Reply from Elections Canada on Postal Code Database question..

[Russell McOrmond-2]

   Just a FYI for the curious.  No new news, other than to confirm that
Elections Canada is still sending people to Statistics Canada.

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Reply to: Russell McOrmond
Date: Thu, 12 Apr 2007 13:35:05 -0400
From: INFO7, <[hidden email]>
To: <[hidden email]>





-----Original Message-----
From: INFO
Sent: April 12, 2007 09:49 AM
To: INFO
Subject: Elections Canada On-Line - E-mail


Language Preference: English
  From name: Russell McOrmond
Title:
Company:
Email: [hidden email]
Street: 305 Southcrest Private.
City: Ottawa
Province: ON
Postal code: K1V 2B7
Country: Canada
Tel.: [phone]
Fax:
Contact by: email

Message:
I am wondering if Elections Canada has considered expanding some of the
data it makes available for free.  Looking at the recent announcement of
the GeoGratis portal provided by the Earth Sciences Sector (ESS) of
Natural Resources Canada (NRCan), it may be the right time to try to
release the next step of information required by Canadians to better
interact with their government.

The Postal codes by federal ridings file (PCFRF) is currently sold by
Statistics Canada at a price, and with a copyright license agreement,
that makes it impossible for most NGO's, non-profits and citizens groups
to use it.  This is a relatively small file, and one which I have
observed seems to be re-built by a number of different Canadian
government agencies.  In fact, some Canadians have noticed a discrepancy
between the data people have purchased from Statistics Canada, the forms
on Elections Canada, and the forms on the Parl.gc.ca website.

Elections Canada already makes a considerable amount of extremely useful
data freely available to Canadians between and during elections.  Is it
possible this one additional database could be added to your repertoire?


Some BLOG articles on my site about this issue:
http://www.digital-copyright.ca/search/node/PCFRF

A suggested letter to MPs about this data:
http://www.digital-copyright.ca/edid/letter5

_______________________________________________

Answer

We thank you for your e-mail of April 12, 2007 inviting a change in
procedure for the
PCFRF data.
At this time Elections Canada does not produce a file of Postal Codes to
Electoral Districts for distribution. Although we have this file on our
Web site we are not in position to support third party users of this file

Consequently, we invite you to address your request to the Department of
Statistics Canada. You may consult Statistics Canada by calling their
toll free number 1 800 267-6677 or via their Web site at_ __www.statcan.ca_.

Should you need additional information about the Canadian federal
electoral system, please contact us via our Web site
(_www.elections.ca_) or by calling 1 800 463-6868, toll-free in Canada
and the United States. Our hours of operation are Monday to Friday, 8:30
a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (Eastern time).

Yours truly,

Ginette Apostolakos
Enquiries Officer


--
  Russell McOrmond, Internet Consultant: <http://www.flora.ca/>
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