Given the ideological reasons behind the Harper government's decision to eliminate mandatory completion of the long-form census, all rational objections to the move having been summarily and imperiously dismissed, many Canadians regard the 2011 Census with suspicion and disdain. It has been argued, for example, that the changes will conceal many of the negative facts of Canadian life, such as poverty rates. Consequently, concerned citizens are seeking ways to register their objections and undermine what they see as a move by the Harperites to use the resulting flawed data to eliminate or underfund programs that are vital to segments of the population.
Catherine Porter, writing in today's Star, offers some interesting strategies some are advocating to thwart this agenda, ranging from turning in indecipherable forms to outright refusal to complete them.
It seems to me the one consequence of doing so is that after complaining that the census should never have been politicized in the first place, now we are going to continue in that vein in protest.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it's necessary. But I just don't see any way to put the genie back in the bottle once this is done. There will eventually be a non-Harper government. Will we all then obediently go back to filling out the census properly -- and will other sides do the same?
You make a very good point, and it is quite frankly one that hadn't even occurred to me. Thanks for writing.
ReplyDeleteIt hadn't occurred to me until a couple minutes before I wrote that comment either, actually. I was all for boycotting the census or some such, but lately I've been thinking about the consequences of politicizing many issues which used to be considered national consensus issues, above and beyond political tampering.
ReplyDeleteThe census is a fairly minor example -- there are more important ones, like universal healthcare. But if the idea that the census becomes a vehicle for protest takes off, then I don't see how to restore the original, apolitical census anymore, which I assume is our goal. What if they restore the long-form census, a group that goes beyond just cranks decides to protest by not filling it out, and attempts to call the government's bluff by demanding they be prosecuted? Will the government really prosecute a large group of Canadians for refusing to fill out a census?
Maybe it's an unattainable goal. And definitely we can blame the Harper government for starting the fight in the first place, but my concern is that in the long run it may not matter so much who started it as what the result was.