CARSTAIRS - A municipal census now underway in Carstairs could help determined the future of policing in the community, says the town's chief administrative officer.
“Mostly this has to do with policing,” Rick Blair said. “We believe we are over the 5,000 population mark and that is kind of the magic number to be able to sit down and have fruitful discussions with RCMP as to what our policing is going to look like in the area.
“So we are doing the municipal census to prove up those numbers and then we can have discussions with the RCMP as to what that (policing) is going to look like.”
The most recent federal census in 2021 had Carstairs’ population at 4,898, he said, noting that the Town of Carstairs has not previously conducted its own census.
“We are building close to 80 homes a year and we average about 2.6 residents per home, so we think we are well above that (5,000). That is what the census is for, to prove that up.”
Started on April 15 and running until July 15, the census consists of two questions: How many people live at the residence? What are their age ranges?
As of last week, 50.62 per cent households, with a total population of 2,638, had responded to the survey. In all, 1,948 homes have received the census.
On May 6, town staff will be going door to door as enumerators (census workers) to reach the homeowners that have not completed the census online as of that date.
As well as for use in policing discussions, the information gathered through the census could also help the town make informed decisions on municipal services, he said.
