Proposed changes to StatCan designed to end political interference: Bains
OTTAWA — The federal Liberals are moving on their promise to build a political firewall around Statistics Canada, but the fine print of the proposed legislative changes would maintain the government’s power to tell the agency how to do its job.
Under legislation the Liberals unveiled Wednesday, the head of the national statistical office would have authority over how information on all types of subjects is collected, analyzed and disseminated, instead of that power being vested with the minister.
Background documents provided by Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, the department responsible for Statistics Canada, say its minister would retain the right to decide on the “scope of the statistical program,” or what information Statistics Canada collects.
The government would also be able to make changes to “methodological or operational matters” — which includes how data are collected — through a cabinet order should the government “deem it to be in the national interest.”