Blue pages are a telephone directory listing of American and Canadian state agencies, government agencies, federal government and other official entities, along with specific offices, departments, or bureaus located therein.
[citation needed] The blue page listings included both provincial and federal entities.
[1] The Canadian government ceased publishing phone numbers for each federal department in 2015, although individual provinces and municipalities continued to give local information.
[5] However, some phone books misplaced government-run businesses like Amtrak outside of the Blue pages section.
[6] The color blue is likely derived from so-called government blue books, official publications printed by a government (such as that of a state) describing its organization, and providing a list of contact information.