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“Statistics Canada is facing heat for its proposal to make Canadian banks hand over the financial information of 500,000 individuals in order to perform an analysis of spending patterns. A Conservative senator said on Thursday that the plan was “almost totalitarian.” The agency’s chief statistician, Anil Arora, has defended the proposal – but not very effectively. Here’s what we think he should say,” wrote Globe editorial for The Globe and Mail on November 8, 2019.
Globe editorial continued, “We have an ambitious plan here, and yes, there are risks. However, we believe these risks can be made smaller than those Canadians accept while banking online every day.
And we believe the benefits greatly outweigh the risks. Statscan uses data about spending habits to create an accurate picture of what’s going on in the economy – for example, the inflation rate. That in turn helps the Bank of Canada set its benchmark interest rate and determines payments from government programs like Old Age Security and the child tax benefit, which are tied to the Consumer Price Index.”
Read the full article here.
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