system is described in two documents. The first deals with the conceptual and accounting framework while the second focuses on the mathematical foundations of the procedures used in the system. Are reviewed prices used to value bonds; methods to calculate income; transactions in Canadian bonds with non-resident and the reconciliation with positions outstanding; and the calculation of commissions.
May 13, 1997 ARCHIVED – Reconciliation of the Canada-United States Current Account, 1994 and 1995, no. 11 Canada's balance of payments with the United States should be in principle the mirror image of the U.S. balance of payments with Canada. In practice, however, there are conceptual methodological and data differences between the statistics of the two countries. A reconciliation of the current account of the balance of payments of the two countries is undertaken annually to reflect how the estimates would appear if both countries used common definitions, methodologies and data sources. Such reconciliation is important because of extensive economic links between the two countries and the need to explain differences in their published official bilateral estimates. The document describes the reconciliation of the Current Account for 1994 and 1995.
May 13, 1997 ARCHIVED – Development of the Balance of Payments Nomenclature, no. 10 The data model for balance of payments accounting is both simple and complex. At the most elementary level, the model consists of only three: domestic transactor, foreign transactor and transaction. The complexity arises when each of these primary entities is decomposed into its hierarchical structure.The resulting tree is very wide but not very deep. In this report, the data model is first introduced. This is followed by an overview of the Canadian implementation. The pros and cons of this implementation are then summarized. A characterization of future developments is given as a conclusion.
May 13, 1997 ARCHIVED – Direct Investment Profits in Canada and Abroad, 1983 to 1993, no. 9 This study presents and analyses the data on direct investment profits in Canada and abroad from 1983 to 1993, along with an Appendix on concepts, sources and methods to derive the profits. Direct investment is the type of investment which confers the owner with a say in the management of a foreign entity.The study shows that profits earned abroad by Canadian direct investors were below these in Canada accruing to foreign direct investors,broadly reflecting the fact that Canadian direct investment abroad is lower than foreign direct investment in Canada. Except for the three years 1990 to 1992, the accrual of direct investment profits (rather than their distribution as dividends) resulted into a higher deficit on the current account; this reflected larger reinvested earnings in Canada than abroad.
May 13, 1997 ARCHIVED – Recent Trends in Canadian Direct Investment Abroad: The Rise of Canadian Multinationals, 1969 to 1992, no. 8 This article traces the profile and characteristics of Canadian direct investment abroad (CDIA), focusing on the years 1986 to 1992. Direct investment abroad by Canadian multinational enterprises rose rapidly during this period and some insight is first provided into this growth and the financing of it. The countries and industries into which CDIA is channelled is then outlined. This is followed by a description of the Canadian direct investors: their country of control; the relative importance of CDIA in terms of their long-term capitalization; and the size of their direct investment abroad. Details are finally provided about the characteristics of the foreign concerns, as to their size and their industrial pattern compared to that of their Canadian parent.
May 13, 1997 ARCHIVED – The Foreign Investment of Trusteed Pension Funds, 1970 to 1992, no. 7 Trusteed pension funds were in 1992 the second largest institutional holders of assets in Canada, after Canadian banks. Of the $232 billion of assets they held $20 billion or 9%, were in foreign assets. This paper first conducts a general review of the trusteed pension funds, their definition, assets and growth. It then focuses on the foreign assets of these funds.
May 13, 1997 ARCHIVED – Globalization and Canada's International Investment Position, 1950 to 1992, no. 6 From 1950 to 1992, Canada mostly ran Current Account deficits, i.e. relied on net capital inflow of saving from foreign countries. This borrowing from abroad, in turn, kept increasing Canada's external net liability.This document describes how globalisation, specifically from the mid 70's on, has affected the components of Canada's external position.A first part shows how the country's external liability shifted from direct investment into bonds. A second part focuses on how external assets shifted from being held by the Canadian public sector to the Canadian business sector, with a further shift to the Canadian household sector in the few last years of the period covered. For both external liabilities and assets, a marked geographical diversion from the United States to other foreign countries is also noted over that period.
