Industry committee  I agree with you and I agreed with the previous statement, because those are two very different questions.

Industry committee  That's a conditional statement with which I agree--given the condition. Our experience is that response rates to voluntary surveys are hugely different from compulsory surveys, on the order of 60% to 70% for most of our surveys. Secondly, those response rates are falling. So I would be very concerned about any comparability between data that are collected in one year on a compulsory basis--a compulsory basis with response rates close to 100%--and in another year with response rates that may be only 60% to 70%.

Industry committee  I completely agree with Mr. Sheikh on our role. However, I would be ready to provide you with examples where, as a statistician, I could question the quality of data, especially data on new immigrants and their economic integration in Canadian society, or on aboriginal people. The census is almost the only source of information on their level of education that allows us to find out whether the gap between the Canadian population and aboriginals, as a subset of the population, is growing or shrinking.

Industry committee  Well, I grew up in a regime that certainly was totalitarian. It was Hungary in its socialist period. I chose to leave for that reason, as soon as the first opportunity presented itself. But yes, the answer is that of course it's not founded, unambiguously not founded. Statistics Canada goes to endless lengths to protect the confidentiality of the information it receives.

Industry committee  Thank you. Thank you for inviting me to appear before this committee. I prepared slightly longer opening remarks, which I'm not going to read. They have been distributed or are available for distribution. I'd also like to mention that I asked the Clerk of the Committee to distribute the National Statistics Council statement, “Seeking Solutions”, which was released yesterday.