Indeed in this country, there are two groups of people. In fact, some would call these groups the haves and the have-nots. This is an not inaccurate way of describing it, but those that would might have the two switched. Canadians form two groups: those that receive from the government and those that pay to the government. Those who form — or are constituent to — organizations dependent on government policy (and spending) are firmly against the changes to the census. Those on the other side are largely ambivalent because they are the large, unorganized and unsubsidized net taxpaying masses.
The conservative/libertarian Fraser Institute think tank’s motto is “if it matters, measure it.” The untruth of the inverse of this statement is at the centre of why this government should follow through. “If you measure it, it matters” is the motto of those net tax-receiving organizations who only matter if they can make their case. Prime Minister Stephen Harper has tried the ideological argument against these groups for years. But ideology is by its nature debatable; removing the framework of debate is his shortcut to victory.
There is one positive aspect to this controversy – millions of Canadians are now fully informed that, contrary to threats by census takers, refusing to fill out the long form census carries no actual penalty.
I suspect many of us will find that information useful.
h/t Maz2
>>Hydro costs?
What is ‘hydro’? Is that some form of massage?
I saw, as others have pointed out already, the media attempts at manipulation regarding this subject… Pee Mansbridge over at the Communist Broadcast Corpse described the changes to the census as “Conservatives wanting to scrap the long form census” complete and deliberate manipulation from the “Liberal” ministry of dis-information. I also agree with other SDA posts that describe the information coerced from Canadians as a tool of control. Census data is used by the State’s central planners and social engineers for the purpose of manipulation, furthering the imposition of tribalism, special interest, and group think, a redistribution of power of the individual to the power of the State. The hysterical response from the “Liberal”, NDP, Separatist, creeps and agents in the media is a foreshadowing of the manipulation, and misinformation we’ll witness in the next election. Turd, Bastards!
anne said: “You would think those in a tizzy want people to actually GO TO JAIL for not completing a FORM for crying out loud.”
Well, yes. That is what they want. Not -everyone- who doesn’t fill out the form, because that would be silly. No, they want to be able to just jail the people they don’t like, the ones who really get up their nose about it and challenge their authority.
Threatening the rest is good enough too keep the sheep in line.
DIE Welfare State DIE
Make the rent seekers work for a living and the rent seeking organisations find their funding from their constituency….. To heck with the long form cencus and I truly hope this is PM Harper’s first step in dismantling the whiny, entitlement-minded, lazy, parasitic Canadian welfare state. My dream is to see all leftard heads explode once they’re cut off from the productive class’ teat.
ET, you reference question # 33 from the 2006 census. The answers to this question can never be quantified. It is Statscan’s precursor to more social engineering. Statscan has become just one more political organization. They have a progressive agenda and the power to coerce citizens. They have lost their way.
It just occurred to me that one of the assumptions of socialists is that peoples time has zero value. Hence, we have a medical system where people aren’t allowed to pay for their own treatment and instead have to wait. For someone who makes >$100/hour, it is far more cost-effective to pay for ones treatment if they can get in next week rather than next year.
After thinking about how little free time I have I’ve decided to put a value on it of $800/hour. Having that valuation makes it easy to make decisions like paying a work crew $80/hour to do my yardwork (which I can also do) or getting a plumber in to do stuff that I can do but he can do faster.
So, assuming an hour to do the long form would mean that statistics canada would owe me $800 for that information. To demand the information without paying for it is simple extortion and I wonder if this would have been a defense in court when people were allegedly being persecuted for not filling out census forms. There are also minimum wage laws (although they don’t apply to doctors) and the census would appear to run afoul of these by demanding work and paying nothing for it. It the data were freely available online (like the US census data) then it would be harder to fight it, but it appears that the Canadian census is one of the last remaining bastions of slave labor in the world.
loki – heh – nice comments.
For YEARS politicians and candidates have proposed MORE RULES to “improve” our lives.
Just once I’d like to have the chance to support someone who would TAKE THESE CHAINS OFF!!!
There, I’ve said it, bluntly.
Pretty un-Canadian eh?
eastern paul, you’ve got that right.
albertaclipper, hydro is an eastern Canadian term for electrical power. I believe the root for the term is electrical power generated from water turning turbines(hydro).
where any government form asks for your ethnicity, just fill in Canadian, It’s what I’ve done before including short form census forms I believe.
The ‘census debate’ is nothing more than a very effective distraction to keep the sheeple from questioning the 20 Billion expenditure for American built stealth fighters that Canada does not need nor can afford.
Pretty damn effective isn’t it?
Canada should be spending our limited defense budgets on coastal patrol vessels big enough to carry a helicopter, built in Canadian shipyards, to employ Canadians. We shouldn’t be bailing out the American aircraft industry.
If the determination was that ships were needed, the true John Galt would say have them built in any friendly nation that could provide the best ship for the best price.
“John Galt would say have them built in any friendly nation that could provide the best ship for the best price.”
Perhaps if he was speaking about spending his money, not taxpayer’s hard earned dollars. “Best” is too subjective to be a valid metric.
Tax dollars should be spent for the greatest common good. I don’t want my tax dollars spent in some foreign shipyard to build cheap shoddy ships.
So eliminate the penalties, but for heavens sake don’t make the semantic change from “mandatory” to “voluntary”
Ken (Kulak) at 12:39 AM: “albertaclipper, hydro is an eastern Canadian term for electrical power. I believe the root for the term is electrical power generated from water turning turbines(hydro).”
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The major power utility in Manitoba is called Manitoba Hydro. It’s main generation plant(s) is/are in the north. Same with Saskatchewan, although our power generation company doesn’t have the word “hydro” in it, much of the power comes from hydro-electric generation from the major rivers in the north.