Canada West Foundation Blog

By: Robert Roach, VP, Research

In an article in today’s Globe and Mail, John Ibbitson argues that "One question will define national politics in our time: Are Western Canadians prepared to sacrifice for the sake of the nation, now that Ontario is less able to help?"

In addition to incorrectly implying that western Canadians chipping in to help the rest of the country is a new phenomenon, the question is the wrong one to ask.

The question Canadians should be focused on is how to ensure that the nation successfully adjusts to the evolving global economy. It is a mistake to start with a negative question that assumes the need for "sacrifice"—whatever that means—or puts pressure on the nation’s fault lines by immediately assuming that regional wealth redistribution is the solution to central Canada’s problems. This is the old way of thinking and this is not the time to bring it back.

The West knows what it is like to have its interests and economic prospects ignored and how damaging this is to the country and its potential. It will not, therefore, make the same mistake that central Canada has made in the past and be blithe to the blight of the other regions.

The West gets it—all regions benefit when all regions are heard and respected. The West will do its part, as it always has.

Ensuring Canada’s prosperity will happen naturally as the western economy continues to provide jobs and returns on investment. It will also happen at the political level through the equalization program, a strong tax base in the West that helps fill the national treasury, and by ongoing efforts by Canadians to ensure strong regional representation within the national government.

Ultimately, however, the economic recovery of Canada's industrial heartland will depend on the efforts of individual Canadians and their ability to harness the changes happening at a global level.

Only rarely does the Canada West Foundation as an organization express a view on policy issues. The norm is to speak through our research reports and their authors, and to avoid institutional endorsement of particular policy options or views. However, the debate over the long-form census is an exception, a case where the issues seem so important that they call for an institutional response. Thus in a variety of forums, the Foundation has joined with other Canadian think tanks in calling upon Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government to reverse its decision to make the long-form census voluntary.

But why has the Canada West Foundation taken up this crusade? In part the answer comes from our methodological experience and expertise; we know that a voluntary census will not produce reliable data. This is not an opinion; it is as close to a fact as one can get in the complex world of statistical analysis. The government’s argument that a voluntary census will work if mailed to more people and backed up by massive advertising is simply wrong. We will pay more for less, which seems an odd strategy in this fiscal environment.

But does it matter if data quality is corrupted? I would argue that in a knowledge-based economy, paying more for poorer data makes no sense. We need more rather than less evidence-based policy design, and the movement away from the current long form census is movement towards policy impoverishment. It is also a signal to the world that we don’t take ourselves seriously, that we’re content to rely on hearsay and guesswork.

All of this, of course, may seem rather abstract, so let me give you a concrete illustration from the Foundation’s work. Part of what we do involves mapping patterns of demographic change in a highly dynamic, growth-driven region of the country. We know that the region has been transformed fundamentally since the census in 1971, the year the Foundation was created, and we believe that understanding and mapping that transformation is fundamentally important in coming to grips with the future of the West in Canada, and within an increasingly competitive global economy. Self-knowledge is not everything, but it is an important start.

However, if we move to the short-form census alone, or coupled with a deeply flawed voluntary long form census, we will no longer be able to map the demographic evolution of the West. When asked to describe how our linguistic and ethnic diversity is changing, to map the migration of Aboriginal peoples into urban centers, to understand patterns of integration, assimilation and migration for new Canadians, we will have to fall back on guess work and assumptions. I can’t believe that we will settle, that we should settle, for “by guess and by golly” when we can do so much better.

Now, none of this means that the status quo should be exempt from criticism. We could certainly eliminate the threat of jail for failing to complete the census, a threat that has never been carried out in any event. We can and should review the content of the long form. And, if we’re smart, we can further insulate the Census operation from political influence.

In short, we can do better, but the long-form census is one baby that should not be thrown out with the bath water.

Posted by: Roger Gibbins

This list was compiled by W. T. Stanbury (wstanbury@prodigy.net.mx) and Armine Yalnizyan, Canadian Centre for Policy Analysis [last update:July 20,2010 ]

1. Atlantic Provinces Economics Council
2. Caledon Institute of Social Policy
3. Canada Census Committee
4. Canada West Foundation
5. Canadian Association for Business Economics
6. Canadian Association of University Teachers
7. Canadian Council for Policy Alternatives
8. Canadian Council of Social Development
9. Canadian Economics Association
10. Canadian Evaluation Society
11. Canadian Federation of Francophone and Acadian Communities
12. Canadian Institute of Planners
13. Canadian Jewish Congress
14. Canadian Labour Congress
15. Canadian Marketing Association
16. Canadian Medical Association Journal
17. Canadian Nurses Association
18. Canadian Public Health Association
19. Canadian Research Data Network Centre
20. C.D. Howe Institute
21. Centre for the Study of Living Standards
22. City of Calgary
23. City of Edmonton
24. City of Red Deer
25. City of Toronto
26. Conference Board of Canada
27. Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada
28. Environics Analytics
29. Evangelical Fellowship of Canada
30. Federation of Canadian Municipalities
31. Glendon School of International and Public Policy
32. Information and Communications Technology Council
33. Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami
34. Institute for Research on Public Policy
35. Medical Health Officers Council of Saskatchewan
36. Nanos Research
37. National Specialty Society for Community Medicine
38. National Statistical Council ( acts in a consultative capacity for StatsCan).
39. Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants
40. Province of Manitoba
41. Province of PEI
42. Province of Quebec
43. Quebec Conference of University Rectors and Principals
44. Regional Municipality of Halton
45. Regional Municipality of Peel
46. Rotman School of Management
47. Social Planning Council of Sudbury
48. Statistical Institute of Quebec
49. Toronto Association of Business Economists,
50. Toronto Board of Trade
51. Toronto Public Health
52. Toronto-Dominion Bank (per its chief economist)
53. United Way of Canada
54. United Way of Greater Toronto
55. University of Toronto School of Public Policy and Governance

Note: there are other lists and this one may not be exhaustive as it is difficult to keep track. If you know of others, by all means do share them!