Voluntary long-form survey controversy Canada 2011 Census

a house of commons industry committee special hearing on july 27, 2010 heard during previous census, out of approximately 12 million forms, 166 complaints known received directly or indirectly. in answer clement s claim don t fill out census risk jail time, jack layton, leader of national new democratic party, noted in entire history of census, government had not prosecuted , jailed single person failing complete census, , pointed out threat removed entirely amending legislation incarceration no longer penalty refusal complete census. in response, government announced plans introduce legislation remove threat of jail time refusing fill out mandatory government surveys. statistics act has not yet been amended change penalties. last updated in 2005.

some groups have argued decision motivated wish destroy useful tool social advocacy, making harder identify , count disadvantaged groups. however, conservative government maintains reasoning cancellation not believe appropriate force canadians divulge detailed personal information under threat of prosecution.

on october 20, 2010, statistics canada predicted voluntary long-form result in decline of total respondents 94% 50%. consequentially, expect substantial risk of non-response bias , plan [adapt their] data collection , other procedures mitigate as possible against these risks. response rate led them predict increased risk of sampling errors, because 16% of canadian population surveyed, opposed 19% under mandatory long-form similar 1 in 2006. government announced in august 2010 spending $30 million on campaign aimed @ increasing response rate voluntary form, information released statistics canada in december 2010 revealed half of money required tasks unrelated promotional campaign.

criticism of national household survey re-emerged in 2013 following release of first set of results survey.

private member s bill

in september 2014, liberal mp ted hsu introduced private member s bill bill c-626, act amend statistics act intention of appointing chief statistician , reinstatement of long-form census in canada.

despite wide support happens private bills, failed (at second reading), in february 2015.