2015 Federal Election

[Coke6pk]

I can assure you that these cards are used after the fact.  Stats for local office are collected from them, then they are sent to Stats Can who takes the data from them.  

So there are "masses of asses" transcribing info from these forms into a database?  

As well, as a legal signed document, they are used as physical evidence in cases of smuggling/criminal activity by the officer performing enforcement action.

I can certainly understand how a written declaration can be used against someone who's caught at the border in an act of smuggling. But how can these forms be used after the individual has been cleared to enter Canada?

(a) Masses of CPU's. They are scanned and optically read.  I don't work for Stats Can, so I have no idea what information they gather.

(b) CBSA issues penalties for lots of different things.  For example, undeclared food.  That's not a criminal charge, but a financial penalty can be assessed.  The traveller can enter Canada, and the card would be held for an appeal of such a penalty.  Same goes for declaration amounts, currency seizure, etc.  Local ports use some statistical data from the card for mandatory reports.  The majority of travellers, your right, the card isn't kept beyond a few days... and that's just because they stuff the envelopes before they go to StatsCan.