Carleton graduate Wayne Smith was appointed chief of Statistics Canada Jan. 18.
Former Statistics Canada chief Munir Sheikh, who resigned over the summer, has been working at Carleton since Jan. 1.
Canada’s former head statistician resigned in July after the Conservative government inaccurately claimed to have his support for their proposal to replace Canada’s mandatory long-form census with a voluntary survey, the Globe and Mail reported.
Smith will assume the new role immediately, after acting as the interim chief statistician at Statistics Canada since September, according to the Globe and Mail.
“Carleton University has a history of outstanding graduates, so I’m not surprised that another alumnus has achieved a high profile position with [Statistics Canada],” said Carleton media relations office Lin Moody.
Smith has worked at Statistics Canada since 1981 and has fulfilled many different roles with the company including director of communications, the assistant chief statistician in the business and trade field, according to the Globe and Mail.
He has an MA and BA from Carleton in economics.
“Now that we have appointed Munir Sheikh as a distinguished visiting scholar, further to his distinguished career in the public service, this reflects the high caliber of people we are attracting and graduating from Carleton,” Moody said.
Sheikh and Smith both have extensive credentials in working with public policy and developing the frameworks responsible for dealing with a variety of government issues.
Statistics Canada currently oversees 350 surveys a year, which include reports on many aspects of Canadian life.
Smith was not available for comment.