FEWO Committee Report

Dissenting opinion by the Conservative Members
of the Standing Committee of Status of Women

Conservative members of the Standing Committee on the Status of Women have reservations about the recommendations contained in this report and are eagerly awaiting the Government's official response to this subject.

Indeed, we observed that the report does not take into account the reasons for our government to introduce the voluntary National Household Survey (NHS). The NHS will be sent to over 4.5 million Canadian households and, according to the Chief Statistician, will provide useful and usable data for Canadian user groups. The Government has clearly stated the reasons for this change, as highlighted in a statement issued by the Honorable Tony Clement, Minister of Industry, on July 13, 2010:

• The government does not believe it is appropriate to force Canadians to divulge detailed personal information under threat of prosecution.
• For this reason, we have introduced changes for the 2011 Census. The government will retain the mandatory short form that will collect basic demographic information. To meet the need for additional information, and to respect the privacy wishes of Canadians, the government has introduced the voluntary National Household Survey (NHS).[1]

Conservative members of this committee heard witness testimony and are confident that the plan put forward by the Government of Canada to implement the short form census and voluntary National Household Survey fairly reflects the concerns raised by Canadians and user groups.

Regarding the issue of unpaid work, committee members heard from Statistics Canada that, in fact, the General Social Survey, a voluntary survey, is most used to provide this information. “For example, the general social survey collects much more detailed information than would be found in the census. It contains additional information, such as activities both inside and outside the home, simultaneous activities, and elder care. It features a time diary and episode files. The episodes of unpaid work, the time of day these activities are done, how many episodes there are in an average day, and the time spent on these activities can be examined”[2].

Although we have done our best to work cooperatively with our colleagues from the opposition on the content of this report, we cannot support the recommendations proposed by the opposition members, who form a majority in the Committee. Conservative members who serve on this committee have many reservations about the recommendations contained in this report.

The recommendations of the Committee on the Status of Women do not represent the diversity of the testimony. We therefore recommend that the Government respects the privacy of Canadians by opting for a voluntary National Household survey instead of a mandatory census long form.