Dear Mr. Harper, “You can’t manage what you can’t measure,” You said those words, and I could not agree more. In May 2014, you committed Canada to spend $3.5 billion over five years, starting in 2015, to improve the health of…
I recently reached out to the City Manager’s Office at the City of Toronto to try to get a better understanding of how they use census data. Toronto is the most populous city in the country, and my hope was…
I recently reached out to the City Manager’s Office at the City of Toronto to try to get a better understanding of how they use census data. Toronto is the most populous city in the country, and my hope was…
Last weekend, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce held their Annual General Meeting. At the meeting Chambers from across the country passed a series of policy resolutions, including one calling on the government to reinstate the mandatory long-form census. The Canadian…
On Private Member’s Bills: A Minister can introduce legislation whenever he or she chooses. As an MP , I have only one chance between general elections to put forward a bill. At the beginning of each parliament, there is a lottery, and each MP (except…
Bill C-626 shields Statistics Canada from political interference and protects the quality of national data September 23, 2014 OTTAWA – After feedback from a wide range of experts and stakeholders, Liberal MP Ted Hsu yesterday tabled amendments to his private…
As an MP, one of my main responsibilities is holding the government to account. Ministers give instructions to their departments, and public servants follow these instructions. I may criticize Ministers when I have good reason to believe they could be…
It’s becoming increasingly clear that the Conservative government’s decision to do away with the long-form census is significantly affecting our ability to get the data we need. This data helps us intelligently plan our city strategies, our education strategies, our…
Lately I’ve been hearing lots of responses to the termination of the long-form census. Even though the decision to eliminate the mandatory long-form census took place in 2011, stories have been coming out fairly regularly. This makes sense: it takes…
When the Conservative government put an end to the long-form census in 2011, the decision was widely criticized. Canadians understood that there would be serious consequences for significantly reducing data collection, and now we are starting to see the…