* By data gap, we mean areas at the national level in which data are not collected or readily accessible. These could be areas where there is no ability to compare across provinces or cities, where the existing information is years out of date, published infrequently or not comparable with prior years.
But while Mr. Rivers approved of the government’s proposed data hub in principle, he said its budget appears inadequate to the challenge facing the country. He noted that, in 2016, the U.S. government’s Energy Information Administration had annual funding of US$122-million, or an order of magnitude more than what Ottawa is providing for the new centre.
The budget contains several other passels of money for data collection by different ministries, including around housing supply and organ donation. It promises $79-million over seven years for education, health and other surveys in Indigenous communities, to be led by the First Nations Information Governance Centre – a commitment the group’s executive director Jonathan Dewar applauded.