Eh Sayers

My last colleague has left the office for the evening. I'm doodling ideas for an upcoming podcast episode when I hear it: a voice calls out to me softly from inside our recording studio. "Come in, the night air is chill, and you must need to eat and rest.' What follows actually happened… The first interview of its kind, and it is not for the faint of heart. Listen if you dare!"

2021 Census of Agriculture saw record growth in bean production in Canada, making Canada the third largest pulse producer in the world. Both chickpea and lentil production rose 31% and 38% respectively year over year and Lentil farmers alone received more for their crop in 2024 than all fresh fruit farmers combined ($1.6 billion versus $1.3 billion). We want to find out why the musical fruit was such a hot commodity during the 2021 CoA, what makes Canada such a powerhouse and what experts are expecting to see in the upcoming 2026 CoA.

Think your honeybee knowledge is as sweet as honey? Time to put it to the test!

In this special episode of Eh Sayers, our colleagues face off in a trivia showdown all about Canada’s honeybee industry and the tiny pollinators that play a huge role in our food system.

Discover how much honey was produced, how many beekeepers are caring for colonies across the country, the surprising value of honey sales, and why bees are essential far beyond the honey they produce.

After listening, you’ll be the go-to expert on honeybees at your next backyard gathering!

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 squeeze that comes with longer lives and smaller families, and the many ways older Canadians keep things running through volunteering, childcare, and family support.

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 numbers don’t always seem to add up.

Economic accounts statistics

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 listening, you’ll be the go‑to expert on Christmas trees at your holiday party!

Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree - Statistics Canada

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 deep dive into Canada’s obesity, physical activity and screen time trends. And the new data from the Canadian Health Measures survey may surprise you.

The Daily — The prevalence of overweight and obesity is on the rise in Canada: New results from the Canadian Health Measures Survey, 2022 to 2024

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.

Travel and Tourism Statistics

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, and what impact it might have on Canada’s economy.

Focus on Canada and the United States

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 what's driving this trend, whether "no religion" means "no spirituality," and how the story varies from spiritual British Columbia to the cultural Catholicism of Quebec to the freshly painted churches of Atlantic Canada.

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, what factors most often led to regaining housing, and why housing can be challenging to maintain even after it’s been regained.

The Daily — Exiting homelessness: Results from the 2022 Canadian Housing Survey

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 at the mic to explore how the places we live affect our well-being.

For more information:
Beyond urban and rural: Rethinking the social geography of Canada

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 businesses. Identity theft, scams, fraud, and ransomware are only some of the ways cyber attackers are targeting businesses today. One cyber security breach can cost a business thousands of dollars and valuable time resources to neutralize. We wanted to know: Is cyber crime on the rise in Canada? What is the relatively new phenomenon of cyber risk insurance? And in what way are consumers affected when a business experiences a security breach?

The Canadian Survey of Cyber Security and Cyber Crime has published new data and, in this episode, we sat down with Howard Bilodeau, an economist at Statistics Canada to answer our questions about how cyber security is changing for businesses and what it means for the rest of us.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.