Industry committee  Well, ultimately it depends on the response rate. For the census, we will go to every door that doesn't respond.... If we have the response rate we anticipate, we may be going to 40% to 45% of the households. If the initial mail-back response...it could be higher, depending on whether the response rate is below what our expectations are.

Industry committee  I don't know it offhand, but it would have been slightly higher than that.

Industry committee  In the north, we fly people in. Essentially, we go door to door; we actually do the enumeration. The interviewer does the interviewing. Also, instead of doing a sample of one in three, we actually go to every household.

Industry committee  So ultimately in the north we'll enumerate about 22,000 households in remote areas. So far, we're getting cooperation from 85% of the households.

Industry committee  No. The census necessarily is mandatory under the law. Under the Statistics Act, any other survey can be declared voluntary. It's mandatory by default; it can be declared voluntary.

Industry committee  That's true.

Industry committee  The census of population itself remains mandatory, and people who refuse to participate would be subject to penalties. The national household survey has now been declared voluntary under the Statistics Act, so there would be no penalties for refusal.

Industry committee  We're doing what we always do. The most important thing, as I mentioned in my opening remarks, is broad-based support. A few weeks ago, we began a national outreach campaign. We're going out to municipalities, businesses, and various organizations, and to the media as well, asking for their support in the promotion of the census.

Industry committee  The responding sample would increase, which would mean that the sampling error would actually be less in the national household survey than we saw in the 2006 census. It wouldn't remove the risk of non-response bias—

Industry committee  —but it would certainly reduce it. The general view is that the higher the response rate, the less the risk of non-response bias. But I just want to repeat that the non-response bias is a risk, not a certainty.

Industry committee  We're doing quite a few things. One of the things we're doing is.... First of all, in reality, in the national household survey there will be very little non-response, because we have the responses from the 2011 census itself, so we have a certain amount of data for all of the households that are sampled for the national household survey.

Industry committee  There are multiple channels that will be used to collect the data from the 2011 census or the national household survey. One will be Internet response. People will respond directly over the Internet to Statistics Canada. That's probably the single most secure method of response because there are no intervening hands.

Industry committee  The methodology used for the national household survey is exactly the same as the one used in all voluntary surveys. It is a fully scientific methodology. Further, as I said earlier, it would not be realistic to expect that the data will be of the same quality as the data we would have collected with a mandatory questionnaire.

Industry committee  Yes, in the last census, it was mandatory. It would not be realistic to expect data of the same quality. However, it would be wrong to say that this data will be of an unacceptable quality and will be unusable.

Industry committee  Yes, it will potentially be of a slightly lower quality.