Methodology and sources

How the numbers get here

Every series is fetched by script from an official source, stored raw, validated, and published only if its licence allows. 2027 series and 48 all-economy panels are live; nothing is typed in by hand.

Rules

Non-negotiables

Enforced by code and tests, not just stated.

  1. Geography is never substituted. Each series has one registry geography. Provinces, metropolitan areas and countries are separate levels; metropolitan labour rates (three-month averages) are never plotted with provincial monthly rates. Where Statistics Canada publishes only part of a metropolitan area (Ottawa–Gatineau CPI and housing prices), the part is labelled as such.
  2. Units come from the agency’s unit of measure. Scale codes and unit text are reconciled, never multiplied together; implausible magnitudes block publication.
  3. Observations, forecasts and scenarios are different kinds and never share a series. No forecast is published.
  4. Failures keep the last good data. A failed refresh marks the series stale and visible; revisions are logged.
  5. Licence decides publication. Data whose terms do not allow commercial redistribution are withheld. Some published series still carry conditions or are left out of paid work, so being shown here does not mean a series may be resold: see data attribution.
  6. Retired source tables are blocked by the pipeline.
  7. Relationships carry their evidence. 162 edges in six classes: an established mechanism or estimated effect needs a source that was read (its quote is recorded); a documented exposure or observed correlation needs a data computation; a hypothesis may not carry a number. Correlations always state that they are not causal estimates, show four pre-specified lags, and report no significance test because overlapping windows violate its assumptions.
  8. Maps use authentic boundaries and one measured indicator. Natural Earth (public domain) boundaries; colour shows the latest value of a single indicator, never the effect of a relationship. Metropolitan areas are shown as points, not boundaries.
Dates

Five different dates, never confused

A chart can carry several dates; each means something different.

DateMeaningWhere it appears
Observation periodThe month, quarter or year the value describes.Every chart and indicator tile ("latest observation").
Release dateWhen the source published that value (a statistical agency's release time)."About this data" under each chart; the release calendar shows the next scheduled release.
Retrieval dateWhen this project last fetched the value from the source."About this data"; the status page lists series that have not been retrieved recently.
Publication dateThe date a written section was approved by a person and published.At the end of a research note.
Forecast periodThe future period a projection refers to. This site publishes no forecasts of its own; where another institution's projection is quoted it is labelled as theirs with its source and date.Only in sentences that quote an institution, never in a chart series.

When a source revises a value that was already published, the change is logged with the date it was detected. A revision larger than the tolerance for its unit is listed for editorial attention and the documents that cite the series are flagged; the text is not rewritten automatically.

Sources

Source terms as verified

“Verified” means the terms page was read on 22–23 October 2026. This is not legal advice.

SourceAccessCommercial useAutomated accessVerified
Statistics Canada Web Data Service
Statistics Canada Open Licence
rest apiyespermitted with limitsyes
Bank of Canada Valet API
Bank of Canada website terms
rest apiyes with conditionspermitted with limitsyes
CMHC Housing Market Information Portal
CMHC Licence Agreement for Use of Data
web tables onlyyes with conditionsnot addressed ask provideryes
Alberta Economic Dashboard API (relay)
Alberta Economic Dashboard API terms
rest apiunknownunknownno
City of Calgary Open Data (Socrata)
Open Calgary Terms of Use
rest apiyespermittedno
OECD Data Explorer API (SDMX)
OECD Terms and Conditions
sdmx apiunknownpermitted with limitsno
IMF Data API (SDMX 2.1/3.0)
IMF Copyright and Terms (Data)
sdmx apipermission requiredpermission required bulkyes
World Bank Indicators API v2
World Bank datasets: CC BY 4.0 (default for World Bank-produced datasets) with additional dispute terms
rest apiyes with conditionspermitted with limitsyes
IMF DataMapper API (WEO)
IMF Copyright and Terms (Data)
rest apipermission requiredpermission required bulkyes
World Bank Commodity Price Data (Pink Sheet), monthly
World Bank datasets: CC BY 4.0 (default for World Bank-produced datasets) with additional dispute terms
bulk downloadyes with conditionspermitted with limitsyes
Eurostat dissemination API (JSON-stat)
Eurostat reuse policy (CC BY 4.0 for website content; statistical data reusable commercially with source acknowledged)
rest apiyespermitted with limitsyes
ECB Data Portal API (SDMX 2.1)
ECB statistics reuse policy
sdmx apiyes with conditionsnot addressed ask provideryes
Federal Reserve Board Data Download Program (H.15 Selected Interest Rates)
Federal Reserve Board website policy: public domain unless otherwise indicated
bulk downloadyespermitted with limitsyes
UK Office for National Statistics time series (JSON)
UK Open Government Licence v3.0 (ONS)
rest apiyes with conditionspermitted with limitsyes
US Bureau of Labor Statistics public API v1
BLS API Terms of Service
rest apiyes with conditionspermitted with limitsyes
US Treasury interest-rate pages and Fiscal Data API
Terms not read or not accessible
bulk downloadunknownnot addressed ask providerno
Bank of England Statistical Interactive Database
Terms not read or not accessible
bulk downloadunknownnot addressed ask providerno
Bank of Japan Time-Series Data Search
Terms not read or not accessible
web tables onlypermission requirednot addressed ask providerno
BIS Data Portal
Terms not read or not accessible
sdmx apiunknownnot addressed ask providerno

