Statistics Canada Postal Codes by Federal Ridings File (1996 Representation Order) Reference Guide Postal Codes by Federal Ridings File (1996 Representation Order) User Guide Updated File Including November 2000 Postal Codes Produced by the Geography Division Statistics Canada January 2001 © Minister of Industry, Science and Technology, 2000 92F0028XDB ABOUT THIS GUIDE This guide is intended for users of the Postal Code/Federal Riding file. It includes an overview of the file and its intended use, a description of the general methodology used to create the file and of the data quality and limitations of the file contents. A record layout of the fields in the file and a glossary of the terms used in this document are also included. This guide is based on the best information available at the time of its release. It in no way constitutes a warranty in the event that users should observe characteristics that deviate from those stated in this document. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page 1 OVERVIEW..........................................................................................................................................4 1.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................................................4 1.2 Purpose of the Postal Code/1996 Federal Riding File ..................................................................4 2 DATA QUALITY STATEMENT ............................................................................................................5 2.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................................................5 2.2 Lineage ..........................................................................................................................................6 2.2.1 Source Files .........................................................................................................................6 2.2.2 Method of Derivation............................................................................................................6 2.3 Logical Consistency.......................................................................................................................7 2.4 Attribute Accuracy..........................................................................................................................7 2.5 Completeness................................................................................................................................8 3 TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS..........................................................................................................9 3.1 Physical Medium Description.........................................................................................................9 3.2 Record Layout ...............................................................................................................................9 4 POSTAL CODE/1996 FEDERAL RIDING FILE GLOSSARY OF TERMS ........................................10 APPENDIX "A"..........................................................................................................................................11 92F0028XDB Statistics Canada Postal Code/1996 Federal Riding File User Guide 5 POSTAL CODE/1996 FEDERAL RIDING FILE 1 OVERVIEW 1.1 Introduction The postal code/1996 federal riding file is a digital file, which provides a link between the six character postal code and Canada's federal ridings. The current version of the postal code/federal riding file links 755,719 postal code records, existing as of November 2000, to the 301 federal ridings. The official term for a federal riding or constituency is federal electoral district (FED). Elections Canada defines a federal electoral district as any place or territorial area entitled to return a member of Parliament (MP) to serve in the House of Commons. FED legal limits and descriptions are the responsibility of the Chief Electoral Officer, and are usually revised every 10 years after the results of the decennial census. There are 301 FEDs based on the 1996 Representation Order, the most recent revision of the federal riding limits.1 1.2 Purpose of the Postal Code /1996 Federal Riding File The postal code/1996 