Eh Sayers

Orange skies, record breaking fire seasons, and smoke that travels thousands of kilometres have made wildfires impossible to ignore. But beyond the visible destruction lies another story, one measured not only in burned forests and evacuations, but also in economic impacts that ripple across communities and industries. How do wildfires affect Canada's economy? How are these impacts measured? And w...

Canada’s population is getting a makeover, and it is changing the way we live. We are digging into new demographic data with Patrick Charbonneau, Section Chief in Demography at Statistics Canada, to see how big boomer and millennial generations, plus fewer younger people, are shaking up demand for housing, schools, and healthcare. We also look at the rise of the sandwich generation, the caregiving...

Everyone wants to be happy, but just how happy are Canadians? On this episode of the Eh Sayers podcast, join quality of life experts from Statistics Canada and Engage Nova Scotia to explore the importance of quality of life programs and what they tell us about our well-being.  

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) tells us about the health and size of Canada’s economy. But for those of us who don’t own or operate multi-million-dollar companies, why does it matter at all? In this episode, Amanda Sinclair, Assistant director for the National Economic Accounts at Statistics Canada, explains some surprising ways GDP can be useful and why, for certain Canadian households, the num...

Think your Christmas tree knowledge is top‑notch? Time to put it to the test! In this holiday special of Eh Sayers, our colleagues face off in a trivia showdown all about Canada’s Christmas tree industry. Discover which nation first sparked the tradition, how much Canadian Christmas tree farmers earned in 2023, the surprising numbers behind exports and imports, and more festive facts. After listen...

Has Canada become a sedentary nation?  Health data have never been more accessible. We have smart watches to count our steps, notifications about our screen times and apps to track our daily diets.  Despite the futuristic tech, researchers are growing concerned. And they’re especially concerned about young Canadians. Today we sat down with Rachel Colley, a senior health researcher at StatCan for a...

Calllllll-i-forrrrr-nia... here we come?  If you've changed your plans to visit the US recently, you're not alone. Nowadays, Canadians are more likely to be singing along to "Bobcaygeon" than "Sweet Home Alabama."   Today, we're sitting down with Jane Lin, of the Tourism Statistics Program at Statistics Canada, to dig into StatCan's tourism data and talk about how travel is different these days. T...

Two countries, both alike in dignity,  In North America, where we lay our scene,  From ancient friendship break to new trade tragedy,  Of data on trade and tariffs, what might we glean?    Join us as we speak with Guy Gellatly, Chief Economic Advisor, at Statistics Canada, as we explore what’s been going on with trade with our closest neighbour, what the early numbers suggest about the conflict, a...

  Is that Canada in the corner? In the spotlight? Are we losing our religion?    The census found that 12.6 million people reported no religious affiliation in 2021, more than 1/3 of Canada's population. But is there more to the picture?    With guests Simon-Pierre Lacasse, Senior Analyst at StatCan, and Sarah Wilkins-Laflamme, Associate Professor at the University of Waterloo, we're exploring wha...

What is it that helps someone transition from homeless to housed? We’re looking at new analysis of data from the Canadian Housing Survey to explore exactly that. In conversation with Peter Tilley, the CEO of the Ottawa Mission, and Jeff Randle, Chief of the Housing Need Project section at Statistics Canada, we’re asking why homelessness (and homelessness data!) is more complex than you might think...

It might not surprise you that your relationships with friends and family affect your well-being. Same with your health and your job. But what about the place where you live? Whether you live in the downtown core of a major city or a commuter town or a rural community, what impact does this have on your life satisfaction, loneliness and sense of belonging? StatCan’s Lauren Pinault joins us today a...

  Over two thirds (70%) of Canadians experienced a cyber security incident in 2022. The strategies used by bad actors are getting more and more complex. Many of us are inundated with what feels like never-ending phishing emails, scam text messages and fraudulent phone calls. It’s rare to talk to someone who hasn’t experienced some form of a cyber attack.  The situation is no different for Canadian...

