OTTAWA – Statistics Canada released a study today finding that nearly 44 million Canadians approve of Justin Trudeau and his Liberal government, roughly 25% more than the actual population of Canada.

The report comes in the wake of Chief Statistician Wayne Smith’s resignation over the federal agency’s independence, but the Chief of Communications for the Prime Minister, Kate Purchase, reassured Canadians that the agency will continue to do some innovative research about how great the government has been performing since 2015.

“We can assure everyone that the reliability of the data and its usefulness, such as the number of Facebook page likes or retweets Prime Minister Trudeau gets, will be protected from any political interference,” explained Purchase. “We’re also ensuring our health research is top notch by keeping track of our Cabinet’s cholesterol levels and ensuring our economy is in good shape by changing our GDP numbers to fit within a Triple A Credit Rating.”

Meanwhile, Navdeep Bains, the Minister responsible for Statistics Canada, has touted Shared Services for saving the government time, money, and integrity.

“Many may question the validity of a Statistics Canada survey asking whether Canadians prefer the words “Real Change” or “Open, Honest Government”,” said Bains. “But imagine if we didn’t ask those questions? We wouldn’t have any data.”

At press time, the federal government was dismissing Smith’s claims that the government was violating the Statistics Act since he was “a small sample size.”