Before voting in the Oct. 19 federal election, every Canadian voter (in my opinion) needs to read the Maclean’s magazine Sept. 28 “Vanishing Canada” article before going to the polls.
The essence of the article, as I understand it, is that statistical data regarding where people work, what kind of work they do, levels of education, marital status etc. is no longer recorded every five years as it was on the mandatory long-form census.
Since 2010, a voluntary National Household Survey has been its replacement, the operative word being “voluntary.”
Further, due to austerity measures (cuts to staff and information sites) the federal government no longer has the data gathering capabilities to keep accurate statistical records of many of its departments. We citizens living here in Canada are rapidly losing not only our access to information ability but information itself.
I’m concerned as a Canadian that we are no longer able to keep our government accountable to us. We need to be asking our federal candidates a lot more questions.
Linda KermodeQualicum Beach
