Bill C-562: An Act to amend the Statistics Act (Chief Statistician and long-form census)

C-562 Second Session, Forty-first Parliament, 62 Elizabeth II, 2013 HOUSE OF COMMONS OF CANADA BILL C-562 An Act to amend the Statistics Act (Chief Statistician and long-form census) first reading, December 9, 2013 Mr. Hsu 412008 SUMMARY This enactment amends the Statistics Act to provide for a specific process relating to the appointment of the Chief Statistician of Canada. It also prescribes additional duties for the Chief Statistician and increases the independence of the Chief Statistician in carrying out his or her duties. Further, it provides for a long-form questionnaire to be used for taking the census of population under that Act. Available on the Parliament of Canada Web Site at the following address:http://www.parl.gc.ca 2nd Session, 41st Parliament, 62 Elizabeth II, 2013 house of commons of canada BILL C-562 An Act to amend the Statistics Act (Chief Statistician and long-form census) R.S., c. S-19 Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows: 1. (1) Subsection 4(1) of the Statistics Act is replaced by the following: Chief Statistician 4. (1) Subject to subsection (1.1), the Governor in Council may appoint an officer called the Chief Statistician of Canada to be the deputy of the Minister for the purposes of this Act and to hold office during pleasure. Consultation (1.1) The Governor in Council shall, after consulting with the leader of every recognized party in the House of Commons, appoint the Chief Statistician from a list of candidates submitted by the search committee established in section 4.1. (2) The portion of subsection 4(2) of the Act before paragraph (a) is replaced by the following: Duties (2) The Chief Statistician shall (3) Subsection 4(2) of the Act is amended by striking out “and” at the end of para-graph (a) and by adding the following after that paragraph: (a.1) in accordance with internationally recognized best practices, including applicable ethical standards, establish guidelines respecting sources of statistical data and the methods and procedures used in its collection, analysis, processing, storage and publication; and (a.2) post on the Statistics Canada website (i) the guidelines referred to in paragraph (a.1), and (ii) any material that he or she considers necessary to facilitate the interpretation of any statistical information that has been published by his or her office; and 2. The Act is amended by adding the following after section 4: Establishment of search committee 4.1 (1) The Minister shall establish a search committee to prepare a list of candidates for consideration by the Governor in Council when making an appointment under subsection 4(1.1). Members of search committee (2) The search committee shall consist of three persons, each of whom holds or has held one of the following offices or positions: (a) Clerk of the Privy Council; (b) Chief Statistician of Canada; (c) Governor of the Bank of Canada; (d) Chairman of the National Statistics Council; (e) President of the Statistical Society of Canada; (f) President of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research; (g) President of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council; or (h) President of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. No remu-neration or reimbursement (3) No member of the search committee shall receive remuneration for the performance of their duties or be reimbursed for any ex-penses incurred in the course of performing those duties. 3. Section 7 of the Act is renumbered as subsection 7(1) and is amended by adding the following: Publication (2) Every order made under subsection (1) shall be published in the Canada Gazette not later than 30 days after it is made. 4. Section 8 of the Act is renumbered as subsection 8(1) and is amended by adding the following: Publication (2) Every order made under subsection (1) shall be published in the Canada Gazette not later than 30 days after it is made. 5. (1) Section 19 of the Act is amended by adding the following after subsection (2): Long-form census questionnaire (2.1) The census taken at the time and in the manner set out in this section must include the use of a long-form census questionnaire and its distribution to at least 20% of all households, or whatever percentage of households that the Chief Statistician considers necessary to ensure an accurate statistical representation of the Canadian population and its constituent groups. (2) Section 19 of the Act is amended by adding the following after subsection (3): Definition of “long-form census questionnaire” (4) In this section, “long-form census questionnaire” means a census questionnaire that conforms, in length and scope and with such modifications as the context requires, to the long-form census used to take the census every five years since 1971. 6. Subsection 21(1) of the Act is replaced by the following: Census questions 21. (1) The Chief Statistician shall, by order, prescribe the questions to be asked in any census taken by Statistics Canada under section 19 or 20. 7. (1) The portion of section 22 of the Act before paragraph (a) is replaced by the following: General statistics 22. Without limiting the duties of Statistics Canada under section 3 or affecting any of its powers or duties in respect of any specific statistics that may otherwise be authorized or required under this Act, the Chief Statistician shall collect, compile, analyse, abstract and publish statistics in relation to all or any of the following matters in Canada: (2) Paragraph 22(u) of the Act is replaced by the following: (u) any other matters prescribed, by order, by the Minister or by the Governor in Council and published in the Canada Gazette. 8. The portion of section 31 of the Act after paragraph (b) is replaced by the following: is, for every refusal or neglect, or false answer or deception, guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars. Published under authority of the Speaker of the House of Commons