Medical Cannabis Producers Survey

Detailed information for 2016

Statistics Canada is conducting a new survey to collect comprehensive business and economic information on medical cannabis producers. The federal government will use data from this survey to better understand this industry, its relationship with the rest of the Canadian economy and how it will adapt to any future changes in cannabis legalization.

Data release - April 26, 2018

• Questionnaire(s) and reporting guide(s)
• Description
• Data sources and methodology
• Data accuracy

Description

Data collected from this survey may be used by Statistics Canada to construct a "cannabis satellite account" which is essentially a set of statistical tables containing aggregates describing the structure of the medical cannabis "industry" and its supply and demand characteristics. The collected data will help the federal government to better understand the nature of Canada's medical cannabis industry, its relationship with the rest of the Canadian economy and how this industry is planning to adapt to any future cannabis legalization changes.

Reference period: The 12-month fiscal period for which the final day occurs on or between April 1st of the reference year and March 31st of the following year.

Collection period: Mid-October to end of January, 2018

Subjects

• Business performance and ownership
• Economic accounts
• Retail and wholesale

Data sources and methodology

Target population

The survey population will be a census of all licensed medical cannabis producers in Canada.

Instrument design

The survey questionnaire was designed by the Centre for Special Business Projects and the National Economics Accounts Division of Statistics Canada. It will collect information about the business structures of the medical cannabis producers, their recent economic activities and their investment plans.

Sampling

This survey is a census with a cross-sectional design.

The survey population is all authorized licensed medical cannabis producers in Canada. Those producers have been selected from the Health Canada website and were matched to Statistics Canada's Business Register.

Data sources

Data collection for this reference period: 2017-10-17 to 2018-01-31

Responding to this survey is mandatory.

Data are collected directly from survey respondents.

The collection method is paper questionnaire.

The questionnaire is available in English and French.

The average time required to complete the questionnaire is 60 minutes.

View the Questionnaire(s) and reporting guide(s) .

Error detection

Data are collected from licensed producers on paper questionnaires and responses are checked for consistency and apparent reasonableness. When important inconsistencies or unreasonable-looking data are identified, Statistics Canada personnel attempt to contact the respondent by telephone for clarification and correction if necessary.

Imputation

Data imputation is used for important fields when respondents provide incomplete or inconsistent data and it is not possible to obtain corrected data in a timely fashion. Revenue and expense data are adjusted to conform to totals obtained from corporate income tax files and employment data are adjusted to agree with totals obtained from payroll deduction records, both sources obtained from the Canada Revenue Agency. Data for non-respondents are not imputed individually, but rather are accounted for in the estimation step.

Estimation

Because the Licensed Cannabis Producers Survey is a census, no sampling weights need to be applied to individual respondents. To deal with non-response, totals are calculated by scaling up aggregated respondent data using more complete administrative data.

Quality evaluation

A comparison of the Licensed Cannabis Producers Survey estimates is made with production and sales volume estimates obtained from Health Canada regulatory data. Data reported on the survey for individual producers are also compared with corresponding administrative data for those producers where available.

Disclosure control

Statistics Canada is prohibited by law from releasing any information it collects which could identify any person, business, or organization, unless consent has been given by the respondent or as permitted by the Statistics Act. Various confidentiality rules are applied to all data that are released or published to prevent the publication or disclosure of any information deemed confidential. If necessary, data are suppressed to prevent direct or residual disclosure of identifiable data.

Revisions and seasonal adjustment

This methodology type does not apply to this statistical program.

Data accuracy

The questionnaire was sent to all licensed producers in the industry. Since there was no sampling, sample variances are not applicable.

Of the 55 producers sent questionnaires, 44 responded. All of the large producers responded, but some of the smaller ones did not. Estimates were made for the aggregate of the non-respondents based on administrative data from Canada Revenue Agency and Health Canada. No estimation variances are available.