Minister should get his numbers right

I do not wish to comment on Health Minister Jerome Kennedy's handling of the recent resignations of the 13 medical specialists.

I do wish to comment on information he included in his announcement that the government would begin a recruitment process immediately to replace the specialists.

On Nov. 5, the VOCM website ran a story (“Physician recruiting to commence immediately: minister”) in which Kennedy states that the “average income of a family in the province is about $32,000.” (As of Nov. 12, this article was still viewable as a cached file in Google.)

As Canadian government documents librarian at Memorial University of Newfoundland, my primary responsibilities include Statistics Canada publications. I was struck by Mr. Kennedy’s statistic and decided to confirm it.

I began at the Statistics Canada website, specifically the 2006 Census. Under the complete cumulative profile, including income and earnings and shelter costs, I linked to the table entitled Canada, Provinces, Territories, Census Divisions and Census Subdivisions. I chose the sub-table for Newfoundland and Labrador.

Below are the statistics I found.

Family income in 2005 of economic families — average family income: $63,041.

Family income in 2005 of couple economic families — average family income: $67,861.

“Economic family” is defined in the Census Dictionary as “a group of two or more persons who live in the same dwelling and are related to other by blood, marriage, common-law or adoption.” “Couple economic family” is defined as those families “in which a member of either a married or common-law couple is the economic family reference person.” Whereas an economic family may comprise a widowed mother, a single son and his two children, a couple economic family must have a “couple” included.

I then searched Community Accounts (http://www.communityaccounts.ca). This site, which is put out by the Newfoundland and Labrador Statistics Agency and partners, provides users with community, regional and provincial statistics.

Here I found slightly more up-to-date statistics for Newfoundland and Labrador.

Average couple family income in 2006 — $69,200.

Next, I searched the publication Income Trends in Canada 1976-2007, Series 400, total income, Table 2020410, entitled average total income, by census family type, 2007 constant dollars, Canada, Provinces and select CMAs.  Here I found the following statistic.

Average total income — Newfoundland and Labrador — census families, two persons or more, 2007: $68,500. 

(The Census Dictionary defines “census family” as “a married couple (with or without children of either or both spouses), a couple living common-law (with or without children of either or both partners) or a lone parent of any marital status, with at least one child living in the same dwelling.)”

Even statistics from three years ago all point to an average family income of well over $65,000 per year. This is significantly different from Mr. Kennedy’s claim that the average family income in Newfoundland and Labrador is “about $32,000.”

Though the statistics above might not be easy for a member of the general public to find, surely Mr. Kennedy has staff who are qualified to find statistics.

And surely the public should feel confident that statistics, or any information for that matter, that are included in a ministerial announcement have been checked and rechecked for accuracy. 

Angela Lonardo is the Canadian Government Documents Librarian at Memorial University.