[CivicAccess-discuss] Opendata.gc.ca report

Sat May 21 03:41:40 AEST 2011

Hi James,

Just a quick note on the CRA file. You can download the results of the Advanced Search as a text file, which can then be imported into something like Excel. Just leave all fields blank in the Advanced Search and then choose "Download Results" from the left sidebar. There are download instructions at http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/chrts-gvng/lstngs/dwnldng-eng.html. Unfortunately, this doesn't include the returns information. At least it is something to start with.

---------------------------------------
Ted Hildebrandt
Director of Social Planning
Community Development Halton
860 Harrington Court
Burlington, Ontario  L7N 3N4 Canada
Phone: (905) 632-1975, (905) 878-0955
Fax: (905) 632-0778
Email: thildebrandt at cdhalton.ca 
Web: www.cdhalton.ca 
           www.volunteerhalton.ca 

Building Community Together

-----Original Message-----
From: civicaccess-discuss-bounces at civicaccess.ca [mailto:civicaccess-discuss-bounces at civicaccess.ca] On Behalf Of James McKinney
Sent: Friday, May 20, 2011 12:40 AM
To: civicaccess discuss
Subject: Re: [CivicAccess-discuss] Opendata.gc.ca report

I had requested the shapefile containing all postal codes, but I am not optimistic about this request (not the shapefile for only forward sortation areas, which Statscan has for about $400, or only postal code to electoral district mappings, which Statscan has for about $2500). I wonder what opendata.gc.ca will do about datasets that are already available, but at a price. Is there any point in requesting Statscan paid data be added? I also wonder how it interacts with the data generated by Crown corporations. I think Canada Post would be the source of the data I requested. I haven't gotten a response to this request from when opendata.gc.ca was launched.

Anyway, I just requested the following. The first five are publicly available online and are clearly backed by a database, so it should be easy for the government to export them in a machine-readable format.
Please feel free to modify the requests and submit them yourselves. I am more optimistic about these.

1. Canada Revenue Agency

I would like the full Charities Listings database as open data, in a machine-redable format such as CSV or XML. The database is browsable
here: http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/ebci/haip/srch/advancedsearch-eng.action

Ideally, the charities' returns would also be made available in a machine-readable format, for example: http://goo.gl/cncrh The returns should include all attached worksheets (e.g. "Directors/Trustees and Like Officials Worksheet") and schedules (e.g. "Schedule 3 - Compensation").

2. Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat

Each departmental web site has its own "Proactive Disclosure" section that contains disclosures of (1) Travel and Hospitality Expenses, (2) Contracts, (3) Position Reclassifications, and (4) Grant and Contribution Awards. These disclosures are then broken up into time periods and again broken up by employee, vendor, or recipient.

I would like to have this data to be made available in a machine-readable format such as CSV (comma-separated value). A full list of participating departments is listed here:
http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/pd-dp/gr-rg/index-eng.asp

3. Industry Canada

I would like the full Federal Corporation database made available as open data in a machine-readable format such as CSV or XML. The database is online here:
https://www.ic.gc.ca/app/scr/cc/CorporationsCanada/fdrlCrpSrch.html?locale=en_CA

4. Parliament of Canada

The Parliament of Canada maintains a database of all members of the House of Commons and the Senate since Confederation, with considerable detail on each member and his or her functions. The databases are accessible here http://goo.gl/uPHAs and here http://www.parl.gc.ca/parlinfo/lists/senators.aspx

The above two databases are within the PARLINFO section of the web site.

The Parliament of Canada has a second database of House of Commons MPs that is not as historical, but contains some data not contained in the PARLINFO database. It is available here:
http://www.parl.gc.ca/MembersOfParliament/MainMPsCompleteList.aspx

The Senate likewise is represented in a second database, available
here: http://www.parl.gc.ca/SenatorsMembers/Senate/SenatorsBiography/ISenator.asp?Language=E

I would like all datasets to be made available. If consolidation is easy, then a consolidated dataset per house is preferred. However, whichever option is most expedient is best in the short term.

I would like each dataset to be made available as open data in a machine-readable format (for example, CSV or XML).

5. Library of Parliament

The Parliament of Canada web site has a database of all General Election and By-Election results going back to Confederation:
http://www.parl.gc.ca/About/Parliament/FederalRidingsHistory/hfer.asp?Language=E&Search=G

I would like this dataset of electoral results made available as open data in a machine-readable format, e.g. as CSV or XML.

6. Elections Canada

GeoGratis provides Digital Federal Electoral District Boundary Files and Digital Polling Division Boundary Files for all elections since 2000. I would like the same files for as many previous elections as possible.

7. Elections Canada

Elections Canada offers the Transposition of Votes and Transposition of Population for the 2004 Federal Representation Order. However, these are only available as PDF, which is not easily machine-readable.
If the tabular data contained in the PDFs were made available in a machine-readable format such as CSV or XML, it would be much more valuable. I would like this dataset made available in a machine-readable format.

I would also like the Transposition of Votes and Transposition of Population for as many other Representation Orders as possible to be similarly made available.

On Thu, May 19, 2011 at 9:29 PM, Tracey P. Lauriault <tlauriau at gmail.com> wrote:
> All;
> I met with Stephen Walker, Senior Director, Information Management 
> Division, CIOB at Treasury Board Secretariat who oversees the 
> opendata.gc.ca pilot project.
> Stephen strongly suggested that we put in requests for the data we want.
>  For instance the Postal Code files, all of you who want it, request it.
>  Also, currently, there are no data from HRSDC, Industry Canada, CMHC, 
> and a host of other departments.  But if you have an interest in a 
> particular file, or issues, and you have some idea as to where it 
> might be in the institution, then make a request.
> For the time being the doors are opening, but so much more work needs 
> to be done, and instead of waiting for  the entire department or 
> agency to get ready, he can take your ask and present them as a short 
> list, a place to start.
> It looks like the pilot is going to stay, but it will only get better 
> if we ask for what we want and actually use the data that are already there.
> Cheers
> t
> --
> Tracey P. Lauriault
> 613-234-2805
> http://traceyplauriault.ca/
>
>
>
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