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| Extract from Statistics Canada Infographic |
It's not as if StatsCan isn't aware of the importance of timely information as indicated in the recently tabled Departmental Plan 2019–20.
The Minister mentions the organization is working toward timely information:
The agency is also modernizing to keep pace with today’s data-driven economy and society, aiming to provide more timely, detailed and high-quality data and insight.
The Chief Statistician notes the organization has a reputation for timeliness:
Statistics Canada has earned its reputation as a world-renowned statistical agency that provides high-quality, timely and credible data that responds to the information needs of Canadians.
Three-year-old data! The Chief Statistician should stop deluding himself about timeliness at StatsCan. Just look at the UK Office of National Statistics, for example. They publish estimates of deaths weekly, the latest is for the week ending 29 March 2019. StatsCan publishes deaths by month, the most recent being for December 2017.
Sadly, despite the word timely appearing in the Departmental Plan nine times not one of the departmental result indicators refers to timeliness.
2 comments:
Timely? Harrumph. Excuse this senior's curmudgeonly response. It they had public data (facts, nothing personal) 3 years ago, why not just publish that? Why the delay? What purpose does that serve?
Gail B in St. C.
I agree with your comment about data solely within the purview of Stats Canada, e.g. Internet usage by seniors. But death data? As you know, deaths in England and Wales must be reported to the central authorities within five days. In Canada, it’s a provincial responsibility. Can you imagine the furor — and the outstretched, upturned palms — if 13 provincial and territorial governments were asked to provide death data in a common format on a weekly basis to a branch of the federal government?
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