Clement misled Canadians on census: secret documents

[EmilyKent]

Clement misled Canadians on census: secret documents
Published On Tue Aug 10 2010

OTTAWA—Industry Minister Tony Clement was well aware that Statistics Canada had little use for a voluntary census when he was telling Canadians that StatsCan was onside with his decision to scrap the mandatory, long-form survey, internal government documents show.

In an email to the minister’s advisers in March, a StatsCan official says a self-administered voluntary survey “provides a response rate of 50 per cent.” The email goes on to say that, with follow-up and interviewer support, the response rate can be increased to 65-70 per cent, “which is still not an acceptable outcome for a census.”

Yet Clement publicly gave the impression that the respected federal data collecting agency supported the Conservatives’ move to scrap the mandatory nature of the 40-page, long-form survey that has traditionally gone out to one-in-five households at census time.

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/census/article/846141--clement-misled-canadians-on-census-secret-documents?bn=1

[daleo]

1. It is clear he was lying

And his lying put the Chief Statistician in the position of having to resign, or lose all professional credibility.

It is quite similar to how they treated Linda Keene (the Nuclear Regulatory person).