Charlottetown City council unanimously approved a motion last week calling on the Harper government to reconsider its dropping of a mandatory long-form census.

The long-form census would provide important information on transit use, said Lantz. (CBC)

Coun. Rob Lantz brought the motion forward. He called the information that comes from the more in-depth census form extremely valuable.

"For instance we would have no information on our transit system," said Lantz.

"If we're going to measure the effectiveness and the ridership of our transit system we're going to need to gather information, accurate information, about it."

Lantz said the more detailed long-form census results are especially important because the survey only occurs once every five years and there was no transit in Charlottetown when the last census was conducted.

He noted many municipalities across the country are also asking Ottawa to bring back the mandatory long-form questionnaire.