More Mystery People Support Census Change!

No sign of their emails, nor their twitter posts either. But they're out there....1,000s of them. A very silent majority. Invisible. Mysterious. But they talk with Tony Clement, and he hears 'em!

Update: Now Tony claims to be unwilling to reveal the twitterdentities of the brave folk you have spoken up in favor of the government's position re the long-form, for fear they might be verbally abused. But the thing is: he's on politwitter (see link) and if these people were real, wouldn't their IDs appear in the right side column?

Erasing Ourselves From History

Ancestry.ca notices another problem with Stats Canada's new long census form:

Yesterday, Statistics Canada acknowledged that it has changed the Canadian Census, removing historically critical sections of the census form like ethnicity, education, employment, income, housing and disability. This information will now be gathered from a new, voluntary, National Household Survey, and will never be released publicly.

That is indeed what the stories this morning were saying, although to be fair, Tony Clement (the Minister responsible) suggests otherwise here. As for me, I'm far more worried that the response rate will fall precipitously as people look at the thing and decide that, if its not required, they're not going to bother (and that those who do bother will make for a biased sample).

And, by the way, if you look at the website for countmeout.ca, who may be one of the driving forces behind the census change, it appears to have been designed by nutters. Furthermore, their head guy, Don Rogers, runs a website dedicated to curbing illegal partying and rowdy behavior within the Queen’s student housing area.

Please, please don't tell me this guy has a line to Tony Clement and the PMO.

Against Knowledge

A door to Canada's past has slammed shut, leaving future Canadians with little information about their own families and the country's history, in a move the government says was prompted by privacy concerns.

Statistics Canada has quietly made major changes to the country's census in time for the forthcoming round of national sampling in 2011. The long census questionnaire that provided information on a broad range of topics such as ethnicity, education, employment, income, housing and disability has been eliminated. Instead, those questions will be asked on a new, voluntary National Household Survey (NHS) and the results will never be released, in contrast with the treasure trove of census data that become public after 92 years.

Everyone hates filling out the long form, and the only reason you do it is because its illegal not to. So expect to see the response rate to StatsCan's new voluntary survey fall towards nil, which in effect means that the nation has taken a scalpel to its own brain and removed that part devoted to memory.

A truly stupid decision, probably the dumbest since Brian Mulroney decided to try turn Stats Canada's publications into revenue generators back in the 1980s. If you wondering why so much U.S. data is floating free about the Internet to be played with in interesting ways, whereas in Canada you have to pay $1 for every digit, blame him.