Mark Gerretsen urges Canada Census Day response, privacy protests grow
Mark Gerretsen urged Canadians to complete their 2026 census forms by canada census day, while some people posted ripped-up forms and return-to-sender envelopes online over privacy concerns. Statistics Canada says May 12 is a reference date, not a deadline, and the census is required every five years under the federal Statistics Act.
Mark Gerretsen on community planning
The Kingston and the Islands MP said the census is not “a personal data grab by the prime minister.” In a video posted to social media, he said, “It’s literally the opposite of none of your business. It is your business,” and argued that the count helps determine how many schools a community needs and where hospitals and clinics should be built.
Gerretsen said the census also helps decide how much federal funding a municipality should receive and how governments plan transit, housing and infrastructure. He added that it helps officials understand aging populations, labour shortages and demographic shifts. His message was direct: “When people refuse the census, they’re not sticking it to Ottawa. They’re sticking it to their own community.”
Statistics Canada Misinformation Page
Some of the online posts included angry messages to Prime Minister Mark Carney. Statistics Canada spokesperson Julien Abord-Babin said the agency is taking possible concerns about misinformation into consideration and pointed to a website section called fighting misinformation. That section links to answers on how to tell whether census information requests are legitimate and whether hackers could access the data.
Abord-Babin said it is too early to determine how many people have refused to complete their questionnaire. He said more detailed information on the response rate will be published later, and early indicators suggest the response rate at this stage compares well to previous census cycles.
Statistics Act Requirements
The federal Statistics Act says a census must be held every five years, and that every household and farm operator in Canada must participate. Gerretsen tied that requirement to the practical uses of census data, saying, “Skipping the census doesn’t hurt the government. It hurts your neighbours.”
For Canadians filling out the form now, the immediate task is simple: submit the 2026 questionnaire by May 12 and use Statistics Canada’s misinformation resources if a request looks doubtful. For those protesting, the dispute is over privacy, but the forms still feed the data used for local planning and federal funding decisions.
