This day and age

Five weeks after his government’s decision was announced, the Prime Minister explains the move to a voluntary long-form census.

"This has detailed personal information that is being sought by the government," he said. "I know some Canadians will have some reluctance to provide that and I know some people think the appropriate way to deal with that is through prosecuting those individuals with fines and jail terms. This government will not do that. In this day and age, that is not an appropriate way to get the public’s co-operation."

It does though still remain an appropriate way to get the public’s co-operation on the short-form census (here, for reference, is the 2006 version) and the census of agriculture (here, for reference, is the 2006 version), both of which still carry the threat of prosecution.