Industry Committee on April 4th, 2017

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Thank you.

[Wayne Smith]

—a government in the future will be just as capable of doing what happened in 2011.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Dan Ruimy]

Sorry to cut you off. We are tight on time.

We're going to move on to Mr. Baylis.

You have seven minutes.

[Frank Baylis, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Fellegi, I'd like to understand. You talked about the advisory council and, to my understanding, the existing council is being cut from 40 people to 10. You think that's a drastic cut. When there were 40 people, was the council functional? What would be the right number, and what should it be doing?

[Dr. Ivan Fellegi]

There isn't a single right number, but I think that 10 goes quite far if one wants to incorporate in that statistics advisory committee or council the variety of disciplines that Statistics Canada is active in and that need to be considered in terms of priorities. Here I refer to the variety of geographical areas, the variety of client groups needed—

[Frank Baylis, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Were you happy when it was 40?

[Dr. Ivan Fellegi]

I was happy when it was 40.

[Frank Baylis, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

And it was working when it was 40.

[Dr. Ivan Fellegi]

It was working. It didn't try to vote on anything. It came to consensus, and sometimes with dissenting views, which is quite appropriate, but it provided extremely valuable advice—

[Frank Baylis, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Understood.

[Dr. Ivan Fellegi]

—to me throughout my tenure.

[Frank Baylis, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Mr. Smith, do you have any comments on that?

[Wayne Smith]

I share Dr. Fellegi's view.

It could be somewhat smaller than 40, but still, 10 is too small.

[Dr. Ivan Fellegi]

Yes, I agree.

[Frank Baylis, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Ten is too small, so give us a number.

You've worked with the councils, so what would work for you?

[Wayne Smith]

The thought that comes to mind is about 20 to 24, somewhere in there.

[Frank Baylis, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

That would give you broad enough—

[Wayne Smith]

Regional representation, sectoral representation, a wide range of views.

[Frank Baylis, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

You called on this council in your roles. It was valuable to you in your roles.

[Wayne Smith]

Very much so.

They meet twice a year, and they are invaluable in ensuring that our program evolves in line with the interests of Canadians.

[Dr. Ivan Fellegi]

It also provides service in the case of a crisis. There are knowledgeable spokespersons in a variety of locations and disciplines who can actually defend, from an independent perspective, outside of Statistics Canada's perspective, when Statistics Canada needs defence. It's a very important support group.

I totally agree with the 20 to 25.

Interestingly, when you push that number—

[Frank Baylis, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Okay, that's fine.

[Dr. Ivan Fellegi]

—those are the numbers that you—

[Frank Baylis, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

And I guess regional representation would be simply one of those factors.