Federal government gives few details in budget for what from StatCan is on chopping block

Abigail Bimman discusses how the anticipated slashing of the federal budget will affect government agencies and Canadians who use them.

Neither Statistics Canada nor the federal Department of Finance is answering what type of data may be collected in less detail or less often after the budget listed cuts to Statistics Canada.

The budget, released Tuesday, reads “…the frequency of data collection will be reduced where the requirements can be met through statistical modelling or other modern methods. In addition, adjustments will be made to the frequency and level of detail collected for data sets which demonstrate less relevance to Canadians.”

CTV News asked a number of questions about what type of data will be collected less often or in less detail, and who exactly determines what is less relevant to Canadians, and received no answers.

Instead, while asking to be identified only as a “nameless Department of Finance official,” the department responded a vague statement, saying “further details on savings” would be released “in due course.”

“During the comprehensive expenditure review process, organizations were asked to review their programs and activities and submit savings proposals. The objective was to identify programs and activities that are underperforming, not core to the federal mandate, duplicative, or misaligned with government priorities,” it also read.

Munir Sheikh, the former chief statistician at Statistics Canada, who resigned in 2010 over the Harper government’s decision to kill the longform census – the Trudeau Liberals later brought it back – is troubled by the development.

“It really worries me,” Sheikh told CTV News.

“I really think about a family which has become poor and can’t afford fresh foods and vegetables anymore,” he added. “For me, cuts at an organization like Statistics Canada is an indication that our country is getting poorer, and we can’t afford to do the things that are an absolute necessity.”

Biostatistician Erica Moodie is in agreement.

“It’s hard not to worry whenever I see the possibility of data being taken away or reduced,” said Moodie, who is a Canada Research Chair in statistical methods for precision medicine and a professor of biostatistics at McGill Univerity. She is also past president of the Statistical Society of Canada.

She calls the data from Statistics Canada “totally critical” to a wide range of sectors, from government to businesses, to researchers like her and to communities. She says tracking things like the gross domestic product (GDP) and consumer price index (CPI) are key to fiscal and urban planning.

“The cuts to data collection, the fineness of this data collection, could impact things like transit lines in my neighbourhood,” she said. “On the other side, as a researcher, it also affects the work done by my students.”

Moodie gives the example of a student using data from the Canadian Community Health Survey for research into mental health, which wouldn’t be possible without the “fine-grained data collection” it offers.

Sheikh says Canada already has substantial data gaps and is concerned those will only multiply through new cuts, with a big impact on the ability to develop policy and, in turn, the economy.

“You can think about it as a vicious circle. We are poor, we don’t have the resources, we can’t produce these data,” he said. “If we can’t produce these data, our policies become worse, and we become even poorer.”

Sheikh is concerned the Canadian economy will get worse, rather than better, offering a stark warning if it does.

“There are going to be even more cuts, and all the wonderful things that we need, we may not be able to afford.”