May 13, 1997 ARCHIVED – Canada's Public Debt Held by Non-residents: Historical Perspectives, 1926 to 1992, no. 5 The purpose of this paper is to explore in greater detail the accounting relationship between the public debt and the foreign debt of the country as a whole. Public debt refers here to the debt of all three levels of government: federal, provincial and municipal. The parapublic sector, i.e. the enterprises controlled by the various governments,is in theory excluded but is nevertheless referred to because of the importance of foreign financing of a part of this sector. The article shows that in recent years the sustained deficits of the various levels of government have entailed increasing public debt and that overall non-residents have markedly increased their investment in Canadian government securities, holding more than one quarter of these securities at the end of 1992.
May 13, 1997 ARCHIVED – The Statistical Discrepancy in Canada's Balance of Payments, 1962 to 1991, no. 4 The external sector (foreign countries) has always played an important role on the Canadian economy. In recent years, better means of communications and the deregulation of markets further intensified Canada's transactions with non-residents.These transactions are recorded by Statistics Canada through the balance of payments accounts. There is a real need for the statistical apparatus to adopt to this changing and complex environment.The study provides an overall assessment of Canada's balance of payments statistics with a special focus on the statistical discrepancy over the 1970-1991 period. The statistical discrepancy is a balance of payments account derived residually after all transactions which have been identified are recorded. The statistical discrepancy is a rough measure which gauges the net effect of transactions which failed to be measured by the statistical system and/or are erroneously recorded.
May 13, 1997 ARCHIVED – Characteristics of Canadian Importing Firms, 1978 to 1986, no. 3 Unlike most analyses of trade in goods which generally focus on goods, this study puts more emphasis on the Canadian importers. The study is conducted in a longitudinal context for 1979 and 1986. Furthermore, for the first time, imports from foreign affiliates are studied using 1986 data. Some of the broad findings are that manufacturers and wholesale are by far the largest importers. Foreign-controlled firms account for a predominant share of Canadian imports; they are more import intensive than Canadian-controlled firms in terms of sales; and they largely import from foreign affiliates, notably of the country from which they are controlled. Finally, most of the firms that imported in 1979 continued to do so in 1986.
May 13, 1997 ARCHIVED – Foreign Investment in the Canadian Bond Market, 1978 to 1990, no. 2 The two decades leading to 1990 saw a marked increase in Canadian external liabilities in the form of bonds. By 1990, Canadian bonds held by non-residents accounted for as much as 40% of the country's external debt. The document focuses on foreign holdings of Canadian bonds. It identifies the broad geographical foreign areas where the bonds are held; the Canadian sectors who issued the foreign-held bonds; the currency of payment of these bonds; their term to maturity; and the interest expenses on these bonds.
May 13, 1997 ARCHIVED – Non-corporate Foreign Investment in Canadian Real Estate, no. 1 This paper constitutes a benchmark study of foreign non-corporate investment in Canadian real estate for the year 1981. The data sources are provided followed by the methods used to derive estimates of the market and book values of such investment. Estimates are provided for the year 1977 to 1980.
August 30, 1996 The Effect of Rebasing on GDP About once every five years, the System of National Accounts (SNA) is rebased to keep up with the evolution of prices in the economy. In other words, its aggregates at constant prices are recalculated in terms of the prices of a more recent time. Also, the System is revamped about once a decade to introduce new accounting conventions, improved methods of estimation and revised statistical classifications. These revisions will change the gross domestic product (GDP) of the past 70 years. Both types of revision are presently underway, with their results scheduled for release next year.

