Evidence-based policy making is the latest victim to the Harper Conservatives’ ideological-based cuts, following their decision to scrap the Statistics Canada long-form census survey, Liberal MP for Hull-Alymer Marcel Proulx said today.
“Doesn’t the government know that the information collected about Canadians by the federal census is vital for making informed policy decisions?” asked Mr. Proulx. “Given this government’s record of ideological–and not evidence-based–decisions, it appears that having up-to-date information about Canadians is not a priority.”
For the first time in 35 years, the long-form census that collects detailed questions about ethnicity, income and education will not be mandatory for Canadians to complete and return to the government. Instead, a mandatory short form will go out to everyone for next year’s census, with basic questions about how many people live in the household and their ages and genders.
“Research is always the first thing to be cut, leaving Canadian decision-makers in the dark and harming everyone in the long run,” added Mr. Proulx. “A voluntary long-form census will result in a bias in the numbers and an incomplete picture, negatively impacting not only the federal government, but the dozens of provincial governments, community groups and other organizations that depend on the data for making sound decisions.”
“To pander to his right-wing Conservative voter base, Mr. Harper has been cutting funding to everything they don’t believe in: women’s groups, pride funding, arts and culture, international development and now research-based policy making,” said Mr. Proulx.
“Once again, we all lose when Stephen Harper puts his narrow partisan interests above those of all Canadians.”
