Measure: Canada's merchandise exports and imports by partner
country and by commodity as well as price and volume indices on imports and
exports.
Note: Merchandise trade is one component of the current
account of Canada's balance of payments, which also includes services
transactions, investment income, and current transfers. The data are calculated
on a Customs basis.
Data limitations: Trade statistics produced by one country
will frequently differ from those produced by its trading partners due to the
different concepts, methods, classifications, measurements, and compilation
procedures used in the collection and production of trade statistics.
(Statistics Canada, 2005)
Merchandise trade statistics on a Customs basis cover the physical movement
of goods as they cross the border and as they are reflected on Customs
documents, while trade statistics on a balance of payments (BoP) basis contain
adjustments to the Customs data to ensure consistency with BoP concepts and the
national accounts framework and are designed to more fully cover the value of
all economic transactions between residents and non-residents involving
merchandise trade. Inland freight charges, which by convention are assumed to be
paid for by the importing country, are one example of the BoP valuation
adjustments made to Customs data.
Customs-based exports statistics may understate or incorrectly portray the
destination of exports. Export statistics are understated when the proper
documentation is not filed with Customs. Exports may also be incorrectly
portrayed when the country of final destination is inaccurately reported on the
Customs documentation-this occurs most frequently when goods are routed through
an intermediary country before continuing on their final destination.
(International Trade Canada, 2005)
Data source: Statistics Canada, 2005
Measure: Canadian direct investment abroad and foreign
direct investment in Canada
Notes: Both inward and outward direct investment flows are
categories in the financial account. Direct investment refers to
investment of a resident entity in one country obtaining a lasting interest in
an enterprise resident in another country. Lasting interest implies the
existence of a long-term relationship between the direct investor and the
enterprise and a significant degree of influence by the investor on the
management of the enterprise. (Statistics Canada and International Trade Canada,
2005)
In practice, direct investment is deemed to occur when a company owns at
least 10 per cent of the voting equity in a foreign enterprise. (Statistics
Canada, 2005)
Data limitations: In the Canadian statistics, direct
investment is measured as the total value of equity, net long-term claims, and
net short-term claims of non-bank enterprises held by the enterprise across the
border. Direct investment position series are at book value. In this report,
direct investment represents the cumulative year-end positions. (Statistics
Canada, 2005)
Data source: Statistics Canada, 2005
Measure: The number of conflicts in the world and per
region.
Note: "Armed conflict is defined as a political
conflict in which armed combat involves the armed forces of at least one state
(or one or more armed factions seeking to gain control of all or part of the
state) and in which at least 1,000 people have been killed by the fighting
during the course of the conflict. An armed conflict is added to the annual list
of current armed conflicts in the year in which the death toll reaches the
threshold of 1,000, but the starting date of the armed conflict is shown as the
year in which the first combat deaths included in the count of 1,000 or more
occurred.
"An armed conflict is deemed to have ended if there has been a formal
ceasefire or peace agreement and, following which, there are no longer combat
deaths (or at least fewer than 25 per year) or, in the absence of a formal
ceasefire, a conflict is deemed to have ended after two years of dormancy (in
which fewer than 25 combat deaths per year have occurred)." (Project
Ploughshares, 2004)
Data limitations: See the Project Ploughshares Web site at http://www.ploughshares.ca
for survey methodology.
Data source: Project Ploughshares, 2004
Measure: Polling data
Data limitations: Data are based on a sample survey and
therefore subject to sampling error. See Gallup International's "Voice of
the People" Web site at http://www.voice-of-the-people.net
for survey methodology.
This is a subjective indicator-In recent years in the U.S., a higher level of
perceived insecurity has been associated with a significant decline in crime
rates, youth crimes, plane crashes, etc., demonstrating that perception and
reality often differ considerably.
Data source: Gallup International, "Voice of the
People," 2004
Measure: The percentage of gross national income (GNI)
Notes: Official Development Assistance (ODA) is defined by
the Development Assistance Committee of the OECD as official (government) agency
funding transferred "to developing countries and multilateral institutions,
which meets the following tests: a) it is administered with the promotion of the
economic development and welfare of developing countries as its main objective,
and b) it is confessional in character and conveys a grant element of at least
25 per cent." (OECD, 2004)
Official assistance is funding provided to countries that are not eligible to
receive ODA (e.g. most of the "countries in transition" of Central and
Eastern Europe) but that otherwise meet the tests above. (OECD, 2004)
GNI is a measure of the income to a country from production wherever in the
world it occurs. For example, if a Canadian-owned company operating in another
country sends some of their incomes (profits) back to Canada this adds to
Canada's GNI. Similarly, a Canadian production of a U.S. company sending profit
to the U.S. will reduce Canada's GNI.
Data limitations: See the OECD Web site at http://www.oecd.org/home/0,2987,en_2649_201185_1_1_1_1_1,00.html
for methodology.
Data source: OECD, 2005
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