Canadian society and the Canadian economy are becoming increasingly data-driven. In response and as part of an effort to modernize, Statistics Canada has embarked on a journey to ensure that Canadians receive the data they need, when they need them. This journey involves using leading methods and integrating alternative data sources to produce more user-centric information products. A recent organizational change at Statistics Canada exemplifies this user-centric focus.
In July, the Chief Statistician announced the creation of a new Canadian Centre for Tourism and Transportation Statistics. This centre will bring together the tourism program and its travel surveys with the transportation program and its emphasis on industry-based statistics. Despite the complementary data and subject matter, as well as overlapping user communities, these two programs were separated organizationally at Statistics Canada.
How will this change affect our user communities? Both programs deliver many key products essential for policy, regulation and research. As such, it will be "business as usual" in the short term, and the new centre will continue to honour its existing data commitments. One potential enhancement may be a wider array of statistics on the Transportation Data and Information Hub. Moving forward, the centre will begin harnessing complementary program elements to create innovative data products.
For more information, please contact Statistics Canada (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; STATCAN.infostats-infostats.STATCAN@canada.ca).