Inside Politics

UPDATED - Census Document Dump: Behind the scenes of a most unexpected public relations crisis

by Kady O'Malley Posted: August 10, 2010 4:20 PM Last Updated: August 11, 2010 12:28 PM
Okay, we're still going through the virtual stacks of census-related correspondence between the highest levels of Statistics Canada, Industry Canada and the Privy Council Office, but to tide you over until we're able to post the complete collection, here's a sampling of some of the more interesting files. Feel free to share your observations in the comments. Note: This post will be updated -- and there will probably be additional posts as well, so get ready for the wonkery.  

UPDATE: Second installment is now up! 

(For the record, I've tentatively titled this first installment "How To Totally Miss The Warning Signs And End Up Spending Most Of July Dealing With An Entirely Avoidable Crisis. Over The Census, For Heaven's Sake.")  

1. "... Still not an acceptable outcome for a census ... and will require a substantial amount of additional funding ..": Email between Statistics Canada and Industry Canada on May 2009 test census in Montreal and Red Deer (March 17, 2010)
View on Scribd.  

2. "Really? Won't some stakeholders argue the opposite?": The annotated draft communications strategy for the NHS rollout (June 23, 2010) 

NOTE: See right-hand comments for above quote and more context. View on Scribd.com  

3. "'Beginning this year ...' as opposed to the current, "As per government decision..." : Email between Statistics Canada and Industry Minister's office (June 25, 2010)
View on Scribd.   4. "And now we have two more": The first (and second and third) media query on the census changes arrives: Email between Statistics Canada and Industry Canada (June 29, 2010) View on Scribd  

5. "Minister seems to have decided to put the ball in our court" - Internal Statistics Canada email on Clement's first public comments on census (July 15, 2010)
View on Scribd   6. "MINO has asked for infomation about disingenuous responses to the long form..." Email between Statistics Canada and Industry Minister's office "RE: Jedi Responses" (July 16, 2010) View on Scribd   7. "We expect a response below 50% for the NHS before field follow-up": Email between Industry Minister's Office and Statistics Canada on upcoming town hall by then-Chief Statistician Munir Sheikh (July 22, 2010) View on Scribd

Tags: blackberry jungle, census document dump, censuswatch, great statistics crisis of 2010, munir sheikh, tony clement