The Government of Alberta wants feedback on proposed changes on how population data is collected under the Municipal Government Act (MGA).
Should the changes come into affect, municipalities will be able to count ‘refusals' when conducting a census. This, along with clarifications made to the definitions of private dwelling and non-contacted welling, will aim to ensure the census data is accurate. The changes will be open for public comment until Sept. 22, 2017.
Bonnyville Mayor Gene Sobolewski is on board with the changes, but said the town was already ahead of the game.
“A lot of what they're talking about the town already does in order to comply with the requirements set out by municipal affairs,” explained Sobolewski. “We were very tenacious in gathering data on people who were unavailable. Essentially we were able to gather the information to be able to list them as part of the population.”
Including those residents helped the town count 6,422 residents in the recent municipal census. Going forward, the regulation could help make the process easier for census officials.
“It worked out very well for us. We already implement a lot of what the regulation is talking about, but the regulation will make it a little bit easier,” noted Sobolewski.
In the future, he would like to see the federal government follow suit in the way they gather information.
He added the discrepancy between the federal and municipal censuses, is caused by the two governments using different methods to collect data.
“Unfortunately, Statistics Canada has a different methodology, and that's where the debate came in,” Sobolewski said.
When it comes time for the next federal census, there's a good chance the town will be dealing with the same problem.
The town's ability to do more legwork in collecting data could mean a consistent gap between federal and municipal numbers.
“It's unlikely you're ever going to see an elimination of that discrepancy. Just looking at the sheer resources and manpower that goes into a census, a municipality can do a lot more than the federal government can,” explained Bonnyville-Cold Lake MLA Scott Cyr.
One thing Cyr would like to see looked at in the federal census is the inclusion of shadow population.
Municipalities under the MGA can take into account residents who stay in the region for work purposes alone, if that represents 10 per cent of their population. The federal government however, doesn't recognize those residents.
“We need to make sure that the federal government understands we have a significant amount of people that live in the area for work, and that's it,” said Cyr. “When we eliminate them out of the picture, it's hard for us to keep up with the demands that we have on our infrastructure.”
The changes to MGA regulation helps municipalities that conduct their own census. According to Cyr, not accounting for residents here for work has an effect on the way the federal government views the Lakeland.
“The fact is they're considering our region as a declining area. In my opinion that's because of the shadow population, and all of the apartments or houses that are in use but empty.”
As far as feedback from the town goes, council is still in the process of fully reviewing the proposed changes to the MGA regulations.
“We will be reviewing it, and of course, if we have any issues we'll provide comment, but this outlines a lot of what we already do anyways,” said Sobolewski..
