Current process in Parliament to reinstate the mandatory long-form census for 2016

On September 22, 2014, Kingston's Member of Parliament Ted Hsu introduced a Private Member's Bill in the House of Commons, which entered second reading on November 7, 2014. The second hour allotted for second reading will occur in late January 2015, with a vote expected in the first week of February 2015.

This Private Member’s Bill responds to the continuing call for the reinstatement of the mandatory long-form census. The 2014 Policy Resolutions of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce (pages 66-68) call for the reinstatement of the mandatory long-form census:

"The federal government’s decision to cancel the mandatory long-form census (2b) and to replace it with the voluntary National Household Survey effectively undermines its commitment to research excellence and innovation because we need:

  • data—based on a truly representative sample—that is vital to education (in a range of disciplines), to research in the social sciences, as well as to the analysis that informs policy and advocacy as well as decision-making in both public and private sectors
  • data that are representative, that one can disaggregate to small geographic units, age categories, and relatively small minorities
  • data that are strictly comparable to those of previous censuses which allow longitudinal analysis and the measurement of trends in socioeconomic indicators over decades
  • the ability to produce an accurate portrait of our country, Canada, that provides the benchmarks against which other surveys can measure the adequacy of their samples
  • the data required to measure our standing on the range of social policy indicators (e.g. poverty) used for international comparisons"

Information about the Bill

  • Bill C626: An Act to amend the Statistics Act (appointment of Chief Statistician and long-form census)
  • Introduction and First Reading: September 22, 2014 - Table of Contents >> Routine Proceedings >> Statistics Act (15:10)
  • Second Reading: November 7, 2014 - Table of Contents >> Private Members' Business

Support for the Bill

The organization Evidence for Democracy has created an online form which can be completed in support of the reinstatement of the mandatory long-form census of Canada. The form will send an e-mail of support to your Member of Parliament and each of the federal party leaders.  More information about Evidence for Democracy can be found at  evidencefordemocracy.ca.

 

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