Federal data collection refers to Statistics Canada's gathering of information about the Canadian population, economy, and society through the census, surveys, and administrative data. Municipalities rely heavily on this data for planning, service delivery, and funding allocation, but often find it insufficient for local needs. Common municipal concerns include: census data being released too slowly (years after collection), geographic boundaries not matching municipal boundaries, sample sizes too small for reliable local estimates, and topics not covering issues municipalities care about. The shift to the voluntary National Household Survey in 2011 (since reversed) particularly concerned municipalities needing reliable small-area data. Municipalities advocate for enhanced data collection, faster release, more geographic detail, and better coordination between federal data programs and municipal information needs. Some municipalities conduct their own surveys to fill gaps.