This article takes an advance look at the likely effect of rebasing the SNA on the record of growth since 1992. It presents the results of an approximate rebasing of the expenditure-based GDP of the quarterly National Income and Expenditure Accounts (NIEA).
November 30, 1995 The 1993 International System of National Accounts: Its Implementation in Canada The International System of National Accounts 1993 (1993 SNA) was prepared and published under the auspices of the Inter-secretariat Working Group on National Accounts. This working group consists of the Statistical Office of the European Communities, the International Monetary Fund, the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development, the Statistical Division and regional commissions of the United Nations Secretariat, and the World Bank. The adoption of this document for universal implementation was unanimously recommended to the United Nations Economic and Social Council by its Statistical Commission at the 27th session, held in New York from February 22 to March 3, 1993. The plan for implementing the 1993 SNA system, however, does not seem to be as well organized as its production was.

Very detailed comments have been made on this document in two papers entitled 'The 1993 International System of National Accounts vis-à-vis The Canadian System of National Accounts,' and 'The 1993 International System of National Accounts and the Canadian Input-Output Tables.' In a summary fashion, the present paper highlights certain important areas where the Canadian System of National Accounts (CSNA) will need to revise its practices to conform to the 1993 SNA. The reader is encouraged to refer to these two papers for further details.
November 30, 1995 A Primer on Financial Derivatives One of the most significant financial market trends is the increased use of derivative instruments. Across the entire investment spectrum, from private investors to major banks and large institutional fund managers, the use of derivative products is becoming encompassing. Derivatives can be broadly defined as secondary assets, the value of which changes in concert with price movements of a related or underlying primary asset. These instruments may be divided into four broad categories: futures, forwards, options and swaps. Trading on established exchanges, and very active in over-the-counter markets, derivative contracts have become fundamental tools in both domestic and international finance.
May 31, 1995 The 1995 Revision of the National Economic and Financial Accounts Following normal practice, the annual revision of the National Economic and Financial Accounts has been carried out and the revised estimates have been released along with those for the first quarter of 1995. This annual revision of the different parts of the System of National Accounts is an integrated process, with revised estimates of the Income and Expenditure Accounts, Financial Flow Accounts and the Balance of International Payments being released simultaneously. Corresponding revisions to the monthly estimates of gross domestic product (GDP), by industry and to the Input-Output Accounts at current and constant prices will be completed in August.
August 31, 1994 The Tourism Satellite Account There has been growing interest in recent years about the scope of tourism in Canada. In response to this demand for information, Statistics Canada has developed a Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) which provides some answers to questions such as: Which industries constitute 'the tourism industry'? What are the industry's gross domestic product (GDP) and employment rates? And what is the extent of tourism-related expenditures?

This article reports on the research that Statistics Canada has undertaken as part of an ongoing examination of the tourism industry.
May 30, 1994 Assessing the Size of the Underground Economy: The Statistics Canada Perspective This (1994) paper considers four alternative definitions of the underground economy and examines the available evidence about its size. Statistics Canada believes the underground economy is far smaller than the money demand studies have suggested.
May 30, 1994 National Income and Expenditure Accounts: Revised Estimates for the Period from 1990 to 1993 Revised estimates of the Income and Expenditure Accounts (IEA) covering 1990 to 1993 have been released along with the estimates for the first quarter of 1994. These revised estimates reflect the most current source data and seasonal patterns. The annual revision of the different parts of the System of National Accounts is an integrated process. Revised estimates of two other parts of the system, the Balance of International Payments and Financial Flow Accounts, have been released simultaneously. Corresponding revisions to the monthly estimates of the gross domestic product (GDP), by industry and to the Input-Output Accounts at current and constant prices will be available at the end of August.

The first section of this paper reviews the current revisions to the GDP and the main aggregates. The second section analyses the revision patterns of selected income and expenditure aggregates of the GDP over the period 1980 to 1993. For further information on sources, methods and definitions employed in the IE A, refer to the Guide to the Income and Expenditure Accounts, Catalogue no. 13-603E, no. 1.
February 28, 1994 The Value of Household Work in Canada, 1992 This article presents the first results from a study of the value of household work (VHW) in Canada for 1992. The study, the fourth of its kind, is part of continuing efforts to extend measures of production both within and outside Statistics Canada's System of National Accounts. A more in-depth report on the study is currently being prepared.
November 30, 1993 National Income and Expenditure Accounts: Revised Estimates for the Period from 1989 to 1992 Revised estimates of the Income and Expenditure Accounts covering 1989 to 1992 have been released along with the estimates for the first quarter of 1993. These revised estimates reflect the most current source data and seasonal patterns. The annual revision of the different parts of the System of the National Accounts is an integrated process. As such, revised estimates of two other parts of the system -- the Balance of International Payments and Financial Flow Accounts -- have been released simultaneously. Corresponding revisions to the monthly estimates of Gross Domestic Product by Industry and to the Input-Output Accounts at current and constant prices are also available.
November 30, 1993 International Price and Quantity Comparisons: Purchasing Power Parities and Real Expenditures, Canada and the United States This article introduces two new tables showing volume indexes of real gross domestic product (GDP) per capita and its components for Canada compared with the United States and the associated purchasing power parities (PPPs). These international comparisons of real expenditures based on PPPs are considered to be a major addition to the tools available for macroeconomic analysis. For example, the recent publication by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) of a set of estimates of different countries' output using PPPs has changed the view of the share of world output that comes from the industrialized countries compared with the developing economies.

