Eh Sayers

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 AI expert Tahsin Mehdi, an economist in the social analysis and modeling division of Statistics Canada, to answer our questions about how AI will transform our work lives in Canada.

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. The latest quarterly numbers are a continuation of an on-going decline in Canada’s productivity that economists have been tracking for years.   But what factors influence worker productivity? And why does it matter if Canadians are less productive? As a matter of fact, what even is productivity? In this episode, we asked Guy to help us understand how we got to this point and why it matters for Canadians.

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 the second comes from the Simply Science podcast exploring the world of urban forests.

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 these languages and the barriers they face.

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the studioNot 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 of Canada, and Eric Rancourt, Assistant Chief Statistician at StatCan, join us to explore the challenges posed by our information environment and what can be done to counter misinformation.

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 gender reveal.The Daily - Canada is the first country to provide census data on transgender and non-binary people Filling the gaps: Information on gender in the 2021 Census 2021 Census: Sex at birth and gender - the whole picture

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 demographics and its rapid population growth.

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 have no choice but to rebuild, and even if we escape unscathed, we still have to decide how much to change our lifestyles to adapt to a changing climate. Andrew DeFazio, Climate Change Advisor at Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) joins us to explore how we can climate-proof our housing strategy and home-proof our climate strategy.

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 means that the government now uses the MBM to track its poverty reduction targets.   But something strange happened during the pandemic: in 2020 the poverty rate fell. And it fell quite a bit. In fact, the poverty rate dropped in one year almost as much as it had in the four preceding years. But why? What happened? Will the poverty rate continue to fall? And what happens if it hits zero? How would health outcomes change? Education outcomes? People's general happiness and well-being?  Has there ever been a time and place in Canada where the poverty rate was zero? The closest may be the Mincome Experiment of the 1970s in Manitoba.   Many Canadians have never heard of this guaranteed income experiment, but it offers a glimpse at what eliminating poverty might look like.  To learn more, we spoke with Burton Gustajtis an economist from Statistics Canada, Evelyn Forget, a Professor of Economics and Community Health Sciences at the University of Manitoba and Kevin Milligan, a Professor of Economics in the Vancouver School of Economics at the University of British Columbia.

If this is the first time you’re hearing about Sylvia Ostry, buckle up. Sylvia was appointed Canada’s first and only female Chief Statistician in 1972, but she didn’t get there by playing by the rules. She was ambitious but grew up in a world where many thought that it was shameful to be female and have a career.  Sylvia was a Jewish woman in economics, and even after she earned a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge, she was denied a job with the United Nations because of her gender. Nevertheless, she had a storied career, becoming the Chairman of the Economic Council of Canada then the Chief Economist  at the OECD. But we're not focusing on her career highlights. We're going behind the scenes to look at how she challenged herself to succeed, becoming both a respected economist and mother, and how she handled setbacks, and discrimination, all while staying true to herself and demonstrating the integrity for which she's remembered today.We’re celebrating the 50th anniversary of Sylvia Ostry’s appointment as Chief Statistician. In this episode of Eh Sayers, featuring interviews with her sons, Adam Ostry and Jonathan Ostry, we are pleased to introduce you to this remarkable woman and to share with you eight pieces of advice inspired by her life.

As the effects of the pandemic continue into its second year, we have all had to make adjustments with the way we go about our daily lives.  We have seen plenty of service disruptions, closures of services and delays due to semiconductor scarcities, inclement weather or shifts in supply and demand. But what is the real cause of these disruptions and what is the supply chain that everyone is talking about it? Our guest, Andrew Barclay, an economist at Statistics Canada discusses the supply chain, what it is and why it’s important to Canadians. He also discusses the ripple effect it has on our consumer goods and services.

Healthcare is a privilege that Canadians value greatly. However, virtual healthcare was a rarity before COVID-19. Immediately after the pandemic hit in March 2020, Canadians were forced to rethink how they access healthcare. Appointments that would usually have happened in an office were suddenly taking place by phone or video chat. Now, two years later, most health care is conducted virtually. The question is whether access to virtual healthcare will disappear when the pandemic ends. Our guest, Dr. Gigi Osler, joins us to explore the barriers to virtual healthcare, the changes we saw during the pandemic, and what’s being done to make virtual care permanent.

Canada’s diversity and rich cultural heritage have been shaped by the people who have come from all over the world to call it home. But even in our multicultural society, eliminating all forms of discrimination remains a challenge. In this episode, we turn a critical eye to the ways that cognitive bias risks perpetuating systemic racism. Statistics are supposed to accurately reflect the world around us, but are all data created equal? Join us as we explore the role data can play to make Canada a more equal society for all.

Check out what's coming up in Season 2 of Eh Sayers and make sure to subscribe so you don't miss a thing.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had an undeniable impact on the way that we spend money. Documenting these shifts in spending patterns is crucial to decision making and providing Canadians with timely and accurate information on consumer price changes. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is the most widely used indicator of consumer price change and inflation in Canada. Our guest, Taylor Mitchell, an economist at Statistics Canada, explains why the CPI is an important tool for setting economic policy and monitoring economic conditions. She will also shed light on why you should care about inflation, its impact on different population groups and the cost of living.

The last episode of Season 1 of Eh Sayers focusses on the growing market of gigs and their place in an ever-changing landscape of job flexibility and/or instability. What are the socio-economic benefits and drawbacks of a gig worker and how are they affected by COVID-19? As more people work remotely and the workday structure changes due to the pandemic, how will the Canadian economy reflect these changes moving forward? Paul Glavin, associate professor, Department of Sociology at McMaster University discusses the impact and acceleration, freedom and limitations for gig workers across the nation.