Statisticians, politicians, statisticians and community leaders say dropping long form census will distort Statistics for Canada

Prime Minister Harper, dismantling Canadian government one step at a time

The debate over the long form census is heating up in Canada. Yesterday the head of Statistics Canada threw oil on the fire by resigning.

“I want to take this opportunity to comment on a technical statistical issue which has become the subject of media discussion. This relates to the question of whether a voluntary survey can become a substitute for a mandatory census,” Munir Sheikh, the head of Statistics Canada, said in a release. “It cannot,” he said. “Under the circumstances, I have tendered my resignation to the prime minister.” CBC

Sheikh is not the first person to question the validity of dropping a mandatory census and allowing people to voluntarily fill out the detailed census form. Since Sheikh was appointed by Prime Minister Harper, he cannot be accused of Liberal or NDP political bias. He is simply putting his job on the line over the Harper government’s dismantling of Statistics Canada because it’s the wrong thing to do.

No one can accuse Prime Minister Harper of being anything by small government conservative. His stated goal is to dismantle big government in Canada. Statistics Canada and it’s reliable measurement of who we are, where we live and how well Canada is performing is a dose of reality Harper can’t stand.  

So Harper will weaken Stats Can. Make the numbers less reliable and then he can point to that as an excuse for ignoring them.

The stated reason for dropping the long form census is the legal requirement, and threat of jail, if you don’t fill it out. While no Canadians have been jailed for refusing the fill out the form, almost a thousand Canadians were jailed for protesting at the G20.

“Historian Dimitry Anastakis of Ontario’s Trent University says it’s a pattern that should come as no surprise to anyone who has watched Harper’s career.

“Harper cannot shake his Reform party roots which have always been so suspicious of Ottawa, so suspicious of anything that comes from the state,” Anastakis said in an interview. He’s wielded his power as head of government to attack the state. It’s across the board, whether it’s the Senate, the Canadian Wheat Board, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, Elections Canada, these are all institutions of the state that he doesn’t like.”  Harper at ‘war’ with federal institutions

It’s an odd duck this conservatism. Dismantle the institutions set up to serve and protect while creating enormous deficits through lavish spending.

For an example of how conservative demagogues like to distort statistics, see  The Worst Chart I’ve Seen All Day