An analysis based on PPPs, rather than a more conventional one based on exchange rates, has significantly changed the relative measures of output of countries. Comparisons based on exchange rates are unlikely to fully take into account the differences in price levels between countries (i.e., the goods and services that can be purchased in one country's currency compared with another's). Moreover, services are not generally traded in the way that goods are, so their prices in different countries tend not to be related in a way that parallels the currency exchange rate. If aggregate output is to be properly compared across countries, PPPs become more and more important as the size of the service sector grows. Economic theory would suggest that for internationally traded domestically produced goods and services, PPPs and exchange rates will tend to equalize in the long run. Exchange rates, however, can fluctuate widely in short periods and are affected by expectations and factors such as deficits, wars, fuel shortages and interest rates. With the calculation of PPPs, actual price level differences can be identified. Such measures are also much more stable over time.
November 30, 1993 The Distribution of GDP at Factor Cost by Sector The Income and Expenditure Accounts (IEA) are structured in terms of four economic or institutional sectors, and transactors are grouped into homogeneous categories that play distinct roles in the economy. The Personal sector is concerned with individuals in their capacity as final consumers and as suppliers of labour. The Government sector centres on transactions by public authorities as they relate to taxation and public expenditure. The Profit-motivated Business sector consists of transactors producing goods and services for financial gain. The Non-resident sector shows all transactions taking place between resident economic agents and the rest of the world. Classifying transactors by similar motivation and behaviour into these broad groups is a useful tool that helps analyse the major players in the economy, their functions and interrelationships.

The purpose of this paper is to develop quarterly estimates of gross domestic product (GDP) at factor cost in both current and constant prices for each of the institutional sectors within the IEA framework. The estimates of that will be shown, of the GDP, by sector, do not constitute a full production account, but nonetheless provide a measure of aggregate productive activity by sector of origin. They complement and extend the sector tables already available in the Income and Expenditure Accounts.
July 1, 1993 The Timeliness of Quarterly Income and Expenditure Accounts: An International Comparison This paper reports the results of a survey of national Income and Expenditure Accounts (IEA) release date practices as reported by national statistical bureaus. This international survey was conducted by the author between January and March 1993 by means of a questionnaire mailed to statisticians of several countries.

Respondents to the survey were asked on what date their preliminary IEA estimates for each of the four quarters of the 1991 calendar year were officially released. They were also asked to indicate the dates on which each of the subsequent four revised sets of estimates were released. To avoid the possibility of unwarranted generalizations from a single year's experience, respondents were asked whether 1991 was a typical year or if there were special circumstances that affected the release dates in this particular period. Finally, general information was sought on each country's official revision policy.
August 31, 1991 The Introduction of Chain Volume Indexes in the Income and Expenditure Accounts Currently, one measure of real gross domestic product (GDP) at market prices is published by Statistics Canada. It is a fixed weighted index, and the weights are from the base year, 1986. In the first quarter of 1990, alternate formulations of real GDP were reviewed in an article released in this publication. One of the alternatives discussed in the article was the Chain Volume Indexes.

The purpose of this article was to introduce a new set of indexes into the Income and Expenditure Accounts. The indexes include quarterly re-weighted Chain Volume Indexes and annually re-weighted Chain Volume Indexes of GDP, excluding the value of physical change in inventories.
November 30, 1990 The Canadian System of National Accounts vis-à-vis the U.N. System of National Accounts The Canadian System of National Accounts (CSNA) has evolved considerably over the past four decades. This article presents a brief account of the relationship between this system, as it stands today, and the international standard for national accounting, which has been established by the United Nations. The major similarities and differences between the two systems are highlighted. The paper then goes on to briefly summarize the present state of discussions concerning revisions to the international SNA standard.
June 20, 1990 Real Gross Domestic Product: Sensitivity to the Choice of base year Gross domestic product (GDP) is a key measure in the System of National Accounts, as well as an indispensable tool for economic analysis. This variable is available in current dollars or, in other words, expressed in the prices of the period to which each estimate applies. Two distinct parts exist within this current dollar measure: a volume component and a price component. This article focusses on the measure of GDP which expresses the volume of transactions in the economy (i.e., GDP expressed in real terms).
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