The former chief of Statistics Canada, who resigned during last summer’s debate on Canada’s mandatory long-form census, has returned to teach at Carleton.
Munir Sheikh began a one-year stay at Carleton as a distinguished visiting scholar Jan. 1, Carleton announced Dec. 3.
“I live in Ottawa, I have something to offer — it’s a natural place for me to talk to students,” said Sheikh, who will be working with the School of Public Policy and Administration and the School of Journalism and Communication.
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.
Sheikh said he was offered the opportunity to come to the university this past November by Allan Maslove, acting director of the School of Policy and Public Administration.
“I thought it would give me an opportunity to share with others what I have learned in the public service [in] Canada. I think I’ve learned a lot and I think [the appointment] is a good opportunity to share that with others,” Sheikh added.
Sheikh will be at Carleton for the winter term and the coming fall term, Maslove said.
Sheikh said he will be serving in three capacities.
“The first is to give lectures on topics of interest to a number of departments that include public administration, public policy, journalism and economics,” Sheikh said.
“The second is that I would be available to guide students in their research,” he added.
“And third, I am preparing a course to teach in the fall [of 2011], which will be a course on public policy.”
Sheikh explained he wants to create a course that teaches how policies in one area can have an effect on policies in another area.
“I want to get into the question of ‘How well is policy being done in Canada?’ and where the gaps are and how they can be dealt with,” he said.
“What I wanted to do is to basically develop an integrated framework for thinking through public policy.”
According to Sheikh, public policy is policy the government makes to deal with a variety of issues, such as fiscal policy, health care, pension, immigration and others.
“Policies interact with each other. Economic policies have an impact on social outcomes. Social policies have an impact on economic outcomes. My framework would be to take an overall perspective and see how policies are having cross-effects. And if you take those cross-effects into account, then what is a desirable economic, social or environmental policy?” Sheikh said.
Sheikh has only agreed to a one-year term, but he said it may be extended.
According to Sheikh, this is not the first time he has taught at Carleton. In the past, he has lectured on international economics, public finance, and macroeconomics.
“I am really looking forward to working with students and professors at Carleton. I am quite excited about the opportunity to get back to the academia.”