Ex-StatsCan head defends mandatory census

[CHIMO]

Former chief statistician Munir Sheikh has told MPs looking into the government's decision to end the mandatory long-form census that he resigned because he could not remain head of an agency "whose reputation had suffered."

Sheikh, accompanied by his lawyer, told a parliamentary committee in Ottawa on Tuesday that he took issue with media reports quoting Industry Minister Tony Clement suggesting Statistics Canada was supporting the Conservative government's move to end the mandatory survey.

"Let me first of all say that it is the right of the government to make decisions, which if lawful should be implemented by any department of the government," Sheikh said in response to a question by Liberal MP Dan McTeague.

"The fact that in the media and in the public that there was this perception that Statistics Canada was supporting a decision that no statistician would, it really casts doubt on the integrity of that agency, and I as head of that agency cannot survive in that job."

http://www.cbc.ca/politics/story/2010/07/27/pol-census-clement-sheikh-hearing.html
Tuesday, July 27, 2010 | 4:21 PM ET