Let me start with that, Mr. Masse.
The census underpins all of Canadian social data. It is the benchmark that we use to adjust and weight any subsequent surveys that are done. It is absolutely fundamental. For example, knowing our unemployment rate accurately depends on drawing a good sample for the labour force survey and knowing that the responses there reflect the general population. For that, you need a benchmark, and having a benchmark that is relatively current is extraordinarily important.
It also is almost our only source for micro-area data. Any question that requires accuracy at a very small level of geography, or among very small groups of people, even if they're widely dispersed, requires the kind of volume that only a census can generate.
It's not efficient to use it for everything. That's why survey programs were introduced, but it does underpin, and that's why in fact the current deliberations are so very important.