federal riding file was conceived as a tool for use with administrative files containing postal codes. By using the postal code as a link, data from administrative files may be organized and/or tabulated by federal riding. Using this tool, federal government departments will be able to respond more quickly and easily to MPs requests for information about their ridings. For example, the number and value of contracts awarded to a particular riding could be summarized. The ridings where petition signatories reside could also be identified in order to notify the appropriate Members of Parliament. Conversely, the postal codes for a given riding could be identified for general mailings to constituents; however, it should be noted that some postal codes do straddle one or more riding boundary. Before using this file, users should first familiarize themselves with the information provided in the following section on data quality. 1 Note that the terms "federal riding" and "federal electoral district" or "FED" are used interchangeably in this user guide. Statistics Canada Postal Code/1996 Federal Riding File User Guide 92F0028XDB 6 2 DATA QUALITY STATEMENT 2.1 Introduction The purpose of a data quality statement is to provide detailed information for users to evaluate the appropriateness of the data or product for a particular use. Before using the postal code/1996 federal riding file with administrative files containing postal codes, users should be aware of some characteristics of postal codes that may affect their linkage to federal ridings on the postal code/federal riding file: 1) postal delivery areas do not always respect federal riding boundaries; 2) postal codes may be associated with post office boxes at a postal station that is not in the same riding as the client using the post office box; 3) Canada Post Corporation regularly retires postal codes and may also reactivate retired codes for use again. 4) Inclusion or exclusion of postal codes in a federal riding. In the first case, a postal delivery area (as represented by the six-digit postal code) may straddle one or more federal riding boundaries, which means that, in the postal code/1996 federal riding file, the same postal code may be linked to two or more (adjacent) federal ridings. Most ridings are affected in this way in both urban and rural areas. Refer to section 2.3 Logical Consistency in this guide for further details. In the second case, the postal code linkage to the federal riding is based on the mailing address information, and therefore it is the physical location of the post office that is linked to the riding rather than the ultimate destination of mail delivery - the residential, industrial or commercial location of the client renting a post office box - which could be located in another riding. In the third case, users of the postal code/1996 federal riding file must keep in mind that the file contains only the postal codes from Canada Post that were active as of November 2000. If the addresses in a user's administrative file are not updated to November 2000, there may be non-matches with the postal code/federal riding file because some of the postal codes in the user's file may have been retired, or may even have been reactivated and re-assigned by Canada Post to another range of addresses outside the riding where they had previously been used. Statistics Canada maintains an audit trail of the "birth" dates and "retirement" dates of postal codes in the Postal Code Conversion File. Users may wish to contact their nearest Regional Reference Centre (addresses given at the end of this user guide) where detailed information about the Postal Code Conversion File is available in the Postal Code Conversion File (PCCF) User Guide, Updated File including November 2000 Postal Codes produced by the Geography Division, Statistics Canada, January 2001. In the fourth case, postal codes are given the representative point co-ordinates of a block-face or of an enumeration area. Where a 1996 Federal Electoral District boundary splits a 1996 EA or block-face, the postal codes linked to that EA or block-face are included in the federal riding in which their co-ordinates fall. A description of how the postal code/federal riding file was produced and statements about its data 92F0028XDB Statistics Canada Postal Code/1996 Federal Riding File User Guide 7 quality (under the headings: lineage, logical consistency, attribute accuracy and completeness) follow. 