Orders of the Day: The Great Census Debate comes to CBC.ca - and Ivan Fellegi returns to his former StatsCan stomping grounds

That's right, in case you missed yesterday's teaser, through the magic of CoverItLive technology, we're holding a virtual town hall on the planned elimination of the mandatory census long form, with special guests Nik Nanos, pollster and president of Nanos Research, Roger Gibbins, president and CEO of Canada West Foundation, Laval University economics professor Stephen Gordon and Terrence Watson, associate editor of the Western Standard.

The discussion kicks off at 2pm, but we'll be taking questions from 1pm onwards.

Meanwhile, in a Statistics Canada auditorium on the other side of Ottawa, chief statistician Munir Sheikh will hold a town hall of his own -- an internal town hall, mind you, which means that those of us who don't work for the agency won't be able to tune in to hear him defend the decision to replace the long form with a voluntary household survey.

That is, if he does plan to defend it, of course, which would seem to be a safe bet, at least as far as Industry Minister Tony Clement is concerned -- he told the Globe and Mail that both he and the numbercruncher-in-chief will issue public statements later this afternoon: "Munir wants to assure Canadians that Statscan is going to do its job - and [explain] the nature of what that job is - and then I will want to assure Canadians that we have confidence in Statscan." 

The minister also pointed out that Statistics Canada is not, in fact, an independent, arms-length agency, noting that, while "some of them like to think they are, that doesn't make it so," as "they report to a minister." Him, to be precise. Somehow, I suspect that quote may come up during Sheikh's staff-only question-and-answer session this afternoon, not that the rest of us will get to hear his answer. At least, not unless it leaks out -- in real time, or after the fact. (Note to any and all Statistics Canada employees out there: do give us a heads up if you plan on livetweeting today's event.)

Oh, and we're told that former chief statistician Ivan Fellegi, will be in attendance as well -- that is, provided that he isn't barred from entry by his successor, or, for that matter, the minister to whom he reports. Given the potential for distinctly unfortunate optics -- not to mention an awkward note on which to start the meeting -- I can't imagine that he would actually be ejected from his former workplace by security. After all, he is still listed on the departmental website as the Chief Statistician Emeritus. Perhaps he'll be willing to share his thoughts after the meeting wraps up.