As predicted the dropping of the mandatory long form census last year is starting to be felt in the statistical results being collected. First problem: Language Data. New language data may be skewed as a result of shift to voluntary census survey – The Globe and Mail. Filed under: Politics
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eaves.ca: Lies, Damned Lies, and Open Data
I have an article titles Lies, Damn Lies and Open Data in Slate Magazine as part of their Future Tense series. Here, for me, is the core point: On the surface, the open data movement was about who could access and use government data. It rested on the idea that
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
This and that to start your long weekend. – Antonia Zerbisias and Thomas Walkom both discuss the connection between organized labour and the very existence of a substantial middle class. And Janice Kennedy worries about the all-too-prevalent trend toward worker-bashing. – But Andrew Jackson nicely points out why attempts to
Continue readingCalgary Grit: Stephen Harper Finds Science on the Road the Damascus
Here’s Stephen Harper doing his best to stay out of the Enbridge pipeline debate – the biggest (non-soccer) controversy in Canada these days: Prime Minister Stephen Harper is defending the independence of the environmental review process underway for Enbridge’s Northern Gateway pipeline, telling reporters in Vancouver the project will be
Continue readingImpolitical: Destabilizing Statistics Canada
This news is really something, another head shaking moment. This comes from a government led by a trained Economist™: Nearly half of the roughly 5,000 people working at Statistics Canada are being warned that their jobs are at risk, suggesting deep cuts are in store for one of the country’s
Continue readingRandom Ranting Raving and Ratings: The Conservative Party of Canada – A Study in Contradictions
I can’t help but notice that Conservatives have been all over the board with their policies and positions arguing on one side of an issue in one circumstance and the polar opposite in a different circumstance Here are just a few examples: The Conservative party that last year said the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: A friendly reminder
Some people who should know better are suggesting that universal media condemnation (as opposed to public involvement on social media) should be seen as the main factor in getting the Cons to climb back down on arbitrary online surveillance. So let’s take a ride in the wayback machine. It wasn’t
Continue readingPop The Stack: Tell Vic Everything…but don’t worry, he doesn’t want to know about your guns
Update 2: Some more great examples of inconsistency, remember when the government used private information on Vets to smear their spokesperson? Update 1: A version of this post can also be seen here at the Huffington Post. Maybe you can help me figure something out. How is it exactly that the same Conservative government
Continue readingPop The Stack: Tell Vic Everything…but don’t worry, he doesn’t want to know about your guns
Update 2: Some more great examples of inconsistency, remember when the government used private information on Vets to smear their spokesperson? Update 1: A version of this post can also be seen here at the Huffington Post. Maybe you can help me figure something out. How is it exactly that the same Conservative government
Continue readingPeace, order and good government, eh?: Wanker of the day
Lorne Gunter, whose National Post column on the census is thoroughly dissected at Calgary Grit. Incidentally, should Tony Clement pop up to claim vindication since Statistics Canada has released the first set of results from the recent census today, feel free to remind him that the population data we’re getting
Continue readingCalgaryGrit: Mandatory Response
Lorne Gunter’s article on today’s release of short form Census data is so bad that it necessitates a response. Point-by-point: So the 2011 census results are being released today, or at least some results are. Is anyone else as surprised as I am that there is any data to announce?
Continue readingPample the Moose: Long-form Census – Festive Edition
A random thought occurred to me today, as I take my first day off for Christmas vacation. The biblical-era Roman census, which required that Mary and Joseph return to his hometown of Bethlehem to be counted – finding no room at the inn, spending the night in a stable, etc.
Continue readingRandom Ranting Raving and Ratings: Don’t Confuse me with the Facts I’m Trying to Run a Country
What does the Conservative Party of Canada have against facts? What is so wrong with empirical data? Are questions I would love to ask our Prime Minister. It started last year by downgrading our national census, the government’s most reliable way to know the make up of… ..
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: The new normal
It wasn’t long ago that I considered it remarkable for a government to make any claim to concern about privacy which was so implausible as to demand refutation by the responsible Privacy Commissioner. But the Cons are managing to make a habit of it.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week.- Both Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page and Interim Auditor General John Wiersema are rightly ripping the Cons for their complete unwillingness to be honest about how they’re wasting public money. But then, the …
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.- Munir Sheikh writes (PDF) about good data and intelligent government. I’ll add the subtitle, “and other perceived threats to the Harper Conservatives”.- Aside from the occasional expose on working cond…
Continue readingPop The Stack: What We Don’t Know Will Hurt Us
So, apparently the Conservative government’s deep cuts to Environment Canada are leading to the cancellation of an important monitoring project on the ozone layer over the Arctic. The British journal Nature says scientists and research institutes around the world have been informally told the Canadian network will be shut down
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Afternoon Links
Miscellaneous material to end your weekend.- Nick Falvo discusses the unfortunate theory that any talk of improving standards of living for the neediest Canadians is either fruitless or extreme politically:In reference to the Put Food In The Budget cam…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading.- Erin alerts us to the possibility that one of the most appalling aspects of the TILMA might soon be law across Canada with virtually no discussion if we don’t make an issue of it:The most important objection …
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your midweek reading.- Stephen Gordon weighs in again on the Cons’ census disaster:Many readers may have thought that the census issue was settled last summer; it wasn’t. We haven’t even begun to deal with the consequence…
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