A researcher is looking for data on Municipal Operating Expenses and Municipal Capital formation (or government capital formation) for 1997 to 2013. Is this data available on CanSim? If so, where can I find it?
Answer
For local governments, the most recent data is obtained through a questionnaire as budget estimates are not available and financial statements (obtained through the provincial/territorial departments of municipal affairs) are not available until 2 to 3 years after the reference year. Questionnaire content and wording are reviewed annually to reflect changes in the availability of information and to incorporate additional dimensions to fulfill Statistics Canada needs.
Local government data are maintained from the administrative records of their respective provincial and territorial Departments of Municipal Affairs, from information contained in official provincial and territorial Gazettes, from municipal directories and from responses to on-going sub-annual municipal surveys. I would recommend reviewing the respective provincial and territorial Departments of Municipal Affairs.
This may be of use for British Columbia: <http://www.civicinfo.bc.ca/81_ver2.asp> If so, your researcher might be able to get more years by contacting them. They also have this, but it's very new, and I don't see financial data in there: <http://data.civicinfo.ca/>
