We have been on Statscan’s call list for about 35 years, although their records only indicate 10. It started at our previous farm with June and December calls demanding livestock inventories, itemized by specific categories. It was never a “convenient” time in all those years.
On June 28, 1994 we moved the entire farm two miles down the road. On June 30 Statscan was looking for livestock figures despite the septic system backing up, soaking boxes and leaving the tap water suspiciously brown and smelly. My temper boiled over and, for once, they left us alone. Come December, they were back at it.
h/t The Glengarrian
I stumbled upon this blog, and find amusing and in the bull’seye. Plus, I find the photos sunning. Merry CHISTmas.
Canadians have to start saying NO on mass. Complete civil disobedience. Start by wishing everyone a MERRY CHRISTMAS. They can stick happy holidays where ever the wish.
OWG, we should start saying “NO”! with the new law that allows to cops to stop you and force you to take a breathalyzer test for no apparent reason.
It’s amazing how so many can’t see the effect of this type of law on our freedom index. If I hear,”if you haven’t done anything wrong,you have nothing to fear”, one more time, I may hurl.
don, my nephew said that about a year ago, when I pointed out about google, fakebook, and all the other big “web sites”. So I said to him, by who’s judgment have you done no wrong. Or did he think 6.7 million Jews had done something wrong. His answer, crickets!!!
If you get the call to give information over the phone, ask for the questions in the mail. I’ve done that with the labor force survey and the harassment ended. The caller told me they did not expect me to complete the questionnaire that would be mailed. I thanked them for their bias.
Over the phone, how do you confirm they are who they say they are?
As for phone calls, I resist telling a total stranger anything he does not know already. As for written surveys, I always check to see if disclosure is voluntary or otherwise.
Years ago I came home to find two letters from Stasi Canada. One said they had not received my census form. Another, dated five weeks later, threatened legal action because I had not submitted my census form.
I sent them a letter saying that In my job, I had to travel a lot and sometimes would work away from home for six to ten weeks at time.
As I was writing my letter, I got a phone call from Stasi Canada. The caller started off by saying the hadn’t received my census and that they were going to take legal action. I replied “Go ahead, but I caution you that you will look pretty stupid in court. You see I have been out of town for ten weeks. Most judges in Canada will tear you apart should you take legal action.” Back then judges were reasonable people.
“Well” he humphed. I then said don’t worry herr gestapo director I have filled in your precious form and am about to mail it.
Last census. I called Stasi Canada and politely explained that I did not have a computer at home so could not complete the form on line. They were quite polite and said they’d mail me a form.
Whilst waiting for the paper copy to arrive I received two semi polite calls from Stasi Canada, each of which mentioned the possibility of legal action. I replied that I was waiting for the paper copy to arrive, not having a computer.
So the census arrived and I filled it in. Then because I was mad and perhaps a little stupid I mailed it. But not to the census mailbox, I sent it, in a plain envelope, to the head of Statistics Canada by registered mail (requiring a signature at the receiving end).
Wonder how Max feels about the census?
I like that idea of registered letter requiring signature.
“Government’s first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives.”
Ronald Reagan.
I fill my census in using my official language….Klingon….my second language is profane Klingon…. they always phone for seeding intentions … watermelons this year.
I used to argue with them about being required to provide info. Finally, I gave up arguing and started giving them totally fictitious numbers. Used to put one of my kids on to just feed them numbers off the top of their heads. Think about that the next time you hear someone quote Statscan numbers.
I never give any information on the phone. Ever. I always lie to all census surveys be they Statscan or municipal. I once threatened legal action against my employer for releasing my date of birth information from my personal HR file so that people could “celebrate my birthday.” I also threatened legal action against another HR ditz for loudly asking “how are you feeling? I heard you are having some issues?” in the presence of others after I had made some health claims for treatment of sports injuries.
Well, I’d have a bit more sympathy for this lady if she wasn’t continually banging the poor-dairy-farmer-supply-management drum.
https://www.todaysfarmer.ca/opinion/columnists/farmgate-we-farmers-will-just-roll-over-again/wcm/e9ffcf47-57b4-4047-9f54-88c3d83a5434
Thankfully I was never harassed like that during our farming career.
There was an interesting $140 million organic farm product fraud link on the right side bar of the Farmers Forum. Not surprising as much of ‘organic’ farming is a fraud.
If it weren’t organic, it should be made with silicon….no.?
Am always amazed at the utter stupidity of buying a sleve of sweet peppers with an “organic” sticker on it at double the price….STUPID IS AS STUPID does….and it’s never a Senior doing the buying..but some latte’d up 35ish female..!!
tis 8:36 Calgary Time.
