It’s hard to measure the progress of poverty reduction, said David Alward the premier of Canada’s Atlantic province of New Brunswick, as he announced the province’s second poverty reduction plan on Friday (May 16).
“One of the challenges that we’re facing today is with the change to how [Canada’s] census data is collected,” Alward said Friday (May 16), referring to the elimination of the mandatory long-form census in 2010.
“It is more complex to be able to evaluate the effects, so that’s why we’re looking at new strategies on how we can better measure as we go forward.”
Brian Duplessis, the co-chairman of the New Brunswick Economic and Social Inclusion Corporation, said the agency is now looking to other sources of data, particularly information gathered by the New Brunswick Health Council.
The controversial government decision in 2010 to no longer make a long-form census form mandatory was criticized when it was announced, and led to the resignation of Chief Statistician Munir Sheikh of Statistics Canada over the issue.
According to a press release New Brunswick’s new poverty plan “… like the first one, brings together people who live or have lived in poverty with representatives of the non-profit sector, the business sector, and the government. It has a unique collective and collaborative approach based on the premise that everyone is part of the solution.”
More information:
CTV News – Census change makes it hard to track progress on poverty: N.B. premier – here
CBC News – Five-year plan short on measurable goals, deadlines – here
Economic and Social Inclusion Corporation press release – Poverty reduction plan unveiled – here
CBC News (2010) – StatsCan head quits over census dispute – here
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