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And because it is built on a different base than the mandatory census, it introduces a discontinuity in the data, making it hard to compare one census with another. Canada has decades of data collected under one system; now it has data collected under an entirely different and largely unreliable system. Since the kind of demographic data being tracked was most useful at monitoring trends over time, the disruption is serious.

Our well of demographic information, while not utterly beyond salvage, is indisputably tainted.

The Tories could have reversed themselves, in the face of overwhelming criticism from experts, and reinstated the long-form census in time for the 2016 edition. With a stable base of long-form census data, the household survey results from 2011 could have been reconciled to the existing records. But it’s too late for that now. With the House having risen for the summer and an election due in the fall, there simply will not be enough time to reinstate the long-form census in full and proper form. With two censuses in a row corrupted, the chain is now well and truly broken.

But now they’ve gone even further. As a compromise measure, Statistics Canada had raised the possibility of bulking out the short-form census, a less intrusive document that remains mandatory, with additional questions. It would not have duplicated the full breadth of what was tracked under the now-defunct long-form census. But by including certain “essential” questions, StatsCan argued, it could at least maintain a stable base of vital, basic demographic information. In time, with the bulked out short-form census providing this stable base of information, the household survey results could be reconciled with the existing data more effectively. Officials at every level of government would once again have the ability to make informed decisions (along with private companies and educational institutes, which also derived great value from census data).

Alas, it is not to be. The Tories declined to add any questions to the short-form census. Our well of demographic information, while not utterly beyond salvage, is indisputably tainted. It is all so sad, so unnecessary and so incomprehensible.