Wayne Smith, Canada's Chief Statistician, unexpectedly resigned today, citing a loss of independence at Statistics Canada. The decision relates mainly to the confidentiality of census information, and makes Smith the second Chief Statistician to resign as a result of the former Harper government's abolition of the long-form census. Who knew number crunching was so political?
The Liberal government has reinstated the long form census, but Smith has apparently been unable to reverse some of the other changes that flowed from Harper's original decision. There's no reason to suspect any direct political interference in the data as such, but it's never a good sign when something like this happens.
UPDATE, September 17: The Government has wasted no time in appointing a new Chief Statistician, which suggests Smith's departure was no surprise.
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