5. Appendix
Data Interpretation
The following factors should be taken into consideration when interpreting the data in this report:
- The Government of Canada reports under the fiscal year of April 1 to March 31. Note that all references in tables, charts and explanations related to the ICA investments to a given year mean the fiscal year of that year; for example, 2009 means April 1, 2009, to March 31, 2010.
- Acquisitions are recorded by the asset value of the Canadian business to be acquired, based on the corporation's most recent audited financial statements, not on the purchase price.
- New business proposals are recorded on the basis of the planned amount of investment over the first two years.
- The actual number and value of notifiable acquisitions and new business starts by international investors may not be wholly reflected for the following reasons:
- From time to time, two or more investors may submit notifications to acquire the same Canadian business. In such cases, each proposal is recorded as a separate transaction.
- Since June 1999, responsibility under the Investment Canada Act with respect to investments related to activities listed in Schedule IV of the Regulations Respecting Investment in Canada was transferred to Canadian Heritage. Accordingly, our statistics since that time do not include investments by non-Canadians in businesses engaged strictly in activities listed in Schedule IV.
- Most applications and notifications are submitted to the Investment Review Division at the proposal stage and processed promptly under the terms of the Investment Canada Act. Subsequently, however, the investor for commercial or other reasons may choose not to implement the investment or implement it at a different time.
- There is a procedure in place with respect to applications whereby the investor is contacted, within a specified period after the approval of its investment, in order to ascertain the status of its investment. It is at this time that information is obtained as to whether or not the transaction was in fact implemented.
- The statistics provided in this report reflect those cases that, to the best of our knowledge, have been implemented and do not include the non-implemented cases.
Data Comparison with Other Statistical Sources
The principal purpose of the Investment Canada Act is the regulation of investment activity by non-residents. This differs from programs of other agencies, such as Statistics Canada, whose primary purpose is the development of information. As a consequence, Investment Review Division data on the value of foreign investments in a given period reflect operations under the Investment Canada Act. Investment Review Division officials tabulate the value of "planned investment" from new business notifications and the book value of "assets acquired" from acquisitions requiring notification or review. Aggregated figures are published on a quarterly basis, two or three weeks after the end of March, June, September and December. These figures cannot be compared with either the foreign direct investment flows or stock figures published by Statistics Canada.
The Investment Review Division collects data only on new business proposals and acquisitions of control by non-Canadians, and this represents just a portion of the value of foreign investment in Canada. For example, Investment Review Division data do not include the myriad of important plant expansions by established foreign investors in Canada.