Premier Dennis Fentie should tell his federal Conservative colleagues to forget about scrapping the national long-form census, says Liz Hanson, leader of the Yukon NDP.

"Researchers, statisticians, opposition parties, municipal leaders ... to city planners have all said the move by Industry Minister Tony Clement to go with the voluntary census makes no sense,” Hanson said.

"I really hope that Mr. Fentie does a little research on his own, and speaks up for the Yukon, instead of deflecting the issue.”

In an interview with the Star on Monday, Fentie took a wait-and-see stance, downplayed the census change and called the matter the latest political football in Ottawa.

Meanwhile, Yukon Bureau of Statistics director Greg Finnegan fears the decision to switch to a voluntary census would cost the territory $1.5 million, delay a multitude of research projects and deprive the territory of crucial information for future policy and spending decisions.

"The bottom line is we're not going to have data to do the work we need to do in terms of evidenced-based policy for information on what communities look like,” Finnegan told the Star.

"That means my office will probably have to go out and do a survey of this nature ... basically, they've offloaded all this research to us.”

Since the Conservatives announced three weeks ago that the long-form mandatory census would be replaced in 2011 by a more robust, but voluntary survey, heavy criticism of the change has mounted.

Provinces and municipalities across Canada have joined federal opposition parties, think tanks, academics and community organizations in decrying the controversial move.

On Wednesday, Munir Sheikh, Canada's chief statistician, resigned over the issue.

In a statement posted to the Statistics Canada website (but removed shortly thereafter), he vindicated critics of the federal government's assertion that a voluntary census could produce comparable data.

"I want to take this opportunity to comment on a technical statistical issue which has been the subject of media discussion. This relates to the question of whether a voluntary survey can become a substitute for a mandatory census,” reads Sheikh's statement. "It can not.”

Information collected from the long-form census administered to 20 per cent of Canadian residences and a similar percentage of Yukon homes is routinely sought by provincial and territorial departments.

For the territorial government, the departments of Finance, Education, Health and Social Services and Economic Development rely heavily on such data.

"It just goes on and on,” said Finnegan of the utility of StasCan's information derived from the long-form census

"Let's say you're figuring how many teachers you should have ... for 2015 to 2020. You're going to want to know how many kids are in the 0-5 range and these (statistics) by school districts, by community and age groups help you make such projections.”

The Conservative government and Clement continue to use individual privacy protection as rationale for going to a voluntary survey; however, in the previous 10 years, Canada's privacy commissioner has received just three complaints on the mandatory questionnaire.

The Industry minister said he asked StatsCan for alternatives to the long form and was presented with three, from which the now voluntary National Household Survey (NHS) was chosen.

Unless the federal government reverses its decision, in 2011, the NHS will be distributed to 30 per cent of Canadian homes, and Clement remains confident it will elicit comparable data as did the long-form census.

"The Yukon definitely has a stake in the outcome of this debate – so Yukoners expect Mr. Fentie to stand up for our best interests,” Hanson said. "(Clement) has not made a valid case for getting rid of a trusted source of information.”

Under the new census regime, all Canadians must complete the basic census form with eight questions about gender, age, marital status and relationships of people in the household while the more robust survey will now be optional.

Respondents to the 2006 mandatory long-form census were asked their education level, employers, work absences and income level, in addition to standard questions about age, sex, marital status, citizenship, race and language of household residents.

Questions about physical or mental disabilities were also part of the long-form census, as were queries on the amount of time people spent on domestic chores, taking care of seniors or children without pay and monthly heat and electricity bills.