The Conservative Government’s decision to scrap the decades-old long form for the next census, in favour of a voluntary national survey, is both short-sighted and irresponsible according to Rob Oliphant, Member of Parliament for Don Valley West and Chair of the Liberal’s Multicultural Outreach Working Group.

Of particular concern to Oliphant are new Canadians and ethnic communities, many of whom may be left out. Immigrant settlement organizations and other community groups have unanimously expressed concern about the almost certain under-representation of minority groups if the Conservatives go ahead with their proposal.

Instead of mandatory short and long versions of the Census form being sent to Canadian households, the Conservatives have decided to make the long form, with its detailed questions about language, ethnic background and other data, voluntary. Almost everyone agrees that the voluntary Census will have a low participation rate and will lack statistical validity.

“It is important to consider the broader impact of this decision,” said Mr. Oliphant. “Without reliable census data it will become very difficult to plan for and formulate policies designed to provide these communities with much needed assistance,” Oliphant said.

The changes to the census have been met with widespread opposition from dozens of national organizations, academics, think tanks, and government officials. Their consistent opinion is that the new voluntary system will provide data that is virtually useless.

One of the first to confirm this sentiment was former Chief Statistician of Canada, Ivan Fellegi. “The most vulnerable groups are the least likely to respond. So if you’re interested in data about aboriginal people, if you’re interested in data about recently arrived immigrants, if you’re interested about the poor, the disadvantaged … those are the kind of data that will be threatened,” Fellegi said.

“Canadians are used to the census slogan, ‘Count Yourself In,’” Oliphant concluded.  “Mr. Harper seems to be telling some Canadians to ‘Count Yourself Out.’ Canadians deserve better.”