Road Motor Vehicles - Registration

Detailed information for 2001

This annual release provides counts of vehicle registrations by vehicle type (light, heavy), buses, motorcycles, trailers and off-road vehicles such as construction or farm vehicles.

Data release - April 16, 2002

• Description
• Data sources and methodology
• Data accuracy

Description

This annual release presents counts of light vehicles, heavy vehicles (trucks), buses, trailers and off-road vehicles registrations obtained from the provincial and territorial governments. These data are used by the federal Department of Finance for the calculation of fiscal equalization payments to the provinces pursuant to the Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act, 1987. This information is also used by various levels of government for the planning and development of transportation infrastructure and by special interest groups for production and marketing strategies.

In 1999, Statistics Canada implemented a revised methodology for Motor Vehicle Registration Data in Canada. In previous years, data were obtained by a questionnaire sent to the provinces and territories. Starting in 1999, the sources are files obtained from the vehicles licensing bureau of the provinces and territories.

Statistical activity

This statistical activity is part of a set of surveys measuring various aspects of activities related to the movement of people and goods. These surveys are grouped as follows:

Transportation by air includes records related to the movement of aircraft, passengers and cargo by air for both Canadian and foreign air carriers operating in Canada as well as the financial and operating characteristics of Canadian air carriers. These data are produced by the Aviation Statistics Centre.

Transportation by rail includes records relating to rail transportation in Canada, and between the United States and Canada.

Transportation by road includes records relating to all road transport in Canada. In addition to surveying carriers and owners of registered motor vehicles, certain programs rely on aggregation of provincial and territorial administrative records.

Reference period: Calendar year

Collection period: Quarterly

Subjects

• Transportation
• Transportation by road

Data sources and methodology

Target population

Light road motor vehicles, medium and heavy duty trucks, buses, motorcycles and mopeds, trailers and off-road, construction and farm vehicles, registered by provinces and territories

Instrument design

This methodology does not apply.

Sampling

This survey is a census.

Data are collected for all units of the target population, therefore, no sampling is done.

Data sources

Data collection for this reference period: January, April, July and October

Responding to this survey is mandatory.

Data are extracted from administrative files.

The data are derived from administrative records extracted from provincial and territorial road vehicle registration files.

Motorcycles and mopeds, trailers, off road vehicles, buses, light vehicles weighing less then 4,500 kg, trucks weighing between 4,500 kg and 15,000 kg and trucks weighing more than 15,000 kg are identified.

Bus and off-road vehicle definitions are based on the Canadian Vehicle Survey requirements.

Error detection

All records, which expired during the month prior to the file creation month or expired earlier are removed as well as provincial duplicates (the most recent transactions are kept).

Imputation

This methodology does not apply.

Estimation

This methodology type does not apply to this statistical program.

Quality evaluation

The aggregated survey results are analyzed before dissemination. In general, this includes a review of general economic conditions as well as historic trends and comparisons with other data sources.

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. Data for a specific industry or variable may be suppressed (along with that of a second industry or variable) if the number of enterprises in the population is too low.

Revisions and seasonal adjustment

Annual estimates are provided for the reference year. The data for the previous reference year are revised if necessary. As this is an annual program, seasonal adjustments are not applicable.

Data accuracy

Prior to 1999, changes in the way individual provinces and territories reported registrations and licenses would have a direct impact on the published figures. Since the new data collection and classification methods are unchanged from year to year, data users are provided with greater consistency in the data over time and data are more easily comparable across jurisdictions.

Prior to 1999, the annual figures were based on differing time periods, and some of the differences between provinces could be accounted for by the dates for which the information was reported. Starting in 1999, quarterly figures are used to obtain an annual figure that matches the calendar year, so the entire country is reporting for the same time period.