In an effort to bring ‘sense back to the census,’ the Liberal Party of Canada presented a motion today in the House of Commons to reinstate the mandatory long-form census.
The motion – to be debated next week – also calls on the government to amend the Statistics Act in order to remove the threat of jail time for people who do not fill out the long-form census.
“The Canadian public has spoken: more than 350 groups have condemned the Harper government’s ill-informed decision,” said Liberal Critic for Industry, Science and Technology Marc Garneau. “This is an urgent matter for the House and Liberals are making this the focus of the first Opposition Day of the fall sitting.
“Provincial, territorial and municipal governments, community groups, medical associations, religious groups and countless organizations use the information collected in the census to make decisions based on facts that will help Canadians in their daily lives.”
The Liberal Opposition Day motion states:
That the House calls on the Government of Canada to re-instate immediately the Long-form Census; and given that no person has ever been imprisoned for not completing the census, the House further calls on the government to introduce legislative amendments to the Statistics Act to remove completely the provision of imprisonment from Section 31 of the Act in relation to the Long-form Census, the Census of Population, and the Census of Agriculture.
“Given that no person has ever gone to jail for not filling out the long-form census, Liberals want to make sure the government can no longer use this as an excuse to scrap the census,” said Liberal Critic for Democratic Renewal Carolyn Bennett.
In addition to the motion, in the following weeks the Liberal Party will also introduce a private member’s bill to maintain pressure on the government to reinstate this vital tool.
“Canadians rely on the federal government for a multitude of services, and they expect our federal government to make wise decisions based on sound information. This motion will make sure decision makers at all levels of society can do just that,” concluded Mr. Garneau.
