Getting Counted

I got home yesterday, went to my mailbox before heading upstairs, and nearly yelped with joy seeing a notice to fill out a 2016 census. I didn’t yelp per say, but felt giddy, then pushed the feeling aside as ‘too silly.’ It turns out I was not alone.

Our last Overlord Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, felt the practice of taking a census ‘too invasive.’ (This coming from a government wanting to expand surveillance powers. Go figure.) They scrapped the long-form census and in my line of work crappy stats from 2011 makes things like policy or business research difficult. One of Disney Prince Prime Minister Trudeau’s promises was to restore the census and ensure good stats for democracy. In the words of Statistics Canada:

The census collects demographic information on every man, woman and child living in Canada. Information from the census will be used by governments, businesses, associations, community organizations and many others to make important decisions for your community, your province or territory, and the entire country.

Census information is important for your community and is used in planning services such as schools, public transportation, senior housing and police and fire services.

Population estimates obtained from the census are used to allocate transfer payments from the federal government to the provinces and territories, and from the provinces to municipalities.

I have not filled mine out just yet. Tonight I will pour a glass of wine, sit outside, and do my duty as a citizen. I am part of a pack of nerds, but I nerd with panache.