AI is here and it’s here to stay. Apps like ChatGPT are now allowing us to perform complex tasks with the click of a button.      As we begin to use these new versions of AI, our jobs are destined to change. So, what will an average day of work look like a decade from now? Which jobs will AI impact the most? And is AI coming to replace our jobs altogether?       In this episode, we sat down with A...

Canada’s workforce is among the most educated in the world. But when it comes to worker productivity, we’ve seen a real slump over the past few years. The quarterly data published by StatCan in June 2024 confirms Canadian workers are continuing to underperform compared to our neighbours to the south. This comes as no surprise to this episode’s guest, Guy Gellatly, Chief Economic Advisor at StatCan...

We can try our best, but its not always easy knowing what's best for the environment. The world is complicated, and it isn't as simple as reduce, reuse, recycle—though that's a great place to start! In the immortal words of Kermit the Frog, "It's not easy bein' green." We have two stories exploring that theme. The first is one we made in-house asking just how green our digital world really is, and...

Are you feeling like it's a little bit harder to bring home the bacon... from the grocery store? The latest data indicate that food prices have mostly stabilized... but why does it feel like the cost of feeding your family is still going up? Today we're talking food inflation with StatCan's resident smart cookie Taylor Mitchell.

StatCan released new analysis into the online culture our kids are growing up in, and it’s far from the best of all possible worlds: misinformation, bullying, violence… and worse. Analyst Rachel Tsitomeneas joins us to dive into the findings. 

More than 70 distinct Indigenous languages are spoken by First Nations people, Métis and Inuit in Canada, but these languages are under threat.  In this episode, we speak with Randy Morin and Belinda kakiyosēw Daniels, who share their knowledge of the Cree language with learners at the Nêhiyawak Language Experience, about the wisdom encoded in Indigenous languages, as well as the opportunities for...

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the studio Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse; The stockings were hung by the audio mixer with care, In hopes that a special guest soon would be there.

In the age of social media, AI, and deepfakes, discerning fact from fiction is a crucial skill. Nowadays, we’re not just getting our information from the six o’clock news. Friends, family, researchers, influencers, entertainers, news anchors, advertisers… Who can you trust?   Timothy Caulfield, misinformation/disinformation expert, author, University of Alberta professor, and member of the Order o...

Ladies, Gentlemen, and Gentlethem!  While every census is special, the 2021 Census was historic. It was the first to include a question about gender, making Canada the first country to collect and publish data on gender diversity from a national census.  In this episode, we explore gender with drag king Cyril Cinder and we talk Census 2021 with StatCan’s Anne Milan.  Join us for a new kind of gend...

Canada reached an important milestone June 16, 2023. For the first time, there were 40 million people living in Canada. That means that someone out there is the 40 millionth Canadian. But who is it?   Laurent Martel, director of the Centre for Demography at Statistics Canada, joins us to explore what demographic data can tell us about this person, as well as the implications of Canada’s changing d...

StatCan’s Consumer Price Index tells us a lot about the economy… if you know what to look for.   Guy Gellatly, Chief Economic Advisor at StatCan, joins us at the mic to break down the CPI and answer our questions about the economy. What’s the ideal inflation rate? Is no inflation the best kind of inflation? And what is a deflationary spiral?  

Canada is facing both a climate crisis and a housing crisis, and they are interconnected.  Choices we make about our homes impact the environment: their location and how much we need to use a car to get around, the heat source that they use, the materials used in their construction.  At the same time, the climate impacts our homes: when severe weather strikes and causes damage to our homes, we hav...

It used to be that Statistics Canada didn’t measure poverty. Not exactly. Poverty is complex, and there wasn't a single definition that everyone agreed on. So while StatCan did measure low income and other income inequality indicators, it didn't measure poverty per se. That is, until 2018, when the government chose to use the Market Basket Measure, or MBM, as Canada's Official Poverty Line. That m...