The Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association (SUMA) applauds the federal government for today’s announcement on the reinstatement of the mandatory long-form census. This was a major point in SUMA’s advocacy work during the federal election campaign.
“As we said many times this summer and fall, municipalities simply cannot make good policy decisions without good data to back us,” said SUMA President Debra Button. “It’s a relief to see the return of the long-form census, especially here in Saskatchewan. The National Household Survey was useless to many of Saskatchewan’s towns, villages, and even some cities.”
SUMA was pleased to join our voice with our federal counterparts, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, and many other advocacy groups in calling for the return of the long-form census. Groups in support of reinstatement included: provincial and municipal governments, urban planners, economists, statisticians, chambers of commerce, unions, medical associations, charities, academics, scientists, business leaders, pollsters, policy makers, boards of trade, and groups representing some of society’s most vulnerable. We are even more pleased to see the success of that advocacy.
“Today is a great day for policy makers,” said President Button. “We are confident this will once again give us access to robust and reliable data, allowing us to analyze the needs of our municipalities, and make good evidence-based policy decisions.”
