Small piece of paper, tiny time investment ... huge impact
By Kyra Hoggan
Castlegar residents all received little pieces of paper in their mailboxes this week – small notices with massive importance.
City councillor Deb McIntosh says many people don’t realize how vitally important filling out those forms can be, and how the resulting information really does impact our day-to-day lives. “I certainly never knew, before entering politics, how much that information is used to make decisions at every level of government,” she said, explaining that Census data is a major criteria in whether, and how much, the city receives in funding from other levels of government. “Health, education, infrastructure – those funding levels are determined largely through Census information,” she said. “We also use that information in our planning – when we budget, when we set our city priority and strategies. Our planning, both short-term and long, is hugely impacted by Census. “Census data also helps us pinpoint areas of concern, where we need to shore up the services and programming and infrastructure we provide … and that’s true of all other levels of government as well.” McIntosh pointed out that Census Canada has made their forms particularly easy to fill out this year, as respondents can now go online. It only takes a couple of minutes to provide information that will impact decision-making for years to come. Just visit http://census2011.gc.ca/ and follow the prompts.
Comments