Message from former chief statistician Wayne Smith on his resignation

OTTAWA — Here is the text of a message which Wayne Smith, former chief statistician of Canada, sent to members of the National Statistical Council on Friday:                           

I am writing to inform you of my decision to resign as chief statistician of Canada, effective today.

All of you are aware that the government has committed to reinforce the independence of Statistics Canada.

All of you are also aware of my strongly held view that the action of the past government that most significantly compromised the independence of Statistics Canada was the decision to force Statistics Canada into the Shared Services Canada initiative with respect to the supply of its physical informatics infrastructure. Shared Services Canada and persons who can influence Shared Services Canada, now hold an effective veto over many of Statistics Canada’s decisions concerning the collection, processing, storage, analysis and dissemination of official statistics through denial or constructive denial of essential services.