Long-form Census Provides Necessary Data for Intelligent Governance

PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release

LONG-FORM CENSUS PROVIDES NECESSARY DATA FOR INTELLIGENT GOVERNANCE


Victoria, BC - 8 Nov 2021 - Yesterday, the Liberal Government announced the reinstatement of the mandatory long-form census. By having the census in place in time for 2016, we can ensure that the proper information is available to make good, evidence-based decisions regarding government services, the economy, and immigration. The Pirate Party of Canada would like to thank the Liberal Government for taking a strong first step toward setting up an evidence-based government. By reversing the Harper Government’s ideological cancellation of the long-form census, Canadians can be assured that good, reliable data can be now be used to help constituents across the country.

“The long-form census provides businesses and governments with valuable information that can help with planning and implementing everything from social programs through business expansion,” says Shawn Gray, the Pirate Party of Canada’s International Trade, Small Business and Tourism Critic. The long-form census is used to gather a variety of subjects, including things like income, housing, child care and support payments, labour market activities, unpaid/household work, citizenship and immigration status, ethnic origin, religion, place of birth of parents, and education. As a result, the long-form census becomes an “anchor” to eliminate bias in surveys. Additionally, it is vital in providing the government with the information it needs to make informed decisions, measure equality, and plan public programs and projects such as equalization payments, Employment Insurance benefits, the Old Age Security program, and the Canada Pension Plan. Because the data gathered through the long-form census is available freely through the Stats Canada website, Canadians, local businesses, and international organizations are able to make use of the information to help understand the different markets across the country and how they are changing over time.

The Pirate Party of Canada is a federal political party focused on thoughtful information policy reform, genuine democracy, civil liberties, open data, and the freedom of the Internet. You can find out more online at http://www.pirateparty.ca .

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>>>Pourquoi le Parti Pirate?<<<

Why Pirate Party?

1. Open Democracy

One of our main founding principles was Open Government. This means an Open Data policy with proactive disclosure and free access to government data. This will allow anyone to scrutinize and catch any error, negligence or corruption early on. Open Government also means increased transparency, and giving constituents real voices. This can be achieved with electoral reform .

2. Mincome / Basic Income Guarantee (B.I.G.)

Unemployment and income inequality is on the rise and we risk a breakdown of social cohesion without a system for resource distribution as we face increased automation. We're shifting from a bureaucratic culture of constant work-demands to a culture of passion, joy, and learning for the sake of learning.

Mincome will lead to cost savings and create a sustainable economy. See our press release for how that can be achieved.

3. Autonomy and Decentralization

We believe that the world works best when individuals are making informed decisions. It is our goal to get all information to all people, so they may be more informed voters, consumers, participants, and teachers. We do not need to force information culture & the hacker ethic onto people we can simply allow them to choose access. We believe the right to choose our identity, name, and appearance is inalienable.

4. Copyright and Patent Reform
Copyright and patent's main purpose was for propagation of culture and innovation. Our current copyright and patent laws are continuously being corrupted due to lobbying by copyright and patent monopolist. These monopolist refuses to innovate and provide wider access and pass on the savings from the new lower distribution cost. Instead the copyright and patent terms keeps getting extended to benefit the few to the detriment of the public interest. The opposite should happen. Copyright and patent terms should be shortened since our new information infrastructure (i.e. the internet) have brought us cheaper and faster means of distributing media contents and information. Mandatory licensing, owner's rights to a non-DRM product, open access to research data and shorter copyright term are some of the natural changes that is needed if we want to create a more open and progressive society. This will ensure future artist and innovator are not hampered by patent and copyright gatekeepers who uses rent seeking law for anti-competitive purposes.

Human beings increasingly have a moral duty to share information with one another. Libraries are stuck in the last century, enforcing artificial scarcity on digital content. If libraries were upgraded for the modern age, we would no longer need filesharing. And let's face it, watching and listening to whatever you want to is fun. It breaks down arbitrary global borders of access and creates a global culture defined by people- not by corporations.

At the Pirate Party- we believe more information leads to better decisions. We believe that more voices leads to better compromises. We believe in Canadians.

Our democracy need a serious upgrade and Pirate Party aims to change politics to the way it should be.

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