Munir Sheikh (born 1947) is a Canadian economist.

Early career

Born in

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

in 1947, Sheikh received a Master of Arts in

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

from

McMaster University McMaster University (McMaster or Mac) is a public research university in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The main McMaster campus is on of land near the residential neighbourhoods of Ainslie Wood, Ontario, Ainslie Wood and Westdale, Ontario, Westd ...

in 1970, and earned his doctorate in economics from the

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO; branded as Western University) is a Public university, public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thame ...

in 1973. He is married with 3 children. Sheikh began his public service career as an economist with the Economic Council of Canada from 1972 to 1976. After a brief stint with the National Energy Board between 1976 and 1978, he joined the Department of Finance and rose to the rank of Senior Assistant Deputy Minister in 2000. Between 2001 and 2006, he held senior positions with

Health Canada Health Canada (HC; )Health Canada is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Department of Health (). is the Structure of the Canadian federal government#Departments, with subsidiary units, department of the Gove ...

, the Privy Council Office, and Human Resources and Social Development Canada. He has also taught at the

University of Ottawa The University of Ottawa (), often referred to as uOttawa or U of O, is a Official bilingualism in Canada, bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on directly to the northeast of Downtown Ot ...

and

Carleton University Carleton University is an English-language public university, public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1942 as Carleton College, the institution originally operated as a private, non-denominational evening college to se ...

. Later in his career, Sheikh oversaw a $100-billion tax-reduction policy and helped craft the 2005 budget. He was praised by a former colleague as "the best economist in the federal government."

Statistics Canada and controversial resignation

Sheikh was appointed as the head of

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; ), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and culture. It is headquartered in ...

by Prime Minister Stephen Harper. He officially became the Chief Statistician of Canada on June 16, 2008, replacing Ivan Fellegi. On July 21, 2010, Sheikh resigned from that post, following a controversy resulting from the Conservative government's decision to no longer require mandatory completion of the

Canada 2011 Census The 2011 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population on May 10, 2011. Statistics Canada, an agency of the Canadian government, conducts a nationwide census every five years. In 2011, it consisted of a mandatory short for ...

long form. The decision has been heavily criticised; opponents have argued that the decision was politically motivated and that it will compromise the value of census data. Following his resignation, in a public letter, Sheikh expressed his disapproval of the government's decision, writing:

I want to take this opportunity to comment on a technical statistical issue which has become the subject of media discussion. This relates to the question of whether a voluntary survey can become a substitute for a mandatory census. It can not.

Industry Minister Tony Clement has stated that the change to voluntary forms was made because of privacy-related complaints, though he acknowledged that the decision was made without consultations with governments that rely on the census data. Media reports claiming Clement had said that this change was made on the advice of Statistics Canada were later shown to be incorrect, although this did not change Mr. Sheikh's decision to resign, as he felt the mere perception StatsCan supported the decision was cause for resignation. Emails and a speech prepared by Sheikh, which have subsequently been released, demonstrate that Sheikh had always been opposed to the decision. It appeared that the government had misrepresented his position. In an interview with the

CBC CBC may refer to: Media * Cadena Baja California or Grupo Cadena, a radio and television broadcaster in Mexico * Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Canada's radio and television public broadcaster ** CBC Television ** CBC Radio One ** CBC Music ** ...

he stated that the government has tried to make it "quite clear that it was my view that the quality of the data from the voluntary survey would be as good as data from the mandatory census, which isn't what I believed in." Clement has denied allegations that he misrepresented Sheikh's position in relation to the change.

Notes

References

External links

Message from the Chief Statistician of CanadaCIHI Board of Directors - ProfilesBiographical Notes

Canadian Policy Research Networks
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sheik, Munir 1947 births Canadian civil servants Canadian economists Living people McMaster University alumni Pakistani emigrants to Canada Naturalized citizens of Canada University of Western Ontario alumni Canadian academics of Pakistani descent