The news Wayne Smith, the chief statistician of Canada, has resigned should worry us. He is the second chief statistician to resign in six years. After serving just two years, Munir Sheikh resigned in 2010, in objection to replacement of the long-form census with a voluntary survey. Prior to that, Ivan Fellegi had served in that position for 23 years.
Why should you and I care about the comings and goings of senior civil servants? What do dull, dry data matter to the ordinary Canadian?