Canada seen as cautionary tale of stats agencies losing autonomy
Canada has disappointed the European Statistical Governance Advisory Board, an EU body that promotes the independence and accountability of statistical agencies in Europe. Harper’s July removal of the mandatory long-form census, to be replaced by a voluntary National Household Survey, has raised concerns about the integrity of the results. “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 the 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.”