The Hamilton Social Planning and Research Council, CSDS member, led a Save the Census campaign event yesterday. 

About one third of the 50+ participants were city staff and told me they were really heartened to see so many people cared about the data and planning work they do. There was a lot of motivation at the meeting  to do more to push this issue with the government. HSPRC will be also be meeting with Conservative MP David Sweet next week.

The event was also covered in the Hamilton Spectator:You can't set good policy without good census data, say local leaders.  Tom Cooper of the Hamilton Roundtable on Poverty Reduction could not have said it better:

"You wouldn't ask a doctor to make a diagnosis without an X-ray ... You wouldn't ask a contractor to build something without a blueprint," he said. "Without the long form census data, our community will be flying without radar."