2008 Federal Election Boundaries

Question

We have received a request for the 2008 Federal Election Boundary Files.
I note that the ESRI Shape File, the ESRI Arc/Info Export File, and the ESRI Arc/Info Coverage file, for the Federal Electoral Districts of Canada (2006 Election) appear to be freely available from the NRC web site at http://geogratis.cgdi.gc.ca/geogratis/en/option/select.do?id=1169
In contrast, the web page for the 2006 Census Geography products at http://www12.statcan.ca/census-recensement/2006/geo/bound-limit-eng.cfm lists the federal electoral district boundary files with a ($). (see also: http://geodepot.statcan.ca/Diss2006/DataProducts/BoundaryFiles/FED-CEF_e.jsp.

As far as I can tell, these 2006 Census Geography Products have not been released to the DLI?
So… I am not sure how to interpret these two apparent sources of the 2006 Federal Electoral District “geospatial” files. But… the patron has requested the 2008 Federal Election boundary files. Are the above 2006 files the same as for the 2008 election?

Answer

The FED 2006 are the based on 2003 representations and they were the ones used for the 2008 elections. They are revised every 10 years. There are no such thing as 2008 FEDs. These FEDs boundary and cartographic files are available on the DLI FTP site under the 2006 Geography. They are part of the national coverage.

Statistics Canada sells the boundary files and this is why you see the $ sign when you get to download them from the site. DLI members have them for free from the DLI FTP site.

As for the FED files from NRC, I cannot tell you if they are different or not from what StatCan is offering. Other organizations may have created their own boundary files and it's up to them to decide to make them available or not. Furthermore, secondary distributors have paid royalties to StatCan for boundary files. It's then their choice to sell it or make available free. They may have chosen to have the FED made available free in this case since it can be a good marketing strategy.

The next revision for FED 2003 representation may happen shortly so we may have a new representation for 2011 Census.