SETLIST be, eae eet Ontario Jer 00 Tae) sae so0 Fost) 6 606 a eres 85 July 8, 2010 Munir A. Sheikh CChiet Statistician of Canada Stalistios Canada 100 Tunney's Pasture Driveway Ottawa, ON K1A OT6 Dear Dr. Sheikh: |Lam writing to express our serious concer regarding the Government of ‘Canada's recent decision to replace the mandatory census long-form with a new voluntary National Household Survey (NHS). ‘Ontario has always been an active and willing partner with Statistics Canada on Issues of statistical policy. As a result, the announcement of such a significant ‘change 0 critical element of the national statistical system without consulting provinces, territories and other important stakeholders is troubling. Replacing the mandatory long-form with a voluntary survey will lead to serious data quality issues including lower response rates, sampling bias, loss of information for smaller communities and lack of historical comparability with previous censuses. In addition, itis our understanding that Statistics Canada anticipates that the cost of the NHS could possibly be higher than maintaining the long-form. Given the already challenging budget environment, this may impact the quality and timeliness of other Statistics Canada products. We are concerned that this unilateral decision will have a lasting negative impact, ‘on the national statitical systom. Thie ie likoly to have negative, long-term ‘consequences for some government programs. For example, Ontario's Poverty Reduction Strategy requires a variely of statistical indicators including income, ‘education, home ownership and labour market involverient by family-lype for very small geographic areas. Without access to the data provided by the census, long-form, our ability to effectively target resources to the communities of ‘reatest need will be reduced.22. We strongly urge Statistics Canada and the Federal Government to reverse this decision forthe 2011 Census pending consultation and review. We look forward to working with you on a national strategy that wil strengthen, Canada's statistical system. Sincerely, feta Lrben Peter Wallace Deputy Ministor ©. Michael Horgan