Jan 16, 2020 Public Records Training

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David McKie
1-613-290-7380 (cell)
Email: davidmckiec@gmail.com

David and Fred are co-authors of
The Data Journalist: Getting the Story“]

 

David, Fred, Rob Cribb and Dean  Jobb are co-authors of
Digging Deeper Third Edition

David McKie and Jim Bronskill are co-authors of
Your Right To Know: How to Use the Law to
Get Government Secrets

Generally speaking, data journalism describes three disciplines. First, the use of data analysis and mapping software to spot newsworthy trends; second, the ability to make people see your trend with the help of cloud-based visualization programs such as ArcGIS Online and Tableau Public; third, using coding skills to create interactive web pages and news applications.

It is also important to note that data is an example of one type of public record that journalists should be mining. Other public records include audits, minutes of meetings at federal, provincial and territorial legislatures and committees meetings of municipalities.

Federal

Federal government research
https://www.canada.ca/en.html

Information about programs and information holdings
https://www.canada.ca/en/treasury-board-secretariat/services/access-information-privacy/access-information/information-about-programs-information-holdings/sources-federal-government-employee-information.html

Internal audit and evaluation – federal
https://www.canada.ca/en/treasury-board-secretariat/topics/audit-evaluation.html

https://www.canada.ca/en/treasury-board-secretariat/corporate/audit-evaluation-reports.html

Public opinion research reports — Library and Archives Canada
http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/porr/Pages/porr.aspx

The Debates of the House of Commons
https://openparliament.ca/debates/

Parliament of Canada
https://www.ourcommons.ca/en

Library of Parliament
https://lop.parl.ca/sites/PublicWebsite/default/en_CA

https://lop.parl.ca/sites/ParlInfo/default/en_CA/

A list of open-data portals
http://www.davidmckie.com/open-data-portals/

Federal public accounts
https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset?portal_type=dataset&q=Public+accounts&organization=pwgsc-tpsgc

Office of the  Auditor General of Canada
https://www.oag-bvg.gc.ca/internet/English/admin_e_41.html

Statistics Canada

StatCan release schedules

Statistics Canada’s data tables

Canada added 35,000 jobs in December, capping strong 2019 for employment

To obtain the Statistics Canada tutorial on using data tables, please click here.

Statistics Canada: Labour Force Survey, December 2019

Canada’s Most Dangerous Places 2020

Statistics Canada’s incident-based crime statistics by detailed violations data

CMA and CA tutorial

Population estimates, July 1, by census metropolitan area and census agglomeration, 2016 boundaries

Census Profile, 2016 Census

Census Profile, 2011 Census

Focus on Geography Series, 2016 Census

Salaries

Top public sector earners revealed in annual Alberta sunshine list

Public sector body compensation disclosure table

Alberta Public Disclosure of Salary and Severance

Ontario Public Disclosure of Salary and Severance

Provincial websites

Government of Saskatchewan
https://www.saskatchewan.ca/

Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan
https://www.legassembly.sk.ca/

Saskatchewan Auditor General
https://auditor.sk.ca/

Saskatchewan Open Data
http://www.opendatask.ca/

Government of Manitoba
https://www.gov.mb.ca/

Legislative Assembly of Manitoba
https://www.gov.mb.ca/legislature/index.html

Manitoba Auditor General
https://www.oag.mb.ca/

Manitoba Open Data Portal
http://www.mbcdp.ca/local-data-portals.html

Government of Ontario
https://www.ontario.ca/page/government-ontario

Ontario Legislative Assembly
https://www.ola.org/en/node/3771

Office of the Auditor General of Ontario
http://www.auditor.on.ca/

Financial Accountability Office of Ontario
https://www.fao-on.org/en/

Ontario Open Data
https://data.ontario.ca/

Government of Quebec
https://www.quebec.ca/en/

Quebec Legislative Assembly
http://www.assnat.qc.ca/en/index.html?appelant=MC

Quebec Auditor General
https://www.vgq.qc.ca/en/publications

Quebec Open Data
https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=https://www.donneesquebec.ca/fr/&prev=search

Government of New Brunswick
https://www2.gnb.ca/

Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick
https://www.gnb.ca/legis/index-e.asp

Auditor General of New Brunswick
https://www2.gnb.ca/content/gnb/en/contacts/dept_renderer.163.html

New  Brunswick Open Data
https://gnb.socrata.com/

Government of Nova Scotia
https://beta.novascotia.ca/

Nova Scotia Legislature
https://nslegislature.ca/

Office of the Auditor General of Nova Scotia
https://oag-ns.ca/

Nova Scotia Open Data
https://data.novascotia.ca/

Municipalities

La Ronge
https://www.laronge.ca/

Vaudreuil-Soulanges
https://mrcvs.ca/municipalites/

Charlotte County
https://infocharlotte.cioc.ca/record/HDC1094

Arichat
https://www.arichat.com/

Cheticamp
https://www.cheticamp.ca/en/

Clarence-Rockland
http://www.clarence-rockland.com/index.php/en/

Tutorials

To obtain the pivot table tutorial, please click here.

Google Sheets guide

Google Sheets guide in Excel worksheets

SpiceUpYourSheetLife_ExcelGoogleSheetTips_BenCollins.pdf

Create a pivot table in Google Sheets with the help of this tutorial.

To obtain the tutorial on calculating per cents, please click here.

To obtain the specialized functions tutorial, please click here.

Data

Population stats for CSD