In the dash for grant cash, population numbers are everything. With that in mind, the Municipality of Jasper is ready to sprint around town, collecting census information about one month after the federal government’s population survey wraps up.

Federal census day is May 16, and Canadians can fill out the survey online or via mail. The local count will be much more straightforward, but essential to Jasper’s future fiscal health, according to Verne Balding, the municipality’s director of corporate and legislative services.

“The federal census that is happening as we speak doesn’t recognize the shadow population,” Balding said. “A number of, but not all, provincial grants to municpalities are based on a per-capita formula.”

Jasper’s “shadow population” of transient and seasonal workers is not recorded by population counts like federal census because those query respondents about their home address. In the case of a university student working in Jasper for the summer, they would likely give an address outside of Jasper, Balding said. 

“In the municipal census, there’s really only one major difference — we will ask ‘were you living in Jasper on census day?’”

 Given that the provincial government uses the most up-to-date census information, no matter which jurisdiction is doing the counting, the municipal census is scheduled for the latter part of June, making whatever total that survey arrives at a more recent count than the regular federal census.

Balding estimates that the two census figures will differ by “several hundred at least” and this figure can make a substantial difference to the municipality’s bottom line.

“The transportation grant, for example, is $65 to $70 per person,” Balding said, meaning that Jasper could receive tens of thousands of additional dollars by using more complete population calculations.

This census will be Jasper’s third since 1997. The most recent count, in 2004, revealed a population of 4,511. 

The most recent federal count, carried out in 2001, determined that the population of Jasper was 4,180 and had actually decreased since the previous federal census in 1996. 

Canadians are required by law to participate in the federal census, but there is no similar obligation in the case of the local count.

“We are encouraging everyone to participate,” Balding said, emphasizing that the level of participation required is minor in comparison to the Canadian census.

“It will take five or three or seven minutes, depending on how many people are living in the household,” he said. “The depth is much less than the federal one.”

 The federal questionnaire collects information ranging from basic details like age and sex to more complex questions about languages understood and used at work, to modes of transportation most frequently used.

The “shadow population” is an area of concern for many service organizations in Jasper, including the Jasper Adult Learning Council. These groups have little information about the extent to which short-term residents of Jasper access their services, or are even aware of their existence. Given the nature of the municipality’s approach to the census, the census-takers will have no means of knowing whether they are speaking to members of the “shadow population” as they conduct the survey, Balding said.

This may not stop the municipality from adding one or two questions about municipal services and priorities to their survey to ask all respondents, Balding added.