The recent federal flap about making a long form of the census voluntary could have a negative effect on municipal officials and how they do their work.
A number of municipal organizations are pressuring federal Industry Minister Tony Clement to reinstate the mandatory long form of the census.
The short form must be completed by everyone. It includes about eight basic questions: name, age, marital status, the same questions as the 2006 census. But in that last census, the long form was mandatory for one in five homes. This time, it is voluntary for one in three homes.
The long form or (National Household survey) also includes questions on things like:
– demography;
– activity limitations;
– language;
– citizenship and immigration;
– ethnicity and religion;
– aboriginal identity;
– mobility;
– education;
– labour market;
– place of work;
– income; and
– housing.
But Centre Wellington Township planner Brett Salmon said in an interview that as far back as university he learned voluntary data can be skewed, as compared to using the mandatory every fifth home rule used in the last census.
The problem, he said, was, “It was quite intrusive the last census. Because people felt it was intrusive that’s probably what prompted the changes” to a voluntary long form.
MP Michael Chong’s assistant Jim Smith said that long form usually has at least 55 questions or more. He added, “Currently the plan is to distribute the National Household survey to one in three homes – one person in the home is asked to complete it for the entire family on a voluntary basis.”
Chong is taking the complaints about dropping that long form seriously. He called a hearing of the House of Commons standing committee on industry, science and technology, for which he is chairman, to hear testimony on the issue. The hearings were scheduled to start on Tuesday.
Salmon said at one time the long form was quite useful for planners in lower tier municipalities, but he said that is no longer the case.
He explained that planning is now a “top down”exercise, because the province’s Places to Grow legislation has to be followed. He said that means county officials decide growth targets for lower tier municipalities. Salmon said long form data would have been useful locally for planning neighbourhoods, but since amalgamation that direct data is no longer available because boundaries disappeared in Elora and Fergus.
Mary McElroy, in the county’s policy and planning department, said long form census data is very useful there. She said staff use it when preparing such things as official plans and for growth targets. She said such things as ethnicity data collected in the long form does not come into play very much, because most immigrants generally move to large cities.
She added that the data are useful for education, economic development, but, “here in the county, we use only a part of it.”
She said the data tell planners the types of jobs being worked, and ‘help us understand types of land use, population growth, employment growth, housing stock, and how it changes over time.”
As an example, she said in 2006, county planners noted an increase in the number of homes being purchased. The 2001 census had showed more apartments being rented, and officials were able to take note of that change.
She said, though, the county has not taken an official position on the dropping of the mandatory long form. McElroy did note that the Association of Municipalities of Ontario has protested it. So has the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, and other municipal organizations.
She concluded, “This data is important to the work that we do,” and added social services and economic development officers would also use it.
County Social Services Director Eddie Alton said the data provide “an understanding of what is going on in the community.” He said it can affect such things as public transit design.
Alton, too, believes that a voluntary form will “skew data,” and he noted the Canadian Council of Social Development has protested the dropping of the long form.
“It [the long form] is very important for the planning aspect of it,” he concluded.
Centre Wellington’s Economic Development Officer Dave Rushton said in an interview that the long form data informed his department that half the people in the township leave it every day to go to work.
“If people are your number one export, there are a few concerns,” he said. “Place of work [in the long form] is important.”
He also attended a meeting of Southwester Ontario groups for economic development and said they found Centre Wellington was the most creative area that was included in the study.
He said he would like to attract more people who “get paid to think.” He said the Keating build between Fergus and Elora is a good example, and he would like to be able to fill 20 more such buildings with thinking workers in the next 25 years.
Rushton also noted that the data in the last census showed that there were 1,300 immigrants to Canada who moved to Guelph and Wellington County, and that was divided 50:50.
“We’re not a hugely integrated community,” he said of the county, adding, “That trend is changing. It’s [just] not enough so that you would notice.”
