Mr. Speaker, it is important that the independence of Stats Canada be maintained so that a government would not be able to meddle with the data.
However, there should be guidelines as well regarding how the data is stored, the reach of the chief statistician, how the information is collected, and also how the questions are designed. All these are concerns that I have regarding the independence of StatsCan. Of course, I believe that it should be independent, but also there should be guidelines.