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Environics Analytics Welcomes The Federal Government's Commitment To Modernize Statistics Canada

Mar 1, 2018, 07:30 AM by Environics Analytics
Environics Analytics applauds the Federal Government’s commitment to evidence-based decision making and its pledge to continue the work already underway to modernize Statistics Canada.
Toronto, March 1, 2018 – Environics Analytics applauds the Federal Government’s commitment to evidence-based decision making and its pledge to continue the work already underway to modernize Statistics Canada. 

As part of the 2018 Federal Budget the government plans to invest $41 million into Statistics Canada over the next five years to improve how it collects, uses and shares data, while ensuring Canadians’ privacy remains protected. These funds will help fulfill the vision the Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, outlined last year to transform Statistics Canada to better respond to the data needs of the 21st century. 

At the same time, the Federal Government is also reinforcing its commitment to the Census, a critical source of data that paints a picture of Canada and its population. Over the next 10 years the government plans to provide $767.3 million to Statistics Canada to conduct the 2021 Census of Population. 

As part of Statistics Canada’s modernization, it is turning to other government agencies and the private sector, with partners like Environics Analytics, to gather and generate data in a timely manner, without having to rely solely on surveys. 

“We are extremely pleased with the federal government’s commitment to making evidence-based decisions the foundation for economic growth,” says Jan Kestle, President and CEO of Environics Analytics. “Canadians need access to data in a timely manner and the modernization of Statistics Canada is a clear sign that our government sees the value of data and analytics provided by companies like ours.” 

When first announcing the plan to modernize Statistics Canada in July 2017 during a visit to our Toronto headquarters, Minister Bains stressed the importance of expanding the way Statistics Canada collects data by working with private data providers and administrative data. In a release following the announcement, Minister Bains said, “Data are being collected and analyzed at a speed that is rapidly approaching real time.” He added, “As that lag time from knowledge to action shrinks, businesses are finding opportunities to innovate, serve their customers better and create jobs and industries that never existed before.” 

Anil Arora, Chief Statistician of Canada, echoed this sentiment in a keynote at Environics Analytics User Conference last November. “In order to reach a broader user base, we are building out our statistical capacity and expanding our role to help Canadians interpret data better,” said Arora. “We’ll continue to protect the privacy and confidentiality of Canadian individuals and businesses, but we want to acquire more administrative data and adopt methods that integrate data.” 

Environics Analytics looks forward to collaborating with Statistics Canada and other data providers to help deliver on this mission to provide Canadians and businesses with data in a timely manner. “We believe that more collaboration between data geeks in the public and private sectors will accelerate the process to help put data into action and make Canada a data driven economy,” says Kestle. 

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About Environics Analytics 

The premier marketing and analytical services company in Canada, Environics Analytics (EA) helps customers turn data and analytics into insight, strategy and results. EA offers the full range of analytical services—from data supplier to strategic consultancy—and provides over-the-counter reports, purpose-built software-as-a-service and a wide variety of modelling approaches. Its team of quantitative marketers, modellers and geographers are experts at helping organizations identify their business challenges, develop data-driven solutions and achieve success along every phase of their analytics journey. EA is a member of the Environics group, a unique alliance of companies dedicated to providing intelligent research, analytics and communications. To learn more about Environics Analytics, please visit www.environicsanalytics.com.
 
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