Wednesday, September 21, 2011

The Voice of Integrity: Munir Sheikh

Those not seduced by the siren call of simplicity promoted by the Harper government will be pleased to learn that Munir Sheikh, the former head of Statistics Canada who resigned his post rather than give his stamp of approval to the Tory elimination of the mandatory long-form census, is in the news, keeping the face and voice of integrity alive.

An article in The Star entitled Ex-chief statistician picks apart cancellation of long census, reveals that a 26-page essay written by Sheikh, his contribution to a volume on “intelligent government” published by the Centre for the Study of Living Standards, is very critical of the Harper government, saying that "the census decision has shaken Statistics Canada’s neutrality and independence, and put at risk the government’s own work in many areas."

In the essay, Sheikh warns statisticians working at the federal agency to “guard against political intervention” until better solutions are found.

Sheikh also raises concerns over poor data on aboriginal populations, especially housing on reserves, and about the government making key decisions on pension reform without having reliable information on wealth in Canadian households.


He also issue this stinging observation: “No country can be among the league of civilized societies without intelligent policy development. And, intelligent policy development is not possible without good data”

For those interested, a link to the essay is also found in the Star article.

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