BoC concerned about StatsCan’s aging tech: report

Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz had expressed concerns about Statistics Canada’s technology capacity and any possible impacts on its economic data, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The concerns about StatsCan’s aging technology were so great that earlier this year, the BoC was working on a contingency plan for economic data, WSJ reported on Monday.

Poloz wrote to Wayne Smith, the former head of Statistics Canada, to express concerns about the risks and government inaction to address them, WSJ reported, citing the letter obtained under an access-to-information law.

“Statistics Canada data are fundamental to the work of the Bank of Canada, and as such we share your serious concerns about the situation,” Poloz said in the letter.

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Smith resigned from Statistics Canada this month, pointing a finger at the government’s failure to fix the agency’s aging technology. He also says he feared StatsCan’s independence was threatened by Shared Service Canada, a central agency that has a government-wide plan for systems and technology.

“In fact, the United Kingdom and Australia are two examples where similar [IT centralization] projects were considered and the statistical office was exempted,” he told CBC News in an interview.

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Smith acknowledged to CBC that the statistics agency has experienced technological problems, such as a lack of server space and processing capacity.

“If you can’t process the data, if we’re constantly being interrupted by failures of equipment, then it’s going to take us more time to get the Labour Force Survey out, more time to get the Consumer Price Index out,” he said.

He added: “The day before I left, my assistant statisticians were gathering around the table and saying that there are a whole series of projects that are about to go red because we cannot get the support that we need. We’re about to run out of capacity just for our ongoing operations.”

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StatsCan says it’s still going ahead with the Shared Services Canada plan.

Alexandre Fournier, a spokesman for Statistics Canada, says the agency will “continue to implement its ambitious agenda in collaboration with Shared Services Canada, leveraging modern information technology while assuring that the integrity and security of Canadians’ data remain fully protected.”

The federal Liberal government, which reinstated the mandatory long-form census, says it’s working with Statistics Canada to reinforce its independence. Anil Arora has been appointed to serve as new head of the agency starting September 19.

Staff

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