2.2 Lineage Lineage includes descriptions of the source material from which the data were derived and the methods of derivation, including the dates of the source material and all transformations involved in producing the final digital product. 2.2.1 Source Files Two existing products of the Geography Division at Statistics Canada have been used to derive the postal code/1996 federal riding file: 1) January 2001 Postal Code Conversion File, which links postal codes (provided by Canada Post Corporation on the Postal Code Address Master File, updated to November 2000) to codes for all 1996 Census geographic areas, including province (PR) codes and federal electoral district (FED) codes and to geographic point co-ordinates representing the postal codes. The January 2001 postal code conversion file contains over 954,000 postal code records linked to the geographical areas used in the 1996 Census. These geographical areas have a reference date of January 1, 1996. 2) The Federal Electoral District (FED) Names File, which contains the official name of each federal riding (based on the 1996 Representation Order) and its associated identification code. 2.2.2 Method of Derivation The postal code/1996 federal riding file was created by merging a subset of the January 2001 postal code conversion file with the federal electoral district names file using the federal electoral district code as the common field which exists on both of the source files. The subset of the postal code conversion file was created by extracting unique occurrences of postal codes linked to a federal electoral district. Then all records representing retired postal codes within each federal electoral district were identified and deleted. The resulting postal code/1996 federal riding file contains 755,719 postal code records of which 750,374 are unique links to one federal electoral district. In total, 2,634 postal codes (5,345 records) are linked to from 2 to 4 federal electoral districts (further details are provided in section 2.3 below). The number of postal code records by federal electoral district is provided in Appendix "A". Statistics Canada Postal Code/1996 Federal Riding File User Guide 92F0028XDB 8 2.3 Logical Consistency Logical consistency describes the fidelity of relationships encoded in the data structure of the digital spatial data (i.e., how well elements of the data structure follow the rules imposed on them). Of the 755,719 postal codes found on this file, there are 750,374 postal codes uniquely linked to one federal riding and 2,634 postal codes that are linked to two or more federal ridings. The following table summarizes them. Postal codes linked to 2 or more Federal Ridings Number of Federal Ridings Number of postal codes Number of records on postal code/federal riding file 2 3 4 2,561 69 4 2,634 5,122 207 16 5,345 Total 2.4 Attribute Accuracy Attribute accuracy refers to the quality of the non-positional information attached to each postal code. The attribute accuracy of the postal code/1996 federal riding file is dependent on the accuracy of the postal code conversion file used as a data source. Please refer to the Postal Code Conversion File User Guide for further details. 92F0028XDB Statistics Canada Postal Code/1996 Federal Riding File User Guide 9 2.5 Completeness Completeness expresses the degree to which the geographic entities (features) are captured according to the data capture specifications. Completeness in the context of the PCFR is the degree to which all valid postal codes are accounted for. All postal codes, valid as of June 2000 according to Canada Post Corporation, have been linked to census geography. The Federal Electoral District Names file contains 301 records, one for each federal electoral district (1996 Representation Order). The final digital files contain the following number of records: Filename Number of records PCFREAST_NOV00.EXE (Atlantic provinces) 87,368 PCFRQUE_NOV00.EXE (Quebec) 187,717 PCFRONT_NOV00.EXE (Ontario) 254,348 PCFRWEST_NOV00.EXE (Prairie provinces, N.W.T. and Nunavut) 115,572 PCFRBC_NOV00.EXE (B.C. & Yukon) 110,714 PCFRNAT_NOV00.EXE (Canada) 755,719 Statistics Canada Postal Code/1996 Federal Riding File User Guide 92F0028XDB 10 3 TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS 3.1 Physical Medium Description The PCFR is a flat ASCII file and does not include any software. 