Call for return of long-form census

MPs have debated a private member’s bill that would reinstate the long-form census in Canada, and give more power to the country's chief statistician to design its questions.

A bill to reinstate the long-form census was introduced to parliament by Liberal science critic Ted Hsu in September and debated on 6 November.

Prime minister Stephen Harper’s conservative government discontinued the mandatory long-form census in 2011, and replaced it with the voluntary National Household Survey. Munir Sheikh, the chief statistician at the time, resigned in protest over the change.