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OTTAWA - Despite months of controversy and fierce debate over whether Canada's now-voluntary long-form census would produce reliable information, Statistics Canada says it's pretty happy with the result for 2011.
"At the national, provincial level, all of this information is pretty solid. It's high quality," census manager Marc Hamel said.
The Conservative government made the extensive, long-form 2011 census voluntary -- marking the first time Canadians didn't face a potential $500 fine or three months in jail for not providing personal information to the national number-crunchers.
Hamel said the 2011 national household survey is less reliable only at "lower levels of geography" for cities, towns and villages.
He said there are about 1,100 centres with populations under 10,000 where Statistics Canada couldn't put out reliable information.
That's up from about 200 centres in 2006.
NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair seized on the findings, claiming that Statistics Canada had confirmed the data were "deeply flawed."
"We have been calling on the Conservatives to reinstate the mandatory long-form census for over three years," said Mulcair. "Will the Prime Minister finally listen?"
Prime Minister Stephen Harper rebuffed Mulcair's request.
"In fact, the survey provides useful and usable data for communities, representing 97% of the population," Harper said. "Obviously, going forward we will look for ways to improve things, but always in a way that respects and balances the need for public data with the privacy rights of Canadians."
Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau says he'd make the long-form census mandatory again, which could mean the return of threatened fines and jail time.
Do you think the voluntary long-form census produced reliable information?
Source: http://www.calgarysun.com/2013/05/08/statistics-canada-voluntary-census-data-ok
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