RE: RE: CivicAccess-discuss Digest, Vol 14, Issue 5

Posted by Ted Hildebrandt on Sep 12, 2008; 2:51pm
URL: http://civicaccess.416.s1.nabble.com/RE-CivicAccess-discuss-Digest-Vol-14-Issue-5-tp1206p1208.html

Another online tool that Statistics Canada has made available is their
2006 Census FED Finder

http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census/index.cfm

September 8, 2008 - Release of the 2006 Census 'FED Finder' (see
right-hand sidebar). In anticipation of the upcoming federal election,
users can access census data related to their Federal electoral district
(FED). Includes definition/information on FEDs, link to Federal
electoral district profile (Internet application) and a new tool
providing users with the ability to enter a postal code and obtain 2006
Census data on the associated Federal electoral district.


---------------------------------------
Ted Hildebrandt
Director of Social Planning
Community Development Halton
860 Harrington Court
Burlington, Ontario  L7N 3N4 Canada
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Email: [hidden email]
Web: www.cdhalton.ca
     www.volunteerhalton.ca

Building Community Together

 
-----Original Message-----
From: [hidden email]
[mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Hugh
McGuire
Sent: September 12, 2008 10:31 AM
To: civicaccess discuss
Subject: Re: [CivicAccess-discuss] RE: CivicAccess-discuss Digest, Vol
14,Issue 5

> You can buy the Postal Code to Federal Electoral District file for a
> first year fee of $2500, with the annual fee for quarterly updates
> thereafter costing $500.
> ...
> Alternate solutions are to scrape the data from a site which does not
> have a fair use policy excluding that.
once upon a time this was going to be the first advocacy project of
civicaccess.ca ... lobby the government to free electoral/postal code
data. having it cost so damn much (or anything at all) causes problems
to the most basic of online civic engagement projects. why should we
have to pay $2500 to get a dataset that tells you what electoral
district you are in by postal code? it seems like an elemental kind of
information about our country, that any citizen should have access to
for free, and yet...

This is a perfect case of why the current system is undemocratic,
stupid, and blocks effective engagement in our democratic process.



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