EU scolds Harper government for StatsCan controversy

By Shannon Proudfoot, Postmedia News November 23, 2010

The European Union's statistical gurus have taken the Canadian government to task for denting the professional independence of Statistics Canada through the census debate.
In the newly released report, the European Statistical Governance Advisory Board decries the government's decision to replace the mandatory long-form census with a voluntary survey, citing Canada as a cautionary tale of statistical agencies losing their traditional autonomy.

"We were utterly astonished, given our view of Canadian statistics. We didn't expect it to happen in Canada, quite frankly," said Johnny Akerholm, chair of ESGAB. "We've all been full of admiration of everything that is going on in the statistical field in Canada. Canada has frequently been seen as the benchmark, the best performer."

ESGAB was established by the European Parliament in 2008 to boost the professional independence, integrity and accountability of European statistical agencies. One of the tenets of the organization's code of practice is that the autonomy of statistical agencies should be guaranteed by legislation, and the annual report cites Canada as a country where the statistical agency had a tradition of independence, until the government exercised "dormant legal powers" in making changes to the census.

In July, the Conservative government announced it was replacing the mandatory long-form census with a voluntary National Household Survey, sparking concerns about selective responses that would produce a warped demographic picture of the country.

Munir Sheikh ultimately resigned as chief statistician in protest of the decision.

Greece provides a recent example of the importance of reliable statistics produced free of political interference, Akerholm said, noting that the country's statistics obscured the true depth of financial troubles that are now rippling through the European Union.

"Of course, the figures might be all right even if you have a political influence, but there could always be the suspicion," he said.

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