Of course there are surveys at Statistics Canada. There are tonnes of surveys and there's the census.
However, to answer your question, I would say that one of the difficulties lies in the fact that these statistics are usually gathered by means of provincial administrative files. As a result, the major challenge is not only to make the forms of all the provinces somewhat homogenous, but also to include new questions in the forms. It's here that discussions with provincial representatives can become necessary.
For example, we know that, in Quebec, to gather statistics on education, we ask questions on mother tongue and language knowledge, questions that are generally not found in the forms and the files the other provinces send to us.
So the challenge is a special one and requires cooperation among the provinces at the national level.