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Stats Canada chief resigns in growing “worthy Canadian initiative” scandal

July 21st, 2010 · 61 Comments

So the news about the head of Stats Can resigning is all over the news, in case anyone hasn’t noticed.

And, although I do take this issue seriously (as I noted in a previous post), I can’t help but think: How Canadian. Other governments get embroiled in controversy over call girls, corruption, going to war, expense accounts used for porn or moat repair. And what are we up in flames about? Getting people to comply with statistics gathering.

How delightfully dorky we are. The only time I’ve felt prouder to be a Canadian was when I was travelling one time in North Carolina and the car, through some quirk, picked up CBC, where the top news item was: “There is still no movement on the discussions about the Charlottetown Accord.”

(For those who don’t get my headline, there’s a legend in journalism that the editors at the New York Times had a competition to come up with the most boring headline they could possibly think of. The winner was “Worthy Canadian initiative.”)

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  • Bill

    It is a fundamental violation of a citizens rights for the state to compel that citizen to provide personal information that has no relevance to the relationship of that citizen to the state. Where are the Civil Liberty Associations?

  • spartikus

    What document of “citizens rights” are you citing, Bill?

  • The Fourth Horseman

    I think that Peter McKnight of the Sunhas partially answered the question I posed earlier in this thread. His column today makes for interesting reading.

    http://www.vancouversun.com/columnists/Census+should+clearly+reflect+Canadian+values/3323052/story.html

  • spartikus

    I’m not sure you and McMartin are actually saying the same thing. Perhaps this is not what you meant with your #38, but I took it that you didn’t know how the questions were formulated, were afraid politicians would interfere with that process to achieve predetermined results, and you wished the Census would ask questions about the values the populace holds.

    The gist of what McMartin is saying is that the Census is important and should be formulated according to “Canadian values”. What those “values” are goes unspoken, and could mean different things to different people. He doesn’t state it outright, but the insinuation is the Statscan operates in an opaque manner. The evidence does not support that.

    The Census and Statistics Canada are governed by the Statistics Act. It’s not really a secret.

    Statscan maintains a huge website, and I would fully concede it’s not the easiest to navigate (being cutting edge web design, circa 2001) but an incredible array of information is available to the public. For example, on how the questions for the 2006 Census were formulated….

    In preparation for the 2006 Census, Statistics Canada continued its tradition of consulting data users and other interested persons to obtain their views on the content of the next census questionnaire. Participation included representatives from public libraries, academia, municipalities, provincial and federal government departments, private sector and licensed distributors of Statistics Canada data.

    For the 2006 Census consultations, a new integrated consultation approach was put in place following users’ recommendations. The new model integrated, to the fullest extent possible, discussions on the 2001 Census dissemination, different geography concepts and the 2006 Census content. This round of consultations also aimed at favouring a process of on-going discussions which provided Statistics Canada with continuous feedback from data users.

    That seems both scientific and democratic to me. If there are objections, then the onus is on the objector to make an argument. So far, I haven’t seen any coherent arguments. The privacy argument is, given all the other things the government does, unpersuasive. The argument that the voluntary long-form will be just as effective has been vigorously opposed by just about everyone other than the Conservative Party and the Fraser Institute.

    As for political interference, well, yes…that’s precisely what we are seeing with the decision to drop the mandatory long form.

  • Bill

    @ Spartikus

    Do you disagree with the statement?

  • spartikus

    Without context, yes.

    Answering my question would provide context.

  • Bill

    I’m not surprised. Canadians accept the right of the state to prohibit them from purchasing healthcare so what’s the big deal about the census.

  • spartikus

    Canadians accept the right of the state to prohibit them from purchasing healthcare

    This statement is false. Canadians can privately purchase healthcare.

    You haven’t answered my question from #52.

    It’s become clear you’re simply a troll.

  • Bill

    How do you figure that? Health care providers cannot charge for services that are covered under the public plan.

  • spartikus

    LOL

    prohibit them from purchasing healthcare

    becomes…

    Health care providers cannot charge for services that are covered under the public plan.

    Behold classic trolling at work.

    Bye, Bill.

  • Mr Archive

    Canada’s professional statisticians are stepping up the fight to bring back the mandatory long-form census, even as the government stands firm on its decision to scrap it.

    @keith : no name calling. Asking you to research before you make ill informed comments

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