The Gift of Data - Video transcript
(The words: "StatCan presents" can be seen on screen.
The words: "L'atelier, The Workshop" can be seen written on a building.
The words "North Pole Bureau of Statistics" are written on a sign in front of a tall building.
The title: "The Gift of Data" appears on screen.)
(Sam the talking snowman addresses the audience.)
Sam: Oh, hey! Oh… hmm… I suppose you've never seen a talking snowman before. I've got a story for you if you've got a second. I promise I don't frostbite. Great! Grab a snowbank and get comfortable. It's a good one.
On a quiet December night, much like this one, an alarm sounded from the control room in Santa's workshop.
This rarely happens up here… But I immediately knew why.
You see, last year, after another successful holiday season, Santa was in a giving mood. He said to the elves:
Santa: You all did such a fantastic job that you deserve some time off!
Sam: The problem was that many of them had never experienced a real vacation getaway to see the sights beyond the North Pole. They had never even met anyone taller than Santa.
Elves: Whoooaaaa. More ice please. Way more ice!
(On a gift box, with an elf inside, the words: "Lemonade, limonade" are written.)
(A book on a shelf titled: "Noël" can be seen.)
Sam: Needless to say, not all of our little friends hurried back home from their vacations; some decided to stay and even take an early retirement.
Santa was baffled on what to do when he noticed production wasn't where it needed to be. So he made a call to Statistics Canada. You see, Santa and StatCan were longtime friends. According to the Chief Statistician of Canada, Anil Arora, the answer was simple:
(The words : "It's time for data" are on screen.)
Anil: It's time for data!
(Several graphics, bar and pie charts are on screen.)
Sam: He was certain that with the right data, they could get things back on track up there. So, the fine folks at StatCan stepped up, and helped the North Pole Bureau of Statistics identify what exactly was going on…
(The acronym "C.P.I." is on screen followed by the words: "Consumer Present Index".
The words: "Keep above line" and "Critically low" are on screen.)
To start, they noticed that the Consumer Present Index had dipped a little this year.
(The words: "Gross Domestic Poinsettia" are on screen.
The words: "Low" and "High" are on a dial.)
And the Gross Domestic Poinsettia numbers were worrisome too.
(The acronym: "ELFS" followed with the words: "Elf Labour Force Survey" are on screen.)
And there it was! The ELFS numbers indicated an elf shortage was the reason for this predicament. He was even able to narrow down which specific areas of expertise were needed.
You see, once the data was based on a better standard, the statistics immediately told the story of what was really going on. And when they combined their data with StatCan's census population numbers, the elves were able to determine the total demand of presents they were expected to deliver on. Santa could finally address the remaining elves with confidence.
Santa: Friends, with this new, high-quality data, we know exactly where to concentrate our efforts to recruit new elves! Let's save the holidays!
Elves: Yay!!!
Sam: The elves cheered and went to work!
(An elf is holding a box with the word: "Data" written on it.)
With data, they knew which jobs needed filling, and how many elves were needed to bring the Gross Domestic Poinsettias to an appropriate level. The whole operation was a huge success!
(Inside a book, underneath the picture of Sam the talking snowman, the words: "Thanks to StatCan's advice and the data collected, the elves were able to save the holiday season." and "The end" are written.)
Thanks to StatCan's advice and the data collected, the elves were able to save the holiday season.
(The Chief Statistician of Canada, Anil Arora is on screen with his name and title.)
Anil Arora: The gift of data, of course. I love this story.
(Statistics Canada wordmark)
(Canada wordmark)