News Releases
Government Home Search Sitemap Contact Us  

Finance
June 29, 2009

Provincial Community Accounts Endorsed by Senate Committee

Newfoundland and Labrador�s system of Community Accounts has been recognized and endorsed by the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology in its final report of the Senate Subcommittee on Population Health, A Healthy, Productive Canada: A Determinant of Health Approach. The Honourable Jerome Kennedy, Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board, said he is pleased that the senate committee is recommending implementation of a Community Accounts system for all provinces that is modeled after Newfoundland and Labrador�s successful system.

�Newfoundland and Labrador�s Community Accounts has been recognized throughout the country and around the world as an innovative information system that provides users at all levels with a reliable source of community, regional, and provincial data,� said Minister Kennedy. �Community Accounts allows users to access information on key economic and social indicators, organized by geography and data topic, providing users with information on the status and progress of their communities and their regions from an economic and social perspective.�

A public-wide, online data retrieval system for locating, sharing and exchanging information related to the province and its people, the Community Accounts system provides users with a single comprehensive source of community, regional, and provincial data that would normally not be readily available, too costly to obtain, or too time consuming to retrieve and compile. Under this structure, information can be retrieved according to 400 communities, 80 census consolidated subdivisions (local areas), 20 economic development zones, and the province. Information can also be retrieved at the level of Rural Secretariat regions, health authorities, school districts, and Human Resources and Skills Development Canada regions.

The June 2009 report on population health states: �It is the view of the Subcommittee that the Community Accounts has been very successful in linking information about population health, community well-being, and economic development. We are particularly impressed by the progress achieved in Newfoundland and Labrador in the implementation of a sound population health database infrastructure and are pleased to see that Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island have adopted a similar database infrastructure model. We believe that such a database is a key asset in the development and implementation of a pan-Canadian population health policy. Therefore, the Subcommittee recommends: That the Government of Canada support the development and implementation of Community Accounts, modeled on the Newfoundland and Labrador Community Accounts, in all provinces and territories.�

Over the past year pages of the Community Accounts site have been viewed over 325,000 times from almost 40,000 users. To access Community Accounts, visit www.communityaccounts.ca. To view a copy of the final report of the Senate Subcommittee on Population Health, visit www.parl.gc.ca/40/2/parlbus/commbus/senate/Com-e/popu-e/subsite-jun09-e/Report_Home-e.htm

- 30 -

Media contact:
Tansy Mundon
Director of Communications
Department of Finance
709-729-6830, 685-2646
tansymundon@gov.nl.ca

2009 06 29                             10:20 a.m.
 


SearchHomeBack to GovernmentContact Us


All material copyright the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador. No unauthorized copying or redeployment permitted. The Government assumes no responsibility for the accuracy of any material deployed on an unauthorized server.
Disclaimer/Copyright/Privacy Statement