I would like to Wish Kate, her assistants and all of YOU that make this blog my # 1 First goto in the mornings, for information often not found otherwise, great commentary and often a damned good Laugh…..To YOU ALL, A VERY Merry Christmas…!! And LET us all work hard to ensure 2019 is a better year for us all..God Willing.
cheers
If enough people would give StasiCan patently bogus numbers for long enough eventually they would completely cease to exist. They just want numbers – clearly they are incompetent to detect nonsense or perhaps they simply don’t care.
Personally I have managed to get chucked off their list so it is possible. I just gave them the runaround for long enough that they finally lost interest. No matter what they threaten I think it is extremely unlikely they are going to prosecute some random citizen. Perhaps if you are some important public figure they would consider taking you to court but for the vast majority of us its an idle threat, no matter how long and loud they may shout.
If you were an important public figure they would know better than to bother you. You think anybody dares call Gerald Butts to ask how many toilets he has?
““It’s all random” but, by the end, she admitted it wasn’t.”
who agrees with the colloquialism about nothing is really random?
cra has hounded my 4 times for money I didnt owe or had already paid.
oh theyre sly eh, like the c*nt told me to ‘just pay it and we will refund if necessary’
alarms sounded and with NO legal training I concluded that PAYING could in some venues constitute agreeing that I owed the money.
the last time they tried it I was living in hamilton area, thus that was the closest cra office.
I laid out ALL the documents side by side, hiliting the part where they COPIED my self employment earnings into the ‘wages and salary’ box thus DOUBLING my supposed income.
it took 2 years of them threatening me, told me to go BACK to st catharines office where I had earned the income. I sarcastically said what if I was living in Inuvik now, would I STILL get told to ‘go back where it happened’.
anyway, I threatened them, spelled it out line by line THEIR mistake and told them if they didnt fix it pronto, my next stop would be the hamilton spectator just down the street. this was shortly after a big scandal about ‘quotas’ they denied and got caught I think it was guelph office.
they fixed it finally after 2 years of threats.
thugs.
As far as I’m concerned, CRA should consider themselves damned lucky to get their money ONCE. They’ll NEVER get it twice.
When they ask if you and your mate have off fa4m employment do like our friend did. Say yes…” I’m a hooker and my husband is an astronaut”.
They stopped calling.
Another thing I have done is ask for their home phone number and you will call them at your convenience.
Now I just don’t answer.
Say yes…” I’m a hooker and my husband is an astronaut”.
They stopped calling.
Many years ago, I used to get those “Can I speak to the woman of the house?” phone calls. One day, as a joke, I answered, “Yes, but I need a funny operation first.”
Hearing the caller gag was worth it. That outfit never called back.
If your so ignorant as to provide false information to the organization that provides the most comprehensive statistics for Agriculture in Canada, you kinda deserve what you get from the results.
Those numbers are used for everything from government policy, taxation, and veterinary assignments and medicine funding, and drugs.
Not to mention the numbers that agriculture supporting businesses use to provide supplies (yea I know you pay for those) to area’s that require it the most.
Now I can understand being fed up with 35 years of it. I get it.
Providing false information does nothing but hurt yourself and others in the industry.
Sorry but the moment they start selling our info to private entities, they lose all right to accuracy. They can eff right off.
Besides they have plenty of other ways of collecting info that are FAR less intrusive. But they require brains and a little effort.
“Taxation”
Bingo. They’re looking for the easiest people to tax.
The only sensible tax is a stiff tariff on imported luxuries. Canadian farmers should be allowed to enjoy the fruits of their labour in peace, and not be bothered with stupid questions like how much manure their cows produced that year. Make the Chinese pay for our defense.
You are presuming (incorrectly) that government uses the data to make your life better or is used to “help” the industry. They don’t. So your pompous theory is worthless.
Hey brainless, have you ever owned or run a company. Government can get all the info they need the same way private businesses do. Quit calling private citizen just because you are lazy and stupid.
You must be one of those stupid lefties!!!
“Grow a Brain”. Is that a note to self?
Probably works for the government.
the world is a better place when citizens tell bueracrats to eff off.
I am fortunate enough to be randomly selected to partake in a mandatory biannual farm financial survey. This is online and you can leave each field blank the next page comes up after a warning that you left a field blank. I went right to the end of the 30 page survey this way. Then it asked me to submit this survey which I helpfully did.
A while later stasican called and said there was no data with my survey… I asked how can that be? they had no answer….
Many phone calls following up and now I think they gave up….If they try again I’ll give up my land line.
Grow a brain you should grow something else. And they come in pairs.
Through out history governments have become the worst enemies of the people. Much of the info garnered by the government is used against us.
Ag info is used to guide food policy for The masses. Cheap.
“Ag info is used to guide food policy for The masses. Cheap.”
