“The Politics of the Census: Lessons from Abroad.” Canadian Public Policy 36, 3 (2010): 375-380. (original) (raw)

The Importance of the Long Form Census to Canada

Canadian Public Policy, 2010

I n June the federal government published plans to replace the mandatory long form census with a new National Household Survey (NHS) for the 2011 Census cycle. The new NHS is to be circulated to more households but will be voluntary rather than mandatory. The announcement generated a response unique both for its breadth across civil society and its near uniformity. The breadth reflects the plethora of uses for census data, stretching into so many important decisions made by businesses, municipal and provincial governments, and non-profits. The near uniformity reflects the certainty of science on the statistical nature of voluntary versus mandatory sampling techniques. We begin by showing the statistical importance of the distinction between voluntary and mandatory sampling techniques, and then explain how the ubiquity of the census in Canada's national statistics is even greater than many appreciate due to the census's role as the ultimate benchmark for other surveys.

The Mandatory Census: Tension Between Individual Rights and the Public Good

The discontinuation of the Canadian long-form mandatory census presents a crisis for data users. Examined as a tension between the need to preserve individual civil liberties and the need to curtail those liberties for the public good, the census crisis presents an opportunity for a public discussion on the specifics of our national values, beliefs and expectations.

Libertarian Populism, Neoliberal Rationality, and the Mandatory Long-form Census: Implications for Sociology

Canadian Journal of Sociology, 2012

This article argues the Canadian government’s decision in 2010 to eliminate the mandatory long-form census constitutes a mobilizing appeal to libertarian populism commensurate not only with neoliberal concepts of individualism, private property, and the role of the state, but also with a redefinition of what counts as valid argumentation and a legitimate basis for making knowledge claims. This rationale has implications for sociological research and theory, for the profession of sociology, and for a sociological vision of society.

Losing Our Census

Canadian Journal of Communication, 2010

The Canadian government’s June 2010 decision to replace the mandatory long- form version of the census with a voluntary National Household Survey (NHS) poses a real risk that governments, other public-sector and civil-society agencies, and private users alike will rely increasingly on outsourced and privatized forms of information holdings in lieu of reliable and transparent census data. This commentary places this decision in the context of the social history of census-taking and summarizes the central and serious problems of the planned NHS. We reflect on the contradiction between, on the one hand, the government’s overall support for digital dissemination of high-quality data in an age of e-democracy and, on the other hand, its decision to accept the NHS’s alternative, biased data. The Conservative government’s arguments obscure the census decision’s implications for contemporary and historical knowledge of Canadian society and for public discourse.

Why do we still need a census? Views from the age of “truthiness” and the “death of evidence”

The Canadian Geographer / Le Géographe canadien, 2014

This viewpoint reports on a multidisciplinary panel held at the 2012 CAG/Congress meeting that brought together a number of researchers with important expertise on census-related issues. They were asked to tackle the question: "Why do we still need a census?" Their presentations generated dialogue based on both Canadian and international experiences with recent changes in census data collection approaches. The article presents some cautionary observations regarding "the death of evidence" in an age of politicized "truthiness."

7. Walton-Roberts, W., Beaujot, R., Hiebert, D.,McDaniel, S.,Rose, D., and Wright, R., (2014) “Why do we still need a census? Views from the age of ‘truthiness’ and the ‘death of evidence.” The Canadian Geographer 58,1: 34-47

Canadian Geographer / Le Géographe canadien

Abstract This viewpoint reports on a multidisciplinary panel held at the 2012 CAG/Congress meeting that brought together a number of researchers with important expertise on census-related issues. They were asked to tackle the question: “Why do we still need a census?” Their presentations generated dialogue based on both Canadian and international experiences with recent changes in census data collection approaches. The article presents some cautionary observations regarding “the death of evidence” in an age of politicized “truthiness.”

Redesigning the Census Long Form: Results from the 1990 Alternative Questionnaire Experiment

this paper. After describing the questionnaires that were included and the methodology for the test, we present results relevant to the three main objectives of the research project: improving mail response rates, item nonresponse rates, and data quality (specifically as it pertains to the coverage questions). QUESTIONNAIRES Six questionnaires were included in the Alternative Questionnaire Experiment. Along with a control form, five experimental questionnaires were developed, which included varying levels of departure from the design of the 1990 census form. The control form (Panel 1) was identical to the 1990 long form. It was designed to be a FOSDIC look-alike form, however, and the data were not captured through the automated processing equipment. It had a fold-out flap on which a listing of all household members was obtained, followed by a matrix of short-form information collected about every person in the 3 household, then three pages of housing information (both 100-percent a...

“The Regulation of Poll Reporting in Canada.” With Tania Gosselin. Canadian Public Policy/Analyse de politiques 35, 2009, 41-58.

La Loi electorate du Canada, adoptee en 2000, regit la fa$on dont les madias doivent divulguer les donn&s techniques concernant les methodes utilises pour realiser des sondages en p^riode electorale. Mais la couverture mediatique des sondages faits hors des periodes electorales, qui n'est pas soumise a ces regies, ne fait l'objet que d'une autoregulation. Dans cet article, nous analysons la couverture faite par trois journaux {La Presse, le Globe and Mail et le Calgary Herald) de ces deux types de sondages. Nos resultats montrent que la fa$on dont les medias divulguent les donn^es techniques relatives aux sondages est loin de correspondre aux normes reconnues dans Tindustrie. Toutefois, ces informations sont au moins aussi completes dans le cas des sondages non electoraux que dans celui des sondages electoraux. Par ailleurs, on observe que, dans les articles de fond qui traitent de sondages realises pour les journaux qui les publient, on retrouve significativement plus de donnees techniques que dans les courts articles ou il est simplement fait mention de sondages non realises pour le compte des journaux qui les publient. Nous concluons done que les normes et les regies qui s'appliquent b la divulgation des methodes utilisees dans les sondages influencent peu la fagon habituelle dont les medias traitent des sondages.

“Public Opinion and Policy-Making in Canada: 1994-2001.” With Matthew Mendelsohn. Revue canadienne de science politique/Canadian Journal of Political Science 37, 2004, 505-529.

1 Résumé. En faisant correspondre les décisions sur 230 enjeux de politiques publiques avec les résultats de sondages nationaux sur ces mêmes enjeux, cet article cherche à quantifier le degré de consistance entre l'opinion publique et la politique gouvernementale entre 1994 et 2001. Les calculs révèlent que seulement 49 pour cent des décisions du gouvernement de Jean Chrétien sont allées dans le même sens que l'opinion publique, en nette diminution par rapport aux 69 pour cent observés pendant la période Mulroney (1985-1993). La baisse de consistance depuis 1994 est principalement attribuable à la divergence entre une opinion publique de plus en plus favorable au changement et idéologiquement orientée à droite et la politique du gouvernement de Jean Chrétien sensiblement plus résistante au changement et idéologiquement plus à gauche que celle de son prédécesseur. Le public a tendance à ignorer le manque de corrélation entre l'opinion et les politique gouvernementales parce que les enjeux en question sont relativement peu importants. Par contre, il semble que la corrélation entre l'opinion et les politiques soit beaucoup plus forte dans un petit nombre d'enjeux importants que le public reconnaît, créant ainsi l'apparence d'un gouvernement attentif aux souhaits de l'opinion publique canadienne.