Also used: Natural Earth boundaries (public domain); fonts Newsreader, Source Sans 3 and IBM Plex Mono (SIL Open Font License 1.1), self-hosted; Federal Reserve, Statistics Canada and Bank of Canada schedule pages for the calendar (dates only).

Indicators

The main indicators

The core series behind the reports, with their source and how often they update. The World Bank all-economy panels, the commodity series, and the provincial and metropolitan Statistics Canada series extend this set.

IndicatorSource · datasetFrequency
Real GDP at basic prices, all industries, monthlyStatistics Canada WDS
StatCan table 36-10-0434-01
monthly
Unemployment rate, seasonally adjustedStatistics Canada WDS
StatCan table 14-10-0287-01
monthly
Employment, seasonally adjustedStatistics Canada WDS
StatCan table 14-10-0287-01
monthly
Consumer Price Index, all-items (index and 12-month change)Statistics Canada WDS
StatCan table 18-10-0004-01
monthly
Population estimates, quarterlyStatistics Canada WDS
StatCan table 17-10-0009-01
quarterly
Housing starts, seasonally adjusted at annual rates (CMHC data distributed by Statistics Canada)Statistics Canada WDS
StatCan table 34-10-0158-01
monthly
Merchandise trade balance, balance-of-payments basis, seasonally adjustedStatistics Canada WDS
StatCan table 12-10-0011-01
monthly
Average weekly earnings, industrial aggregateStatistics Canada WDS
StatCan table 14-10-0203-01
monthly
Household credit market debt to disposable incomeStatistics Canada WDS
StatCan table 38-10-0238-01
quarterly
Bank of Canada target for the overnight rateBank of Canada Valet
BoC Valet V39079
daily
Real GDP growthWorld Bank WDI API
WDI NY.GDP.MKTP.KD.ZG
annual
Consumer price inflationWorld Bank WDI API
WDI FP.CPI.TOTL.ZG
annual
Unemployment rate (ILO modelled estimate)World Bank WDI API
WDI SL.UEM.TOTL.ZS
annual
Trade openness (exports + imports)World Bank WDI API
WDI NE.TRD.GNFS.ZS
annual
GDP per capita, PPP (constant 2021 international $)World Bank WDI API
WDI NY.GDP.PCAP.PP.KD
annual
Gross capital formation (investment)World Bank WDI API
WDI NE.GDI.TOTL.ZS
annual
Canadian dollar against major currencies (monthly average)Bank of Canada Valet
BoC Valet FXMUSDCAD
monthly
Bank of Canada Commodity Price Index (US$, 1972=100)Bank of Canada Valet
BoC Valet M.BCPI
monthly
Foreign direct investment, net inflowsWorld Bank WDI API
WDI BX.KLT.DINV.WD.GD.ZS
annual
Manufacturing, value addedWorld Bank WDI API
WDI NV.IND.MANF.ZS
annual
Withheld

Data that exists but is not shown

Withheld because the source’s terms do not permit it, or the source refused automated access.

Statistics Canada gaps (a table does not publish the geography): none. Job vacancy rates for Prince Edward Island and Nunavut are suppressed in the latest release and are not published.

Editorial

How analysis is written, checked and approved

Numbers are references to registered series; interpretation is labelled and sourced; publication needs a recorded human decision.