StatCan bill won’t stop meddling: former chief

OTTAWA – Canada’s former chief statistician says a new federal bill to give Statistics Canada more independence falls short because it doesn’t protect the census from political interference. Wayne Smith said the government of the day would still have control over census content, leaving it vulnerable to the sorts of changes the Conservatives imposed in 2011 by turning the long-form census into a voluntary survey. The Liberal bill tabled Wednesday aims to change the Statistics Act to require that the government make public any cabinet orders that strike at the agency’s work to collect, analyze and disseminate data.