moved for leave to introduce Bill C-358, an act to amend the Statistics Act.
Mr. Speaker, the national census requires Canadians to include their personal names and addresses on census documents in part so that if they make a wrong or an incomplete statement on the census form they can be prosecuted by the government.
I believe this requirement carries with it an unwarranted distrust of Canadians. Also, since census documents are not anonymous, many respondents are not completely forthcoming with all the information. They feel that if their name is attached to it someone is going to know their history, their income and everything about them that the census takes in as information.
I believe that the information gathered may not be as reliable as it would be in a non-traceable document. I believe there is no good reason for the government to have such detailed personal information about each individual Canadian. Therefore this private member's bill would amend the Statistics Act to ensure that Canadians would be able to participate anonymously in the national census. This would lead to both a less intrusive government and a more accurate census.
(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed.)