3.2 Record Layout The record layout for the postal code/1996 federal riding file follows: Field Size Position Type Title 1 6 1-6 AN Postal Code 2 5 7-11 AN Federal riding (FED) code 3 56 12-67 AN English Federal riding (FED) name 4 56 68-123 AN French Federal riding (FED) name 92F0028XDB Statistics Canada Postal Code/1996 Federal Riding File User Guide 11 4 POSTAL CODE/FEDERAL RIDING FILE GLOSSARY OF TERMS Federal Riding or Federal Electoral District (FED) A federal electoral district is any place or territorial area entitled to return a member to serve in the House of Commons. FED legal limits and descriptions are the responsibility of the Chief Electoral Officer, and are usually revised every 10 years after the results of the decennial census. The 1996 Representation Order is the most current revision, and is based on 1991 Census population data. Postal Code The postal code is a six-character alphanumeric code defined and maintained by Canada Post Corporation for the processing (sortation and delivery) of mail. The alphanumeric characters are arranged in the form ANA NAN, where "A" represents a letter of the alphabet and "N" a numeric digit. The first character of a postal code (allocated in alphabetic sequence from east to west across Canada) represents a province or territory or a major sector entirely within a province. The first three characters represent a set of well-defined and stable areas known as the Forward Sortation Area (FSA). Rural FSAs are identifiable by the presence of a "0" in the second position of the FSA code. The last three characters identify the Local Delivery Unit (LDU). In established urban areas, the LDU can specify a small and easily defined area within an FSA such as block-face (one side of a city street between consecutive intersections with streets or similar physical features), an apartment building, an office building, or a large firm or organization which does large volume business with the post office. In rural areas, the LDU denotes a service area - the area serviced by rural route delivery from a post office or station, e.g., a rural route, general delivery or post office box. Province (PROV) The major political division of Canada. From a statistical point of view, it is a basic unit for which data are tabulated and cross-classified. The province codes are: 10 - Newfoundland and Labrador, 11 Prince Edward Island, 12 - Nova Scotia, 13 - New Brunswick, 24 - Quebec, 35 - Ontario, 46 - Manitoba, 47 - Saskatchewan, 48 - Alberta, 59 - British Columbia. Territory (TERR) Two major political divisions of Canada, namely the Yukon Territory and Northwest Territories. From a statistical point of view, these territories are equivalent to a province, i.e., a basic unit for which data are tabulated and cross-classified. The territory codes are: 60 - Yukon, 61 - Northwest Territories, and 62 - Nunavut. Statistics Canada Postal Code/1996 Federal Riding File User Guide 92F0028XDB 12 APPENDIX A: POSTAL CODE / 1996 FEDERAL RIDING FILE NUMBER OF POSTAL CODES (or PCs) PER FEDERAL RIDING (or FED) PR/FED 10001 10002 10003 10004 10005 10006 10007 11001 11002 11003 11004 12001 12002 12003 12004 12005 12006 12007 12008 12009 12010 12011 13001 13002 13003 13004 13005 13006 13007 13008 13009 13010 24001 24002 24003 24004 24005 24006 24007 92F0028XDB FEDERAL RIDING NAMES Bonavista - Trinity - Conception Burin - St. George's Gander - Grand Falls Humber - St. Barbe - Baie Verte Labrador St. John's East St. John's West Cardigan Egmont Hillsborough Malpeque Bras d'Or - Cape Breton Cumberland - Colchester Dartmouth Halifax Halifax West Kings - Hants Pictou - Antigonish - Guysborough Sackville - Musquodoboit Valley - Eastern Shore South Shore Sydney - Victoria West Nova Acadie - Bathurst Beauséjour - Petitcodiac New Brunswick Southwest Fredericton Fundy - Royal Madawaska - Restigouche Miramichi Moncton - Riverview - Dieppe Saint John Tobique - Mactaquac Abitibi - Baie-James - Nunavik