In 2010, citing a handful of complaints about invasion of privacy, the Harper government decided to replace the mandatory long-form census with a voluntary National Household Survey for the 2011 census.
In 2014, ignoring the protests and concerns of thousands of historians, planners, social scientists and others who know what they are talking about, the Harper government has decided not to reinstate the long-form census.
That means there will be a serious lack of information about the country. Future historians might not be able to tell much about Canada in the early 21st century, except that it was governed by ideologues with little understanding of the value of research and no regard for opinion that didn鈥檛 conform to their own.
A storm of protest followed the decision to abandon the mandatory long form. It came from municipalities, economists, historians, genealogists, cultural and religious groups, and others who depend on the information. They said that without mandatory compliance, the information collected would be much less reliable.
When the 2011 census was completed, Statistics Canada said the critics were right, stating: 鈥淭he NHS estimates are derived from a voluntary survey and are therefore subject to potentially higher non-response error than those derived from the 2006 census long form.鈥� It cautioned against comparing information from the 2011 survey with the 2006 long-form census data.
Slow learners, those Conservatives. Despite the complaints and outcries, the government has refused to bring back the mandatory long-form census for the 2016 census.
It鈥檚 another sign of a government not interested in research 鈥� even when the research will make Canada a better place, and 91原创 businesses more viable.
