BANFF – The Town of Banff has cancelled its municipal census this year.
The municipality has traditionally held a head count about every three years since at least 2005, but the COVID-19 pandemic led to its postponement in 2020 and 2021 and the software used for the last census in 2017 was not available in 2022.
Town officials say they worry about consultation fatigue for residents this year with the community social assessment, resident satisfaction survey, community plan and a proposal for a permanent downtown pedestrian zone.
In addition, they say a proposed new municipal census regulation – the provincial legislative tool that addresses how a municipality conducts a census – that would benefit Banff in terms of provincial grants is not expected to be finalized in time for the 2023 census season.
“I am disappointed for our data collection and our trend analysis to go another year without a census because it’s becoming such a long gap,” said Coun. Chip Olver during the April 10 council meeting.
“But if there’s going to be this significant shift at the provincial level, which will hopefully make a difference to the funding we receive, then I believe it makes sense to delay it for a year.”
For many years, the provincial government provided municipal grants, specifically Municipal Sustainability Initiative, on a per-capita basis. The per-capita population relied on reported census figures, either from federal censuses or municipal censuses.
In March 2020, the province shifted to a population estimation model that relied on federal census data combined with provincial administrative data. However, the province has since reconsidered its position following a series of sessions with municipalities in May 2022.
Administration has learned the new municipal census regulation is not expected for the 2023 census season, which means the municipal population counts won't be usable for the purposes of provincial population reporting or funding calculations.
Town officials say some elements to be addressed in a proposed new census regulation that are important to Banff include the tourist town’s shadow population and the relationship between federal and municipal censuses.
“The municipal census is probably most accurate,” said Town Manager Kelly Gibson.
The official 2017 municipal census was 8,865 people. The province did not accept the municipality’s count of an additional 793 people as part of the shadow population for a total population of 9,658 residents.
The 2014 municipal census returned a final population of 9,386 residents, including 8,421 permanent and 965 non-permanent.
The 2021 federal census documented 8,305 people living in Banff, up 5.8 per cent from 7,851 residents in 2016.
In the meantime, the Town of Banff has commissioned Ipsos opinion research firm to call Banff residents throughout the rest of April to measure their satisfaction with services and to gauge community priorities.
The phone calls to landlines and cell phones will randomly select 350 Banff residents to identify the most important services and rate how the Town of Banff is doing.
The number displayed will be (403) 986-2928.
“We ask people to answer the call from this number to give feedback on our municipal services and help us determine where we need to do better,” said Gibson in a news release.