Ahuntsic Anjou - Rivière-des-Prairies Argenteuil - Papineau - Mirabel Beauce Beauharnois - Salaberry Beauport - Montmorency - Côte-de-Beaupré - Île-d'Orléans # OF PCs 152 538 754 1125 366 2242 2105 71 913 1795 43 2807 1686 2891 3100 2482 803 1211 1323 552 4742 670 4821 9323 6790 3431 7045 4438 4569 4541 3609 6430 1729 2470 2359 1572 2357 2324 2787 Statistics Canada Postal Code/1996 Federal Riding File User Guide 24008 24009 24010 24011 24012 24013 24014 24015 24016 24017 24018 24019 24020 24021 24022 24023 24024 24025 24026 24027 24028 24029 24030 24031 24032 24033 24034 24035 24036 24037 24038 24039 24040 24041 24042 24043 24044 24045 24046 24047 24048 24049 24050 24051 24052 24053 24054 24055 13 Bellechasse - Etchemins - Montmagny - L'Islet Berthier - Montcalm Bourassa Brome - Missisquoi Brossard - La Prairie Chambly Champlain Charlesbourg Charlevoix Châteauguay Chicoutimi Compton - Stanstead Drummond Frontenac - Mégantic Bonaventure - Gaspé - Îles-de-la-Madeleine - Pabok Gatineau Hochelaga - Maisonneuve Hull - Aylmer Joliette Jonquière Kamouraska - Rivière-du-Loup - Témiscouata - Les Basques Notre-Dame-de-Grâce - Lachine Lac-Saint-Jean Lac-Saint-Louis LaSalle - Émard Laurentides Laurier - Sainte-Marie Laval Centre Laval East Laval West Lévis-et-Chutes-de-la-Chaudière Longueuil Lotbinière Louis-Hébert Manicouagan Matapédia - Matane Mercier Mount Royal Outremont Papineau - Saint-Denis Pierrefonds - Dollard Pontiac - Gatineau - Labelle Portneuf Québec Québec East Repentigny Bas-Richelieu - Nicolet - Bécancour Richmond - Arthabaska Statistics Canada Postal Code/1996 Federal Riding File User Guide 703 369 2002 2643 2503 3160 2749 3445 1722 2247 3328 1117 3150 1968 646 3929 1925 3597 3195 2898 1189 2344 1635 4370 1752 3143 2295 3255 3501 3446 4338 2224 847 3551 1336 1170 2763 2392 1605 1792 3058 2168 1944 4172 3979 3563 2879 2717 92F0028XDB 14 24056 24057 24058 24059 24060 24061 24062 24063 24064 24065 24066 24067 24068 24069 24070 24071 24072 24073 24074 24075 35001 35002 35003 35004 35005 35006 35007 35008 35009 35010 35011 35012 35013 35014 35015 35016 35017 35018 35019 35020 35021 35022 35023 35024 35025 35026 35027 35028 92F0028XDB Rimouski - Mitis Roberval Rosemont Témiscamingue Rivière-des-Milles-Îles Saint-Bruno - Saint-Hubert Saint-Hyacinthe - Bagot Saint-Jean Saint-Lambert Saint-Laurent - Cartierville Saint-Léonard - Saint-Michel Saint-Maurice Shefford Sherbrooke Terrebonne - Blainville Trois-Rivières Vaudreuil - Soulanges Verchères - Les-Patriotes Verdun - Saint-Henri Westmount - Ville-Marie Algoma - Manitoulin Barrie - Simcoe - Bradford Beaches - East York Bramalea - Gore - Malton - Springdale Brampton Centre Brampton West - Mississauga Brant Broadview - Greenwood Bruce - Grey Burlington Cambridge Davenport Don Valley East Don Valley West Dufferin - Peel - Wellington - Grey Durham Eglinton - Lawrence Elgin - Middlesex - London Erie - Lincoln Essex Etobicoke Centre Etobicoke - Lakeshore Etobicoke North Glengarry - Prescott - Russell Carleton - Gloucester Guelph - Wellington Haldimand - Norfolk - Brant Halton 2189 2648 1783 1629 3236 2913 2072 2673 2635 2512 1830 3296 2089 3669 3608 3273 1969 1778 1793 3821 636 3691 2350 2776 2152 2811 4125 1821 1692 3206 3710 1562 1642 2354 1317 1958 2418 2569 2260 2430 2627 3383 2144 917 2440 3379 1493 3203 Statistics Canada Postal Code/1996 Federal Riding File User Guide 35029 35030 35031 35032 35033 35034 35035 35036 35037 35038 35039 35040 35041 35042 35043 35044 35045 35046 35047 35048 35049 35050 35051 35052 35053 35054 35055 35056 35057 35058 35059 35060 35061 35062 35063 35064 35065 35066 35067 35068 35069 35070 35071 35072 35073 35074 35075 35076 35077 15 Hamilton East Hamilton Mountain Hamilton West Hastings - Frontenac - Lennox and Addington Huron - Bruce Kenora - Rainy River Chatham - Kent Essex Kingston and the Islands Kitchener Centre Kitchener - Waterloo Lambton - Kent - Middlesex Lanark - Carleton Leeds - Grenville London North Centre London - Fanshawe London West Markham Mississauga Centre Mississauga East Mississauga South Mississauga West Nepean - Carleton Niagara Centre Niagara Falls Nickel Belt Nipissing Northumberland Oak Ridges Oakville Oshawa Ottawa Centre Ottawa South Ottawa - Vanier Ottawa West - Nepean Oxford Parkdale - High Park