I have always wondered about their perverse interest in Agriculture. In what other industry are you required to tell your customers how much of your production is going to hit the market in the upcoming year. It has nothing to do with helping farmers. It has everything to do with providing better information to agribusiness to screw farmers.
My experience with Stasi Canada? We had one employee and I spent six months answering 5 minutes of questions each month for 6 months. Not only that but the person simply could not speak English at all and I mean not at all. She sounded Chinese, likely with a degree in English from a liberal university.
20 or 30 years ago they took a great interest in the trucking industry. I had many of these forms from clients crossing my desk. They asked for detailed answers about truck usage. To do these forms properly could have taken days. To get fuel usage, I divided total fuel cost by a cost per liter pulled out of my ass and extrapolated the rest. Each form took about 15 minutes to do. And the central planners at the Politburo are using these numbers to plan the future of our country.
scar, I don’t think they bother the truckers any more, most can’t speak engerish, and they got their truckers license buy $$$$$. Around here, they GPS all the way, and we have about 1/2 a dozen every year get stuck on a hair pin, even tho there are very large signs saying impassible for trucks and busses.
I no longer answer any question on the US census other than “# of people in household”. They send some kid around to collect the rest of the information and I politely tell them to get off my property. I feel a bit sorry for them since they aren’t prepared for anything but people who answer all their questions. Because of that I try to never be rude to them but I am insistent.
This is a hill to die on.
2 visits to my back door (one a neighbor and one a local), a phone call (from Stasi Canada), and finally a visit to my door from a ‘supervisor’.
All of them recorded.
The last visit I informed the gentleman that:
1. There are 2 citizens, both of voting age, resident at this domicile
2. That’s all the info they are going to get. Period.
The ‘supervisor’ offered to fill out the form for me, all he needed was a signature. He didn’t get that as well. He went away, haven’t heard a peep since.
I knew a guy who used to sign all such requests “John Hancock”
“If your so ignorant as to provide false information to the organization that provides the most comprehensive statistics for Agriculture in Canada, you kinda deserve what you get from the results.
Those numbers are used for everything from government policy, taxation, and veterinary assignments and medicine funding, and drugs.”
Progressive Pat… is that you?
What a load,oh grow a Braincel.
Pretending what you claim was true,that Stats Can produces the most accurate useful information evah..
Have you any idea of the depths of numerical illiteracy our current leadership exhibits?
Have you talked to a regulator,permit issuer,bureaucratic overlord this year?
What good is accurate information to fools and bandits?
To allow them to steal more effectively?
Or to enable them to nobble productive work even more completely than they do now through their ignorance?
I have prided myself in providing 100% accurate data,which is also 100% useless to stats Canada for years,they no longer bother me at all.
The last time they questioned my status as; Slave to the State and threatened “legal action for lying”, I pointed out their problem.
We are promised total confidentiality,then threatened with imprisonment for lying to them.
You cannot prove us to be lying without breeching that guarantee of confidence..So Stats Can is lying in their opening paragraph.
Hell of a way to convince your citizens to trust you.
Stats Canada needs burnt to the ground and that ground shall be salted.
The beauty of Trudeau 2 is the enboldened bureaus have over reached gloriously.
Had Enough Yet?
The Kleptocracy has declared war on its host..That us stupid taxpayers.
Feds all over the world (including your CRA) are on the run. Keep attacking them every way you can! I predict after the next election cycles in most Western countries they’ll back off, for fear of being the target of MASSIVE cut backs and layoffs, as well as possible reorisals.
If that doesn’t work, you organise a massive doxxing campaign of their workers, and let the chips fall where they may…
Got stuck with Stats Can wanting a whole batch of info on a couple of companies for whom I did the books. Finally said I would spend 15 minutes max unless they paid me for my time pulling stats together, as was unwilling to either bill client for same or work buckshee. That lasted a fair few years.
This year they’re back with some payroll stats. Know my clients: the figures from their companies are going to make nonsense of anything Stats Can produces. But I do provide them something monthly, after they phone me. And I certainly am not going to worry about any retroactive adjustments to said stats.
There seems to be a fascination with livestock numbers since Turdo got elected. IMHO I’m thinking it is a lead up to taxing livestock emissions. ‘Cause everytime a cow farts a polar bear dies sorta scenario and we must save the planet. Twice a year, 6 to 4 weeks before a stated date (June 1st and January 1st) they start calling demanding numbers and although they are repeatedly told that an accurate number can NOT be given they insist one is. The information gathered is all bullsh*t because they demand it and will pester/harrass until something is given.
If Trudeau isn’t turfed by the Canadian people soon, I predict some fed-up Army colonel is going to organise a small accident at some point. As Macron (and Marie Antoinette, and Czar Nicholas and Mussolini) found out, you don’t get to be a flocktard to your people over and over and over again without eventually suffering an unfortunate rendezvous with … “events “… aka “history”