Friday, July 30, 2010

Is there any way to go around Stephen Harper with the Canadian census?



From the Montreal Gazette: The Conservatives' stand on census is an eye-opener -- Despite reason and science, Harper refuses to budge.

When there's a boulder in the road, a human being's natural inclination is to look for a way around it.

Regarding the Canadian census, that boulder in the road is Stephen Harper and his merry band of born-again Conservatives, who are impervious to reason, blind to science and deaf to anyone who is not Jesus Christ.

The Conservatives want to do away with the mandatory long form census and replace it with a voluntary short form census, even though Munir Sheikh, Statistics Canada's now former chief statistician "testified at a parliamentary committee that a voluntary survey would produce biased data and a much lower response rate. The quality of the data could no longer be guaranteed".

After all, the Conversatives say, what's guaranteed in this world other than our place in heaven?

As one prospective census taker, I must admit I think it's ridiculous that the long form census in Canada includes questions such as "How many bedrooms are in your home?" and "What time do you leave for work in the morning?" Yes, I've heard the social workers on the radio explaining why they believe such questions should be asked.

At the same time, the Conservatives' stance on the subject is so irrational, so poorly explained by them, so laughable and ludicrous, people are starting to wonder: What exactly is Stephen Harper's agenda?

He wants to cloud and obscure, skew and manipulate census data in Canada.

Why?

It's as though Stephen Harper is wants to lower a towel over a canary cage -- the canary cage, in this instance, being Canada.

Is he then going to say the populace is primarily compliant Manchurians when he sells the country to China?

So that he can tell the U.N. that everyone moved elsewhere and then allow the RCMP to act upon its long-simmering agenda to enslave the Canadian people?

I'm sure there any number of reasons why this wouldn't work, but could it be possible that each province conduct its own mandatory long form census and then each, in turn, provide that data to Statistics Canada?

I realize the census is a federal endeavor, but it seems our federal government has ceased to function rationally. However, shit still needs to get done.

Maybe Stephen Harper's objection to the long form census is similar to mine -- the question about the bedrooms. Maybe he's not prepared to count the number of mansions in his father's house.

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