Parry Sound - Muskoka Perth - Middlesex Peterborough Pickering - Ajax - Uxbridge Prince Edward - Hastings Renfrew - Nipissing - Pembroke Sarnia - Lambton Sault Ste. Marie Scarborough - Agincourt Scarborough Centre Scarborough East Scarborough - Rouge River Scarborough Southwest Statistics Canada Postal Code/1996 Federal Riding File User Guide 3443 3258 3298 787 990 1608 2470 3634 3203 3648 1389 3210 1532 3674 2436 2885 3240 1963 1932 2784 2503 2250 3717 3395 750 2186 2366 3417 3534 3599 4140 3156 3246 3001 2895 1773 1044 1818 2956 2421 1724 2905 2809 2905 1519 2533 1998 2036 2171 92F0028XDB 16 35078 35079 35080 35081 35082 35083 35084 35085 35086 35087 35088 35089 35090 35091 35092 35093 35094 35095 35096 35097 35098 35099 35100 35101 35102 35103 46001 46002 46003 46004 46005 46006 46007 46008 46009 46010 46011 46012 46013 46014 47001 47002 47003 47004 47005 47006 47007 47008 92F0028XDB Simcoe - Grey Simcoe North St. Catharines St. Paul's Stoney Creek Stormont - Dundas - Charlottenburgh Sudbury Thornhill Thunder Bay - Atikokan Thunder Bay - Superior North Timiskaming - Cochrane Timmins - James Bay Toronto Centre - Rosedale Trinity - Spadina Vaughan - King - Aurora Haliburton - Victoria - Brock Waterloo - Wellington Wentworth - Burlington Whitby - Ajax Willowdale Windsor - St. Clair Windsor West York Centre York North York South - Weston York West Brandon - Souris Charleswood St. James - Assiniboia Churchill Dauphin - Swan River Portage - Lisgar Provencher Saint Boniface Selkirk - Interlake Winnipeg North Centre Winnipeg Centre Winnipeg South Winnipeg South Centre Winnipeg North - St. Paul Winnipeg - Transcona Battlefords - Lloydminster Blackstrap Churchill River Cypress Hills - Grasslands Palliser Prince Albert Regina - Qu'Appelle Regina - Lumsden - Lake Centre 958 2235 4035 2171 2940 2145 3048 2836 2061 2223 514 1847 2983 2058 3111 958 1605 2587 3210 2569 3080 4210 1936 2213 2120 1457 2075 1982 745 699 1234 241 2375 782 2374 2678 2116 1955 1799 2240 1066 1699 266 1025 2701 1470 1778 1746 Statistics Canada Postal Code/1996 Federal Riding File User Guide 47009 47010 47011 47012 47013 47014 48001 48002 48003 48004 48005 48006 48007 48008 48009 48010 48011 48012 48013 48014 48015 48016 48017 48018 48019 48020 48021 48022 48023 48024 48025 48026 59001 59002 59003 59004 59005 59006 59007 59008 59009 59010 59011 59012 59013 59014 59015 59016 59017 17 Saskatoon - Humboldt Saskatoon - Rosetown - Biggar Souris - Moose Mountain Wanuskewin Wascana Yorkton - Melville Athabasca Calgary Centre Calgary East Calgary Northeast Calgary - Nose Hill Calgary Southeast Calgary Southwest Calgary West Crowfoot Edmonton East Edmonton North Edmonton Southeast Edmonton Southwest Edmonton - Strathcona Edmonton West Elk Island Lakeland Lethbridge Macleod Medicine Hat Peace River Red Deer St. Albert Wetaskiwin Wild Rose Yellowhead Burnaby - Douglas Cariboo - Chilcotin Delta - South Richmond Dewdney - Alouette Esquimalt - Juan de Fuca Fraser Valley Kamloops, Thompson and Highland Valleys Kelowna Kootenay - Columbia Langley - Abbotsford Nanaimo - Alberni Nanaimo - Cowichan New Westminster - Coquitlam - Burnaby Okanagan - Shuswap North Vancouver Okanagan - Coquihalla Port Moody - Coquitlam - Port Coquitlam Statistics Canada Postal Code/1996 Federal Riding File User Guide 1398 1729 1182 1806 2601 812 1462 4966 3323 3193 3107 2724 2887 3730 1080 4472 3202 2907 3165 4418 4631 2320 1356 3380 712 2733 1773 2466 2072 2040 1509 853 3393 1701 4313 3415 3369 3449 2829 4315 1455 3247 3369 2890 3886 2588 4303 1762 3864 92F0028XDB 18 59018 59019 59020 59021 59022 59023 59024 59025 59026 59027 59028 59029 59030 59031 59032 59033 59034 60001 61002 62001 92F0028XDB Prince George - Bulkley Valley Prince George - Peace River Richmond Saanich - Gulf Islands Skeena South Surrey - White Rock - Langley Surrey Central Surrey North Vancouver Centre Vancouver East Vancouver Island North Vancouver Kingsway Vancouver Quadra Vancouver South - Burnaby Victoria Kootenay - Boundary - Okanagan West Vancouver - Sunshine Coast Yukon Western Arctic Nunavut 2256 3093 3231 3935 1736 3532 4064 3380 3423 3536 3038 3135 4181 3603 4554 2256 2726 887 487 30 Statistics Canada Postal Code/1996 Federal Riding File User Guide
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