In which my government continues to lose the statistician vote

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Granted, the Harper government's contempt for data-based policy is well-documented, but surely they wouldn't rely on a self-selected study to glean important information about the Canadian population, right?

Wrong!

The Conservative government is scrapping the mandatory long census form for the 2011 census, replacing it with a voluntary national

Comments

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Peter Morrison, assistant chief statistician responsible for the census, said that he knows of no other country that has made a similar move. He would not confirm that the idea was not one proposed by Statistics Canada, nor would he or Bender address whether the move is something statisticians agree with.

"Our role is to execute the decision that was made [by the government]," he said, adding that he is optimistic it can be a success.

Translation: this is idiotic and it's not our idea, but if I say anything against it I'll get fired.

Also:

New questions will be added to the national survey, including ones about commuting time, child care and religion.

Let's make the "long" form even longer! Also, we already have satisfactory methods of getting data on child care and commuting time, for example: we have a sample (or samples) of 10,000 people Stats Can asks these questions to, and they can extrapolate this onto the whole population precisely because they have a completely random, by definition, 1/5 sample of Canadian households,

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Statistics Canada has been called the best statistical agency in the world. I'm sure the actual statisticians there are incredibly annoyed at this policy; I wonder if the people who use this data will notice, let alone care.

I wonder too. Hmm....:

Some employees say the agency will lose its status as the best statistical office in the world.

One Statistics Canada source said the move could have a negative impact on the dozens of provincial governments, community groups and other organizations that depend on the data for developing policy.

“It will be a disaster. A lot of policy across Canada has been based on that long form,” the source said.

And,

Insiders who spoke to The Canadian Press on condition of anonymity decry a new world order within the agency since the Conservatives came to power in 2006 and legendary chief statistician Ivan Fellegi retired.

Employees were told a little over a year ago that there would be less emphasis on analysis. A highly praised survey on immigrants to Canada, for example, has been axed. Other

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Just found that one, too. Another:

"This change was made to reasonably limit what many Canadians felt was an intrusion of their personal privacy," said Erik Waddell, a spokesman for Industry Minister Tony Clement (Statistics Canada falls under the purview of Industry Canada).

The decision to change the census came from the federal government and not from the ministry or Statistics Canada, he said. (emphasis mine)

Excerpts from a 1995 speech called "Characteristics of an Effective Statistical System" by Ivan Fellegi, the Chief Statistician of Canada for nearly a quarter of a century (having worked for Stats Can for nearly 30 years at that point), who was largely responsible for Stats Can's world renowned reputation (he's also the first MSc and PhD graduate of Carleton University):

In Canada there is a Statistics Act which lays down several main points. It establishes a mandate for the statistical office -- Statistics Canada -- which, in terms of subject coverage, is virtually unlimited. It also identifies all information requests

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Thanks for the link to that speech; will read in full later. The excerpt was awesome; it, and the fact that Canada has a Statistics Act (squeee!) makes me happy to be Canadian. I'd never heard of Fellegi before today, but he seems like exactly the kind of person who should be leading StatsCan; I'm not surprised that StatsCan's reputation soared under his leadership.

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Fellegi's still kicking. I'm liking him more and more.

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[Industry Minister Tony Clement] said it was based on the fact that many Canadians had complained of the coercive and intrusive nature of the census, but Clement had not seen polling on the issue. Saskatoon-based activist Sandra Finley continues to fight the federal government in court over her refusal to return the 2006 census.

"Every MP has had complaints like that so this year we decided to at least try another method that could be a sound method that would beat the issue of concern of degradation of data, and deal with the issue of coercion and too much intrusiveness."

You know what's also coercive and intrusive? Tax returns. Solution? Make them voluntary. I bet MPs will get applauded by their constituents. (Also intrusive: the HST. And driver's licenses. And medicare. Not intrusive: shutting down downtown Toronto for a week and arresting hundreds of people.)

Also, on Fellegi's response, all I can say is "I called it!"