STATISTICS CANADA HEAD QUITS, CLAIMS AGENCY LOSING INDEPENDENCE
Sep 16, 2016
By Bob Komsic
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Canada’s top statistician says the Trudeau Liberals and Harper Conservatives have failed to protect the independence of Statistics Canada as it integrates information technology (IT) under the umbrella of Shared Services Canada (SSC).
StatsCan chief statistician Wayne Smith made the allegations in a message to employees.
SSC was created by the Harper government to centralize and standardize IT services across the federal government in a bid to save money.
Smith says he issued a warning that ever since the transfer started, the federal research department began losing control of the info it collects from Canadians through efforts such as the long-form census.
Smith feels the integration was actually costing StatsCan money and autonomy.
Six years ago, Munir Sheikh resigned as chief statistician of Statistics Canada over the cancellation of the mandatory long-form census which was brought back after the Liberals won the last election.