It's been a while since my last blog. Summer vacation and catching up on paperwork has kept me busy but where has the time gone? It seems like only yesterday it was May and here we are almost at the end of July and bang smack in the middle of a controversy that you're either totally opinionated on or are not interested at all. Since I happen to be one of the totally opinionated Canadians, I'll share my thoughts with you anyway.

I believe the government's decision to scrap the mandatory long form census could have serious implications for those of us who are involved in planning of any kind. It's all about being able to map out and understand trends from one census to the next and without consistent information, comparisons are impossible. We are very fortunate in Canada, although some would say otherwise, that our census is held every five years and not ten as in some other countries, notably the United States. The wealth of information we can glean from the long form data supports the development of new educational curriculum, immigrant support services and employment and income support services just to name a few. From my perspective, understanding changes e.g. in employment, occupational growth/decline and educational attainment are key to planning for tomorrow's workforce.

There are pros and cons to a voluntary system. Obviously, one pro is that the government plans to distribute the voluntary long form to a larger cross section of the population, approximately 1 in 3 households. The con is that it will likely be completed only by those literate and higher educated, possibly higher income households which could easily skew any data to the point of irrelevancy. E.g. according to the local literacy network, in Waterloo and Wellington, almost 1 in 4 or 24% of adults over the age of 16 have low literacy levels and would they be likely to complete the long form on a voluntary basis?

Pressure is mounting on the government to review its decision and it remains to be seen what the final outcome will be. Planners everywhere are watching closely….

If you have any questions or comments, please don't hesitate to contact me at carol@workforceplanningboard.com