Conservatives exaggerated census complaints, data suggests

Former industry minister Maxime Bernier said earlier this year that he received 1,000 complaints a day about the long-form census.

Conservatives have justified their controversial decision to eliminate the long form by saying that many Canadians feel it is too intrusive. But documents obtained by the CBC suggest the number of complaints was nowhere near the 1,000 per day that Bernier claimed. Bernier now says he can’t prove his statement because the emails he received have been deleted, and added that the number of complaints doesn’t actually matter because the census decision was made on principle. Current Industry Minister Tony Clement also responded, saying that change to public policy was justified by even one complaint, which will probably come as news to most Canadians. Statistics Canada, which administers the census, said it received about 20 complaints a year about the intrusiveness of the census.