Industry committee  Sure.

Industry committee  Well, I have an alternative, if that's what you're asking me. I believe if you look at the—

Industry committee  I can't answer for Mr. Bernier, but I can answer for myself. I didn't have the opportunity to send in a brief, but I do have a short statement to make, if you wouldn't mind. The end of the compulsory long-form census in favour of the voluntary national home survey has resulted in some lively, engaging, and fruitful discussion.

Industry committee  I'm not saying that it's not a citizen's duty. That's not the issue, though. The issue is whether there are other ways to do it that do not compel. There are a number of things we could compel the citizen to do. We could compel the accused citizen, for example, to testify at a trial, to allow a judge to question him.

Industry committee  I'd like to speak from two points of view. First of all, I don't think this is a technical debate. The reason I don't think it's a technical debate.... There is the issue of the statistics. I'm not going to deny, as a statistician, that if one makes the form voluntary without any other incentives, then in fact there will certainly be a change in the response rate.