When names are joined
- Same name. Case, accents, apostrophes, punctuation, spacing and legal suffixes (Inc., Ltd., Limited, Corp., Ltée) are set aside, and NL and Nfld are read as the province's name. Anything after "o/a", "c/o" or "formerly" is dropped: the record belongs to the legal name before it.
- Bilingual. Federal grant records print a recipient as "English name|French name". Both halves are the same recipient.
- Business number. Federal grant records with the same valid business number are joined when the names are a spelling slip apart, or one name is inside the other and adds only words such as Inc., Association or Council. Department placeholders (000000000, 1000xxxxx) fail the number's check digit and are ignored. Where the full account is printed it must match too: one church or club body can hold a separate charity account for each congregation or branch.
- Postal code. Federal records with the same postal code are joined when the names are a spelling slip apart with the same initials, and no different business numbers are printed with them.
- Same award. A federal contract and a CanadaBuys notice with the same award date and the same value to the cent are one award, so their close names are one supplier.
- Department or campus. A department, faculty or campus printed after its body's name ("Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, Department of Education") is part of that body.
- Reviewed. A short list of decisions, each with its reason, for matches the rules above cannot make: a renamed body, a misprint in a provincial report, a trading name.
When names are kept apart
- Close names with no evidence. Two different companies shown as one is worse than one company shown twice.
- Operating names. "Cavendish Hotel LP o/a Sheraton" is not joined to other Sheraton records: franchise names are shared by different owners.
- A company and its limited partnership, and a parent and its subsidiary, unless a reviewed decision gives the reason.
- A French name printed with more than one English name, or a placeholder such as N/A.
- Names that share a business number but not a name: a parent body's number can cover separate branches.
Totals
A supplier's total counts each contract award, grant agreement and payment once, whichever name it was printed under. Public Accounts payment lines and CanadaBuys notices repeat money already counted, so they are listed on the supplier's page but left out of its total.
The numbers
14,299 distinct names become 13,604 suppliers: 695 names are joined to another on the evidence above. 2,724 close names are kept apart.
| Supplier | Names | Records | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Government of Newfoundland and Labrador | 16 | 377 | $1.6 billion |
| Nunatsiavut Government | 7 | 249 | $1.2 billion |
| Memorial University of Newfoundland | 21 | 869 | $384 million |
| Mushuau Innu First Nation | 2 | 84 | $294 million |
| St. John's Dockyard | 2 | 67 | $252 million |
| Sheshatshiu Innu First Nation | 3 | 115 | $225 million |
| Qalipu Mi'kmaq First Nation Band | 7 | 154 | $191 million |
| Association for New Canadians | 2 | 162 | $153 million |
| Microsoft Canada Inc. | 3 | 40 | $140 million |
| CITY OF ST. JOHN'S | 5 | 273 | $125 million |
| RJG CONSTRUCTION LTD | 2 | 58 | $117 million |
| Braya Renewable Fuels (Newfoundland) LP | 2 | 4 | $86.9 million |
| NUNATUKAVUT COMMUNITY COUNCIL INC. | 2 | 235 | $78.2 million |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | 2 | 15 | $65.7 million |
| NARL MARKETING LIMITED PARTNERSHIP | 2 | 415 | $61.7 million |
| Name | Other name | Why not joined |
|---|---|---|
| NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE AND PUBLIC SAFETY | Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Department of Justice and Public Safety | one name inside the other (often a parent and its subsidiary or branch) |
| GE Healthcare | GE Healthcare Canada | one name inside the other (often a parent and its subsidiary or branch) |
| Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Technology and Innovation Inc. | Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Technology Industries Incorporated | same business number, different names (a parent body's number, or an owner's) |
| Department of Industry, Energy and Technology | Government of Newfoundland and Labrador | same business number, different names (a parent body's number, or an owner's) |
| Department of Industry, Energy and Technology | Province of Newfoundland and Labrador | same business number, different names (a parent body's number, or an owner's) |
| Department of Industry, Energy and Technology | Department of Tourism Culture Arts and Recreation | same business number, different names (a parent body's number, or an owner's) |
| Department of Tourism Culture Arts and Recreation | Government of Newfoundland and Labrador | same business number, different names (a parent body's number, or an owner's) |
| Department of Tourism Culture Arts and Recreation | Province of Newfoundland and Labrador | same business number, different names (a parent body's number, or an owner's) |
| Horizon économique de Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador Inc. | Reseau de Developpement Economique et d'Employabilite de Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador | same business number, different names (a parent body's number, or an owner's) |
| Department of Energy and Mines | Department of Industry, Energy and Technology | same business number, different names (a parent body's number, or an owner's) |
| Department of Energy and Mines | Department of Tourism Culture Arts and Recreation | same business number, different names (a parent body's number, or an owner's) |
| Department of Energy and Mines | Government of Newfoundland and Labrador | same business number, different names (a parent body's number, or an owner's) |
Every match, and how to question one
Every joined name, with the evidence that joined it, is in supplier-merges.csv; close names kept apart are in supplier-near-matches.csv, and the reviewed decisions in supplier_rules.csv. Each supplier page lists the names it combines, each linking to its own records. To question a match, or to show that two names are one supplier, challenge the method.